Camping Les Chênes Verts

The park is right on the road to the commune of Vallon Pont D'arc, the gateway to the Gorges de l'Ardèche nature reserve. You can hop in a canoe or a kayak to explore the waterways here – and if you're strong enough, you can paddle all the way to Sauze or Saint-Martin, 26 kilometres away. Not far from the Pont d'Arc natural stone bridge you'll find the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave; discovered as recently as 1994, it displays on its walls some of the world's best-preserved cave paintings. Visit Païolive Wood – known locally as the forest of the 'fados' (fairies) – a natural labyrinth of petrified-forest rocks amidst a durmast oak wood, creating an unusual wooded landscape of cliffs, towers and arches. Take a trip out to Thueyts, around half an hour's drive away, for several natural highlights including the Pont du Diable (Devil's Bridge), the Gueule d'Enfer Waterfall and the Giant's Causeway – comprising some of the tallest basalt columns in Europe. Then continue further north to visit the Ray-Pic Waterfall, a 60 meter-high cascade fed by a 35,000-year-old lava bed that underlies the Bourge river.