Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
Maison du Parc National du Mercantour
(Visitor Centre; 04 93 03 23 15; rue Ser-
rurier, St-Martin-Vésubie; 9am-noon & 2-6pm mid-June-mid-Sept)
St-Martin-Vésubie Tourist Office
( 04 93 03 21 28;
www.saintmartinvesubie.fr
; place
Félix Faure;
9am-7pm daily Jun-Sep, 9am-noon & 2pm-6pm Mon-Fri Oct-May; )
Getting There & Away
Conseil Général des Alpes-Maritimes
(
www.cg06.fr
)
buses (€1) connect Nice with St-
Martin-Vésubie (one hour) and La Colmiane (1¼ hours).
VIA FERRATA
During WWI Italian troops moved swiftly through the Dolomites - the natural frontier between Italy and Austria
- using iron-rung ladders and steel cables bolted into the mountainside. Today, similar routes known as
via ferrata
(meaning 'iron way' in Italian) allow fit, adventurous tourists, with no specific rock-climbing experience, to scale
the rock faces for thrilling Alpine vistas. You need only be in shape and able to walk narrow ledges without get-
ting vertigo.
This region has a clutch of
via ferrata
courses (see
www.viaferrata.org
and
Les Guides Randoxygène
(
http://asp.zone-secure.net/v2/index.jsp
?
id=105/99/12816)
- rigged at dizzying heights - including at Digne-les-
Bains, St-Martin-Vésubie and Tende. First-timers can tackle short sections. Equipment hire, guides and tickets are
generally handled by local tourist offices.
Vallée des Merveilles
The 'Valley of Wonders' contains one of the world's most stupendous collections of
Bronze Age petroglyphs, dating from between 1800 and 1500 BC, believed to have ori-
ginated with a Ligurian cult. Effectively an open-air gallery wedged between the Vésubie
and Roya Valleys, it comprises over 36,000 prehistoric rock carvings of human figures,
bulls and animals, spread 30 sq km around
Mont Bégo
(2870m).
The main access is via the westbound D91 from St-Dalmas-de-Tende, in Vallée de la
Roya, to
Castérino
, where there's the summertime-only
national park office
( 04 93
