Hyères: Flamingos on the Salt Pans and a Cubist Villa
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
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Pesquiers Flamingo Spotter
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Hyères: Flamingos on the Salt Pans and a Cubist Villa
225 + 100 XP
The Giens peninsula hangs off Hyeres on a double tombolo, one of only five in the world, and between its two arms lie the old salt pans of Les Pesquiers, where flamingos are present all year and peak at more than a thousand birds on the spring and autumn migrations. Above the town stands the Villa Noailles, the modernist house Robert Mallet-Stevens built for the Noailles from 1923.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk or cycle the Route du Sel along the Giens double tombolo, then join an LPO guided walk onto the Salin des Pesquiers itself and pick out the flamingos through the warden's telescope
2
of 4
Walk the coast path from the Salin des Pesquiers to the Vieux Salins
3
of 4
Visit the Villa Noailles, the house Robert Mallet-Stevens built for the Noailles between 1923 and 1925 and went on extending to 1933 until it held 60 rooms and the first covered private swimming pool in France, and find Gabriel Guevrekian's triangular cubist garden of 1925 and the empty point where Lipchitz's bronze La Joie de Vivre stood
4
of 4
Walk up through the old town to the Castel Sainte-Claire, the romantic-revival villa built by Olivier Voutier, the man who found the Venus de Milo, where the novelist Edith Wharton wintered until her death in 1937, and walk the terraced garden she planted, now a Jardin remarquable
Walk or cycle the Route du Sel along the Giens double tombolo, then join an LPO guided walk onto the Salin des Pesquiers itself and pick out the flamingos through the warden's telescope
Walk the coast path from the Salin des Pesquiers to the Vieux Salins
Visit the Villa Noailles, the house Robert Mallet-Stevens built for the Noailles between 1923 and 1925 and went on extending to 1933 until it held 60 rooms and the first covered private swimming pool in France, and find Gabriel Guevrekian's triangular cubist garden of 1925 and the empty point where Lipchitz's bronze La Joie de Vivre stood
Walk up through the old town to the Castel Sainte-Claire, the romantic-revival villa built by Olivier Voutier, the man who found the Venus de Milo, where the novelist Edith Wharton wintered until her death in 1937, and walk the terraced garden she planted, now a Jardin remarquable
Before you go
Flamingos are on the Pesquiers pans all year; the biggest counts, over a thousand birds, come with the spring and autumn migrations.
The Salin des Pesquiers can only be entered on an LPO guided walk, about two hours, booked in advance through the Hyeres tourist office. There are one to four walks a week depending on the season.
The Route du Sel across the tombolo is one-way and closed to traffic in bad weather and when the sea washes over it; the parallel cycle track stays open.
There is no shade on the salt pans - take water and sun cover, and binoculars if you have them.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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