Gorges du Verdon Area - in the summer???

I have done the drive a few times and I am not overly fond of scary mountain passes, but this drive is not bad at all. Mostly gentle mountain roads... nothing like the Amalfi Coast (which I did once, but would not like to repeat)
I did not stay there, I only went for a day trip, but would imagine it would be a delightful place to spend a few days. It was somewhat crowded but I was there in May and June. Its very beautiful.

I spent a week in Moustiers and drove both the top and the bottom of the Gorges. While they're not a piece of cake, they're not that bad. On the other hand, it was the off season and no cars were on my ass. The French like to tailgate, which could make one nervous in the Summer when there's lots of traffic. And while Moustier was calm in April, I could see from the amount of parking spaces that it must be a zoo in the Summer. And from below, we rented pedaloes and drove them along the river, looking up towards where we had driven the previous days, and it was spectacular.

We were there at the end of June and loved it. We went from east-to-west on the north side while traveling from Grasse to Lourmarin. We took the one-way circuit which yielded spectacular views from several stopping areas along the way. The road wasn't packed the day we were there-and it was afternoon on a beautiful day. I agree with Terry Kathyrn that the roads weren't bad, but haven't driven Amalfi Coast to compare. Didn't spend the night so I can't help with that aspect. Happy travels!

Thanks everyone. I'm also wondering if morning is the only or best time to rent a boat on the gorge. If you get to the area later in the day, can you still find boats available?

We stayed at Restanques de Moustiers last Spring and loved the hotel. Very clean large rooms with views, nice staff and a few minutes walk from Moustiers. I recommend it!

Pat, it is one of the places I'm considering (Les Restanques). I'm also considering Clarissy (because it's really inexpensive - we need three rooms for two nights). My only concern is parking in Moustiers in August. Clarissy is in a great village location, but no parking. Will we be able to find parking around Moustiers if we want to use the car to go back and forth to the lake, or for a drive. I read that there are some parking lots just outside the village. I just don't want to be in the situation where there is absolutely no place to park (we had this happen in Positano last summer).

Our week in Moustiers was in April, and we saw the massive number of parking spaces on the outskirts of the village. Since there were clearly far more parking spaces than hotel rooms in the town, it means they get huge numbers of day visitors. So if you stay in town you should be able to get parking on the outskirts at least at the end of the day, and your hotel probably has some kind of an arrangement even though it won't have its own parking on-site. It's a beautiful place to stay; walking around the town at night is magical.

Thanks Robert! That is good to know. I'm okay with the parking off-site, since we will not be carrying much.

Great, Kerry. We stayed in an apartment in the center, and had to park in the same area you'd be parking. As you'll see when you're there, Moustiers center and cars don't mix. There was a post at the end of our street preventing cars from even driving down the street unless they had a key to lower the post. We had a key so we could load and unload, but couldn't park in the center. But the walk is quite short.

I can't wait to go; it sounds beautiful. We'll be staying in Provence for a total of three weeks. I have a home exchange in a village called Pelissanne, which is centered in an area between Avignon, Arles & Aix. Moustiers and the Gorges du Verdon are just one of the places I can't wait to visit! What else in the area did you like especially, if you don't mind my asking.

I just looked to see where Pelissanne was, since I wasn't familiar with it. We've stayed to the northeast (a week in Bonnieux) and the northwest (2 weeks in St. Remy), and there's just so much there, in addition to Arles (which I loved), Aix (ditto), and Avignon (which I didn't like but so many people do). As to villages, you could just randomly drive northeast and northwest and you'd see so much w/o even needing a guidebook. There's Fontvielle to the west, and then a little past Bonnieux are the villages made famous by Peter Mayle: Menerbes, Goult, Gordes, and Roussillon. For a slightly bigger town, there's L'isle-sur-la-Sourgue, which has an incredible Sunday market that sprawls through the town and along the river.
After I look at the map again I'll get an idea where we spent our time when we stayed in Moustiers, other than the Verdun Gorges, and see if I have any suggestions there.

Kerry, Back in 1999, I went on an organized hiking tour in this area which included a hike through the Verdon Gorge. It really is lovely. I would definitely recommend that you see it from down below. I was there in September and it was quite warm, so I do suggest that you try to go early in the day. If you actually go hiking down into the gorge, be aware that it is a hike where you need hiking boots and there are some parts that are somewhat challenging (e.g. metal ladders, narrow rocky climbs, tunnels, etc.). We did the hike one way (from La Maline to Point Sublime) and it took most of the day. We stayed in 5 different towns on this hike - Riez, Moustiers, La Palud sur Verdon, Castellane, and Saint Andre les Alpes. Moustiers was definitely the most charming of the towns, but Castellane was also an interesting stop and Saint Andres les Alpes is a pleasant resort town on a lake. From Saint Andres les Alpes, we took the Train des Pignes back to Nice and I recall that there we passed some very nice towns (but of course, don't remember the names). In Moustiers, we stayed at Hotel Le Columbier. As it has been so long, I can't comment on the hotel quality now, but the location was an easy walk to the town.

Kerry, I realized that I hadn't followed-up on the Moustiers part as I promised, and the prior answer spurred me to do so. We did stop in Castellane, and it is definitely worth a visit. And I agree that seeing the gorges from below is worth it. I think I mentioned previously that we rented pedaloes and drove along the river looking up to where we had driven on prior days. As to hiking, I noticed the hiking trails while riding on the pedaloe, and thought: "There's no way I could do that." But it looked amazing. So if you're young and fit enough, do it.

Thanks Robert and Laura! Your comments have been very helpful. I will definitely check out your suggestions. We definitely will see the gorges from below, via boat. My family group consists of kids and grandma, so unfortunately, the hiking part won't work for us. I'll definitely look into visiting some of the towns you recommend. Thanks again!

With grandma I don't think my recommendation of a pedalo will work either. My back was killing me after 1 1/2 hours on the pedalo, although the views were so spectacular I didn't regret it. And the wine back at our apartment eased the back pain. So a boat will definitely be better.

Thanks Robert. We will have the wine ready and waiting, and maybe Advil too! Actually, my mother is in pretty good shape at 70, and she's a really good swimmer. She just can't hike because she suffers from Diabetic Leg Neuropathy (painful). Can you get off the pedalo to swim? That would help stretch out the back muscles. My 10 year old daughter is dying to rent one of the pedalo's with the slide (we've rented them for her in Positano, Italy and Nerja, Spain). I showed her a picture of people in pedalo's on the Gorges, and we spotted the ones with the slide. Now, SHE is dying to go!

Kerry, I didn't even think about whether you could get off the pedalo to swim, but maybe because it was April and it was the first nice day after a few days of cool rainy weather, so it probably would have been too cold. But I don't see why not. And although we did pedaloing after having driven around the gorges earlier in the week, and looked up and said: "I can't believe we drove those roads up there," I suspect if you do it in reverse, when you're driving the gorges you'll look down and say: "I can't believe we were down there on the river." It's pretty spectacular.