Mercantour National Park

Mercantour National Park sits in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes departments, close enough to the Mediterranean that the transition from coast to high mountain happens within a short drive. Created in 1979, it has proved popular: around 800,000 visitors a year use its 600 kilometres of marked footpaths and the villages inside it. That combination (a dense, well-signed path network and hill villages to stay in) makes it one of the more approachable of the French high parks, though the ground itself gains height quickly.