Roussillon Ochre Trail

About this place

The Ochre Trail, the Sentier des Ocres, is a walking path through an old ochre quarry by the village of Roussillon in the Vaucluse department of Provence, southern France, inside the Luberon Regional Natural Park, about 8 km east of Gordes and 40 km east of Avignon in a straight line. Roussillon belongs to the «Most Beautiful Villages of France» association. Roussillon is famous for the rich ochre deposits in the clay around the village; ochre is a natural pigment ranging from yellow and orange to red. Its large quarries were worked from the end of the 18th century until 1930, employing thousands of people. Today mining is banned to protect the sites from damage. The trail runs between cliffs and earth pillars in vivid orange, red and yellow, carved by rain and wind into strange shapes and topped by dark green pines under a blue sky, so the colours look like a desert scene. The village itself stands on an ochre ridge, its houses painted in warm earth tones. Visitors follow the trail in 30 or 60 minutes depending on the loop, on steps and wooden walkways. The earth stains shoes and clothes, so wear old ones; the trail sometimes closes in heavy rain, and it pairs well with nearby Gordes.