Toulon: The Mont Faron Cable Car and the Memorial to the Provence Landings
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Toulon: The Mont Faron Cable Car and the Memorial to the Provence Landings
225 + 100 XP
A cable car climbs from Toulon to the plateau of Mont Faron, where the memorial to the landings in Provence, inaugurated by General de Gaulle on 15 August 1964 in the Tour Beaumont, remembers the Allied landings of 15 August 1944. It was rebuilt inside and reopened in April 2017, and is one of the ten Hauts lieux de la mémoire nationale. The ride up and down looks out over the whole roadstead of Toulon.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Ride the cable car the 1,437 m up to the plateau, climbing 378 m in six minutes, and count the five pylons as you pass them — the longest gap, 685 m with nothing underneath, is between the fourth and the fifth, on a slope that reaches 45 per cent
2
of 4
Go into the memorial, which the architects built out of the Tour Beaumont, a small coastal-watch fort of 1845, and stand at the entrance where an OAS bomb hidden in a jar failed to explode as de Gaulle opened the place on 15 August 1964, twenty years to the day after the landings
3
of 4
Walk east along the flat top of the mountain, which reaches 584 m, to the fort de la Croix-Faron, and from the edge pick out how many of the nine forts guarding the roadstead of Toulon you can see from one spot
4
of 4
Walk over to the animal park on the plateau, which breeds big cats rather than keeping a general collection, and find which species it currently has cubs of
Ride the cable car the 1,437 m up to the plateau, climbing 378 m in six minutes, and count the five pylons as you pass them — the longest gap, 685 m with nothing underneath, is between the fourth and the fifth, on a slope that reaches 45 per cent
Go into the memorial, which the architects built out of the Tour Beaumont, a small coastal-watch fort of 1845, and stand at the entrance where an OAS bomb hidden in a jar failed to explode as de Gaulle opened the place on 15 August 1964, twenty years to the day after the landings
Walk east along the flat top of the mountain, which reaches 584 m, to the fort de la Croix-Faron, and from the edge pick out how many of the nine forts guarding the roadstead of Toulon you can see from one spot
Walk over to the animal park on the plateau, which breeds big cats rather than keeping a general collection, and find which species it currently has cubs of
Before you go
The cable car runs from 7 February to 25 November, daily, with a midday break outside July and August, and does not run in December or January. It shuts in very strong wind and when the prefecture closes the hills for fire risk, and it comes off for technical overhauls in late June and at the start of September, so check it is turning before driving to the lower station.
If you drive up instead, the summit road is single-lane and one-way: you go up the west side of the mountain and come down the east. It is not a road for a long motorhome, and the lower cable car station has only a small park-and-ride car park.
The Mont Faron cable car runs from early February to late November — the 2026 season is 7 February to 25 November — so it is shut for December, January and the first week of February, and the ride that gives this challenge its name cannot be done then. It also closes in very strong wind and whenever the préfecture shuts the Toulon massifs for extreme fire risk, and it stops for technical overhauls in late June and the first days of September. The memorial itself stays open through the winter, closed every Monday from November to March and from 14 to 31 December; it is reachable by the route du Faron if the cable car is not running, on a narrow one-way mountain road that is not for a long motorhome.
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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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