Hiking to Calanque d'En Vau: The Best Route & Hacks 2024

Visiting the Calanques National Park in the South of France is something that should be on everyone’s bucket list. These narrow, limestone inlets can be found along the Mediterranean coast, and the contrasting stillness of their turquoise waters against the rough cliffs that surround them make for an incredible sight. Probably the most popular is Calanque d’En Vau, a stunning, isolated cove that takes some effort to get to, but is very much worth it. In this guide, I’ll show the best ways to get to Calanque d’En Vau, and the dos and donts I learned from doing it myself.

Where are the Calanques?

The Calanques National Park was established in 2012 and is located between Marseille and Cassis. The park stretches over 201 sq mi, of which only 33 sq mi is land, and the rest is marine area! It’s the first national park in Europe to be land, sea, island and peri-urban (meaning it’s adjacent to a city or urban area) and is home to 140 protected species and plants.

Why visit Calanque d’En Vau?

Probably the most famous of all the Calanques, Calanque d’En Vau’s dramatic cliffs, turqouise water and remote location make it a firm favourites amongst visitors to the park. As a true testament to how beautiful it is, it’s even been the backdrop for movies and TV series.

Its isolated and sheltered location makes it the perfect spot for swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing. It is one of the trickier calanques to reach, but the effort is well worth the reward!

Things to know before going to Calanque d’En Vau

Stop off in a shop in Cassis to get food (& plenty of water) before you start your walk. There’s no fancy beach bars on the route. If you don’t bring it with you, you won’t be able to buy it.
Just as you should bring everything you need with you, make sure you take it home with you too. There’s no bins in the park, so bring a spare bag to put your rubbish in.
Learn from my mistake and bring a rucksack, not a cute straw beach bag. There are points where you’ll need your hands to help your descent, so it’s much more practical to have a backpack.
Make sure you’ve got sensible shoes. You’re not going to be scaling a mountain but there are parts where you will need to do some climbing, so good grip is essential.
Another “learn from my mistakes” tip is to set off early so you aren’t walking in the midday sun. This will also mean you arrive at Calanque d’En Vau with plenty of time to enjoy it.
Bring cash with you. I told a little lie earlier when I said there weren’t any shops along the route. There’s a stall selling drinks and ice cream in the car park at the very beginning. As you start and finish in the same place, you’ll pass it at the end. And seeing a stall selling ice creams in the blazing heat when you’ve been walking for over an hour, and not being able to buy one because they only take cash, is up there with the worst heartbreaks I’ve felt. So bring cash, please – you’ll also need it for the all-day parking.
The National Park’s open year-round, although it’ll sometimes close in summer due to fire risks. If you’re travelling to France in peak season, it’s best to check on the parks website to see if its open before you visit.

Getting to Calanque d’En Vau on foot

STEP#1 – CASSIS TO CALANQUE DE PORT-MIOU

The hike to Calanque d’En Vau starts in Calanque de Port-Miou, which is about a 10-minute drive from Cassis. Alternatively, you could walk from Cassis to Calanque de Port-Miou, it takes about 25 minutes.

If you can, I’d recommend driving. Although it’s not a long walk from Cassis, you’ll probably be pretty tired by the time you finish your hike, and you’ll be grateful you have an air-conditioned car waiting for you at the end.

If you want to hire a car for your trip to Calanque d’En Vau, I’d recommend booking with Discover Cars. They compare costs across loads of different companies, show you all the costs upfront (including the fees & the extras), and provide free cancellation.

WHERE TO PARK:

Option #1 – There’s a car park next to Port-Miou which is the easiest place to park if you can get a space. It costs €8 for the day in peak season and you’ll need cash. Type ‘Parking Calanque Port-Miou Cassis’ into Google Maps, or use these co-ordinates – 43.20904391660773, 5.519346130172532

Option #2 – If you can’t find a space in the car park, you can park on the street. This is what we did as we didn’t have cash and it was fine. Just make sure you choose a street that’s close enough to the starting point. We parked on Av. Jean Jacques Garcin, the Google Maps co-ordinates are 43.2091575, 5.5244329

GETTING TO THE START

From the car park, it’ll be pretty obvious where you need to go as there’ll most likely be hoards of people doing the same route as you. If you go off-season or get a particularly quiet day where there’s no one to follow, you want to head back down Avenue Notre Dame from the car park until you see the start of the route marked on a post. You’ll follow that road down (there’s a few rocks you’ll need to get down first) until you reach a car park (not open to the public) and the ice-cream/drinks stall I mentioned earlier. It’ll be pretty obvious where to go from here as there’s a huge map and markings on the rocks.

For those of you who prefer a visual reference over written instructions (me included) here’s a map to show where you’re headed from the car park!

STEP #2 – HIKING ALONG CALANQUE DE PORT-MIOU

The hike begins at the top of Calanque de Port-Miou, and at this point, it’s a fairly easy stroll along a flat path. It’s a beautiful section of the walk, with cliffs to your right and a view over the marina to the left.

STEP #3 – CALANQUE DE PORT MIOU TO CALANQUE DE PORT PIN

From Port-Miou, you’ll carry on along the same path towards Calanque de Port Pin. Keep an eye out for the red and white markings along the route (usually painted on rocks) – the trail’s colour coded and they’ll let you know you’re going in the right direction.

This part of the hike takes about 30 minutes and is still fairly easy. There’s a slight hill as you leave Calanque de Port-Miou and you’ll find the path gets a bit rockier towards Port Pin, but nothing too strenuous.

Travel tip: Just before you arrive at Port Pin, you’ll need to go down some stairs. About halfway down, there’s a rocky area that looks over the cove. You’ll need to climb over the fence to get to it, but it’s a great viewpoint over the Calanque.

You’ll want to spend some time at Port Pin – it’s the perfect place to cool off after the hike. It gets its name from the pine trees that surround it, and it’s a gorgeous spot with turquoise waters ideal for snorkeling, swimming, and relaxing.

STEP #3 – CALANQUE DE PORT PIN TO CALANQUE D’EN VAU

We spent about an hour at Calanque de Port Pin, before setting off to Calanque d’En Vau. If you’re standing with your back to the sea, you’ll want to head towards the left-hand corner of the Calanque. Here, you’ll come across two signs. One points left towards Calanque d’En Vau and says ‘sentier panoramique’ meaning ‘scenic trail’ (the blue route). The other points right – this is the inland trail (staying on the red & white trail).

Now I’m going to tell you what we did at this stage and what I’d recommend doing instead. We went left, taking the scenic route because we wanted to see the views over the Calanques. About 5 minutes into the scenic route, you’ll come across a pretty epic view (below).

Incase you get stuck, the Google Map co-ordinates for the viewpoint are
43.2034779, 5.5091079.

At this point, I’d genuinely recommend turning back and taking the inland route to Calanque d’En Vau, unless you really love walking. Yes, this isn’t a view of Calanque d’En Vau, but it was genuinely the best view we saw on our walk. And the walk was long. At one point we’d been hiking for what felt like forever, we were very red-faced and very tired and thought we must nearly be there, only to come across a fellow walker returning from Calanque d’En Vau who told us we had at least 30 minutes to go. And I was very much over it by this point, and very much regretting not turning right!

It’s worth noting that we didn’t really help ourselves here, we were walking at the hottest time of the day and we didn’t have enough water (as you can tell we’re not avid hikers). I’m also pretty sure we missed the views over Calanque d’En Vau – I’ve seen them in other guides to the Calanques but we were too fed up to try and find them. You know yourself best, so you might take the scenic route and think it’s a walk in the park! But if a friend asked me how to get to Calanque d’En Vau, this is what I’d recommend they do.

This section of the hike from Calanque de Port Pin to Calanque d’En Vau is definitely the trickiest. The path is more uneven and overgrown, so it’s important you’ve got sturdy shoes on. It’s also very high (which is how you get good views). But if you don’t like heights I’d strongly recommend you don’t walk this way. I’m not a big lover of heights and there were points where the path was quite narrow and I found it quite scary.

STEP #4 – GETTING DOWN TO CALANQUE D’EN VAU

Both hikes to Calanque d’En Vau (the inland & the scenic route) meet at the same patch of land. It’s unassuming and you can’t see the Calanque from here so it’d be easy to think you’re in the wrong place. For the final part of the hike, you’ll need to climb down a craggy rock to get to Calanque d’En Vau. It’s not particularly difficult (it looks worse in the picture than it actually is). But you’ll want to take your time if you’re not used to climbing. Once you’ve made your way down, there’s another 15-minute walk down some more rocks and through a wooded area before you get your first glimpse of Calanque d’En Vau – woohoo!

STEP #5 – GETTING BACK FROM CALANQUE D’EN VAU

This one’s pretty simple, you can get back from Calanque d’En Vau by going back the same way you came. You might want to switch it up and take the scenic route one way and the inland route back (which is what we did). We couldn’t believe how quick it was to get back to Port Pin when we took the inland route. We were only walking for about 30 minutes. So for that reason, I’d recommend taking the inland route both ways. After all, the main event is Calanque d’En Vau and you want to spend as much time there as possible.

Getting to Calanque d’En Vau with a guide

If you’re not confident figuring it out yourself, or you’d like to learn more about the area, you can book a guided hike to Calanque d’En Vau.

Tickets cost £34pp and include:

Hotel pickup and drop-off (much easier than trying to find a parking space!)
A local guide
Visits to Port-Miou, Port-Pin, and En-Vau

➡️ Compare guided tours

Getting to Calanque d’En Vau by water

For the ultimate Calanques experience, nothing can beat arriving from the sea. You’ll see Calanque d’En Vau from a completely unique perspective, and you’ll avoid the sweaty hike to get there! There’s three options if you want to get to Calanque d’En Vau by water:

OPTION #1 – KAYAKING

It takes about an hour to kayak to Calanque d’En Vau and you can book in advance with Lo’Kayak. You can either select a guided tour or take the kayaks out on your own. If you want to go out by yourself, the prices are below:

If you’d prefer a guided tour, you’ll need to get a quote from the company.

OPTION #2 – PADDLEBOARDING

For a completely unique route to Calanque d’En Vau, book a Standup Paddleboarding tour with a local guide. Tickets cost £55pp:

OPTION #3 – BY BOAT

If you’d prefer to relax whilst someone else does the hard work, you can get a boat to Calanque d’En Vau. Here’s a few options:

PUBLIC BOAT

Boats leave Cassis every 30 minutes from 9:30am – 12pm and from 2pm to 6pm, and you can get your ticket at the quay – there’s no reservations. You’ll be able to choose from two different routes:

3 calanques – Port-Miou, Port-Pin, and En-Vau (45 minutes). Tickets are £15 for Adults, £8 for children aged between 5-13 and 85p for children under 1.
9 calanques – Port-miou to Sormiou (1:50h). Tickets are £24 for Adults, £17 for children aged between 5-13 and 85p for children under 1.

It’s worth noting that these are large boats taking between 70-130 passengers. In my opinion, your experience won’t be as authentic if you choose this option. There’s no swimming allowed and you’ll be on a strict schedule.

PRIVATE BOAT

Private boat with a skipper – Several companies run private boat trips to Calanque d’En Vau, including L’Eden and Cassimer. It’s not cheap though – 3 hours will cost you around £550.

Self-driven private boat – It’s not necessary to have a boat license to hire a boat in the Calanques (you’ll just be driving boats with much smaller engines). For me, this is the best way to see Calanque d’En Vau – from the water, just you and your friends/partner/family, driving your very own boat. JCF Boat Services are a great option if this is something you’d like to do. It’s also much more affordable to do it this way, you’ll pay £130 to have the boat for 3 hours in high season.

Where to stay if you’re visiting Calanque d’En Vau

When we visited Calanque d’En Vau, we were staying in Luberon, a stunning region in the heart of Provence. As gorgeous as it was, I wouldn’t recommend staying here for easy access to Calanque d’En Vau. It’s about a 1-hour 45-minute drive from Luberon to the Calanques. We’re not fussed by long drives, so we turned it into a road trip, but it was a long day.

If I was to do it again, I’d stay in Cassis – a small, fishing village in the South of France, and only a 10-minute drive from Calanque d’En Vau. At the end of the hike we were driving past all the gorgeous bars in Cassis on our way back to Luberon and we wished we were staying there so we could enjoy a drink!

If you’re thinking of staying in Cassis, here’s a few hotels I’d recommend:

I hope you find this guide useful if you’re heading to Calanque d’En Vau from Cassis. I’d love to know how you get on in the comments!