Camping Little Carpe Diem - Les Olivettes

The Durance river runs through the region around this park, making it prime for rafting on the water as well as climbing and canyoning beside its banks. Like to get your kicks kayaking? Do it from Villeneuve, 20 minutes away, or swoop into the sky via hot air balloon on a trip organised from Forcualquier (a 25-minute drive). Abbeys are abundant in this area of religious and historical significance, with the Benedictine structure at Ganagobie being 30 minutes from the park. Unshockingly for France, châteaux are everywhere too – try the 18th-century Castle Sauvan about a half an hour’s drive away with a garden the French Ministry of Culture has labelled one of the best in the nation. Think you’ll be ready to return to nature after all the culture? Plan on travelling to the rusty red rocks of the Provençal Colorado region, an hour and five minutes by car to see desert-like scenery and the remains of former ochre-mining quarries. If blue’s more your colour, make tracks to Verdon gorge (an hour and 30 minutes away) to canoe through the turquoise water beside towering cliffs...