A Verdon hike
Current conditions (weather, water releases, fire risk, closures) to check before you go — see the state of the Verdon.
No source agrees on these figures. Rather than silently picking one, we show the value we kept, where it comes from, and why we chose it — the other published values stay visible. We don’t erase contradictions, we explain them.
Value kept after cross-checking the sources. The other values come from GPS tracks or from route variants.
The Tour de Robion is a big loop that goes right around the massif de Robion, above Castellane, overlooking the Verdon. Allow about 16 km for 715 m of elevation gain, walked in 6 to 7 hours. It is a major hike — not to be confused with the climb to the summit, which follows a different route (see below).
Verified on 5 July 2026 with the Castellane-Verdon Tourist Office and Visorando. The two sources diverge on the distance and above all on the difficulty: we keep both values rather than inventing a third one.
| Distance | ~16 km |
| Elevation gain | 715 m (725 m of descent) |
| Duration | 6 to 7 h |
| Difficulty | Very difficult (Tourist Office) / medium (Visorando) — see below |
| Type | Loop |
| Start | Castellane |
Two sources document this loop, and they do not say the same thing. Here are the figures exactly as they are published — we do not settle what cannot be settled.
| Data point | Castellane-Verdon Tourist Office | Visorando | What we make of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 16 km | 16.95 km | A kilometre apart, consistent with GPS traces and slightly different starting points. |
| Elevation gain | 715 m (725 m of descent) | 757 m | A moderate gap, of the same order as the variation in distance. |
| Duration | 6 h | 7 h | The duration follows logically from the distance each source measures. |
| Difficulty | Very difficult | Medium | Strong conflict: two opposite assessments. Neither one is ‘the right one’ — it depends on your level and on the conditions of the day. |
The name ‘Robion’ covers two different hikes in the Castellane Tourist Office guide, and it is a classic source of confusion:
Less distance but more ascent for the climb: these really are two separate routes, not two versions of the same one.
The documented landmarks stay sparse — we stick to what the sources describe:
Visorando sums the loop up as a ‘magnificent hike overlooking the Verdon’.
We would rather say it than fill the gaps:
These fields will be completed as soon as a reliable source documents them.
Data cross-checked and verified on 2026-07-05: Castellane-Verdon Tourist Office (castellane-verdon.com, hiking page) and Visorando (visorando.com, Castellane hikes). Differences in distance and difficulty kept and flagged above. No data invented: a missing field is flagged as such.
They are two separate routes in the Castellane Tourist Office guide. The Sommet de Robion is the climb to the top itself (12 km, 960 m of ascent, 6 h); the Tour de Robion is a big loop that goes around the massif (16 km, 715 m of ascent / 725 m of descent, 6 h).
The sources do not agree: the Castellane Tourist Office rates it 'very difficult', while Visorando (16.95 km, 757 m of ascent, 7 h) rates it 'medium'. The gap is real and gets settled on the ground, depending on your fitness and the weather.
6 h according to the Castellane Tourist Office, 7 h according to Visorando (which also measures a slightly longer distance).
The sources this page relies on, one click away.We would rather you be able to contradict us than ask you to take our word for it.
2 of these 2 links responded during our last automated check, on 2026-08-04. A broken link is removed, never left in place.