Lac de Sainte-Croix, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France

5SiobhanBrady 5:00 PM Aug 24, 2014

Lac de sainte croix in gorges du Verdon
Drove to Gorges du Verdon from near St Tropez today and it was totally worth the 2 hour drive. We went to Les Salles Sur Verdon where we soon found a free car park and one of several boat hire places. (Drive all the way through the village and look for the signs for the camping sites). We hired a pedalo with a slide for 3 hours (40 euros) (other time periods are available from one hour upwards) and peddled across to a small island in the lake and then back out into the lake where we swam and dived in off the boat. The water was beautifully clear and quite warm. Then we hired an electric boat and went around the island which took about 45 minutes. Later, as we drove around to Moustiers St Marie we saw that boats and kayaks etc could be hired and taken up the river in the gorge itself with the steep mountain rocks on either side - this was obviously very popular as many people were doing it. We had arrived at Les Salles sur Verdon at about 10.45am and there were plenty of parking and boats available. Later, at about 2 pm there was a short wait of about half an hour for an electric boat and there may have been a wait for other boats as well. The scenery was amazing, the lake lovely and really we'll worth the drive - the whole family had a great day in spectacular surroundings.

4AdvisorKing 5:00 PM Sep 17, 2022

Fun day of kayaking!
We drove up to Lac de Sainte-Croix September 1 hoping to kayak the Gorges du Verdon. I don’t remember if we knew before we got there that access to the canyon by the river was closed due to low water levels, or if we learned that when we got there. In any event, we rented a single and a double kayak from the place just across the (north side of) the bridge (Base Nautique L’Etoile) paying a combined 70 Euros for three hours (which was 20 Euros off their posted rate). We had a lovely day kayaking, first up toward the canyon as far as we could go (it is roped off), and then into the lake where we had a packed lunch. The Base Nautique L’Etoile staff were very helpful. They provided all the safety equipment and provided good advice on how much we should expect to be able to accomplish in terms of kayaking around the lake.