Cirque de Navacelles

About this place

The Cirque de Navacelles is a huge erosional landform at the southern edge of the Massif Central, near the villages of Saint-Maurice-Navacelles and Blandas between the Hérault and Gard departments of southern France, about 42 km southeast of Millau in a straight line. The Vis River cut a deep channel into a limestone plateau, forming an incised meander, then broke through the neck of the loop and cut it off, leaving an oxbow lake that later dried up and left deposits of silt and peat. This became the only patch of arable land for many miles around. Visitor numbers rose after the Millau Viaduct and the A75 motorway were completed in 2004. From the rim of the plateau the view opens onto a deep round chasm ringed by grey limestone cliffs striped with horizontal layers, with round green fields on its floor wrapped around a small hill at the centre of the old meander, and the little stone village of Navacelles by the river. Most visitors stop at the viewpoints on the rim to take in the scene; some drive down a winding road to the village at the bottom or follow the hiking trails. The area is remote, with only a few small villages around it.