Perched above the turquoise waters of Lac de Sainte-Croix, Aiguines is the natural starting point for riding the Gorges du Verdon — Europe's largest canyon, and one of France's most spectacular stretches of road.
The village's château, with its diamond-tiled roof, marks the foot of the Corniche Sublime, the left-bank route that climbs through the Cirque de Vaumale to the Col d'Illoire, roughly eight kilometres with sections over twelve percent. From there, riders can loop onto the right bank via the Pont de l'Artuby and the fourteen belvederes of the Route des Crêtes, a one-way circuit above La Palud-sur-Verdon that closes each winter under snow.
Further along the ridge, the road climbs again to the Col d'Ayen at just over a thousand metres. This is riding for the scenery as much as the legs: hairpins cut into limestone cliffs, sudden views straight down to the river four hundred metres below, and a return descent into Aiguines with the lake laid out beneath.
