One of the main reasons behind France's popularity as a country to explore is the sheer diversity of the kind of holiday that can be had: summer beach destinations, walking expeditions, skiing trips, and château hotels are all features, and the region of Provence (officially 'Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur') has all of these covered.

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is in the central-north of Provence itself. Among the more spectacular sights of this departement are the Gorges du Verdon, carving their way through the centre of the region. Within this setting, many lively activities are available; rockclimbing, paragliding and horseriding are popular pursuits. The Verdon Regional Natural Park, National Park of Mercantour and Luberon Regional Natural Park are all partly sited in this area. The town of Sisteron is best known for its citadel, a part of which was dedicated to Napoleon who came through here after his exile in Elba. The little village Annot is unusual in that it features houses built next to odd-shaped sandstone rocks known as the 'Grés d'Annot'. Twelve towns which are classified as 'villages of character', owing to their architecture and setting, are Annot, Castellane, Colmars-les-Alpes, Cruis, Dauphin, Entrevaux, Lurs, Mane, Riez, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Seyne-les-Alpes and ...............READ MORE ABOUT PROVENCE AND THE COTE D'AZUR