Discover the Merveilles Valley
The Vallée des Merveilles and surrounding area(Valley of La Roya-Bévéra) is famous in France and Europe for its high mountain hiking. More recently it has also become a place to enjoy many other outdoor pursuits: canyoning (7 valleys with facilities for jumps, slides and abseiling), rafting, kayak and canoe-rafting in the waters of La Roya, not forgetting cross-country skiing (Italian resort of Limone), potholing (caves in the Marguareis massif), climbing (including the famous “Via Ferrata”), mountain biking (more than 600 kilometres of waymarked trails), and even paragliding and ultra-lights.
Vous pourrez pratiquer également le ski de fond à la station italienne de Limone et la station nordique de Casterino.
Pour ceux qui aiment l'escalade, il y a des sites aménagés avec la fameuse “Via Ferrata” accessibles en Roya plus particulièrement à Tende et à La Brigue. Pour ceux qui préfèrent la terre ferme, les VTT auront plus de 600 kilomètres de sentiers balisés à découvrir.
If you like discovering cultural heritage, you'll love the perched village footpath between Tende and the Menton coastline, passing through the medieval villages of Tende, Saorge and Sospel. By car, you'll have to take the “Route du baroque nisso-ligure”.
Music-lovers will no doubt be intrigued by the valley's seven organs, restored and listed as Historical Monuments, created by the greatest Toscan and Lombard master craftsmen.
History fiends will undoubtedly want to visit one of the forts that made up the old Maginot Line in the Alps, dating from the thirties, such as Fort St Roch at Sospel.
We must not forget the old Italian Forts at the Tende pass, dating back to the time of Napoléon III … or the Circuit of Authion, where deadly fighting took place in 1794 and 1945.
Few museums in the Vallée des Merveilles
There are plenty to visit, such as the museum of miniature trains and Orient Express coaches at Sospel, the Eco-museum of transport and technology at Fontan, devoted to life in the old days, or the Museum of Bee-keeping arts and traditions (Château de la Causéga) and above all the recent Musée des Merveilles, dedicated to the rock carvings 4,000 years old to be found in the Vallée des Merveilles.