Our pick
- Village
Old Nans
Before moving down to the plain, Nans was a fortified village perched above today's town. Its ramparts and the remains of its 12th-century castle can still be read in the scrubland.
Nans-les-Pins
Heritage and history
Old Nans, the chapels and oratories, the grotto of Mary Magdalene and the memory of the massif.
Our pick
- Natural site
The Huveaune springs
At the northern foot of the Sainte-Baume, the Huveaune comes out of the ground in the Castelette valley and builds, over its first metres, a string of clear travertine basins. A site in a biological reserve, as fragile as it is beautiful.
Our pick
- Ice house
The Pivaut ice house
In Mazaugues, on the eastern side of the massif, the Pivaut ice house is a sandstone tower 23 metres high that could store 3,100 cubic metres of ice. Built in 1880, restored and open to visitors, it tells the story of a forgotten industry.
Our pick
- Chapel
The Saint-Pilon chapel
Perched on the Sainte-Baume ridge, the Saint-Pilon chapel marks the high point of the pilgrimage and one of the widest panoramas in Provence, from the sea to the Alps.
Our pick
- Natural site
The Sainte-Baume forest
On the north slope of the mountain, a forest of beech, yew, lime and maple survives a few kilometres from the Mediterranean, protected for fifteen centuries and now a biological reserve.
Our pick
- Cave
The Sainte-Baume grotto
Hollowed into the limestone of the cliff, the grotto where Provençal tradition places the last thirty years of Mary Magdalene has been a place of pilgrimage for fifteen centuries, kept by the Dominicans since 1295.
- Oratory
The Béguines oratory
Beside the Sainte-Baume road, on the Béguines estate, a stone oratory of 1516 reminds travellers that they are following the old pilgrims' way. It has been listed as a historic monument since 1938.
- Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Miséricorde chapel
Built in 1623 for the brotherhood of the White Penitents, the Miséricorde chapel closes the Grand-Rue and serves as the starting point of the paths that climb towards the Huveaune and the Sainte-Baume.
- Church
The Saint-Laurent church
In the heart of the village, the church of Saint-Sébastien-Saint-Laurent houses a bronze bell cast in 1670, listed as a historic monument. Its bell tower overlooks the Grand-Rue.
- Archaeological site
The Sainte-Croix oppidum
On the Sainte-Croix hill, south of the village, Iron Age ramparts bear witness to a fortified settlement occupied for two centuries, around 200 BC.
- Historic route
The chemin des Roys
From Saint-Maximin to the Sainte-Baume through Nans-les-Pins, the chemin des Roys is the route that kings, popes and pilgrims followed for centuries to the grotto of Mary Magdalene. It can still be walked.
- Natural site
The pic de Bertagne
At the western end of the Sainte-Baume ridge, the pic de Bertagne culminates at 1,042 metres, the highest point of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, recognisable from afar by its radar station.