The French are mad Randonneurs (hikers) and the rural and alpine areas offer a huge range of excellent walking experiences. The cool thing about hiking in France is that in many cases there is a cute village or quaint country inn to overnight in rather than having to camp. There are loads of operators offering guided tours or you could buy a book and have a crack at it yourself.

The French Federation of Hikers website is in French but is still fairly comprehensive and you will get the drift.

La Ligne Verte is a walking site in English that is also quite useful.

Summer is really the only safe bet for extended hiking experiences especially for walks in the alpine areas. There aren’t any dangerous animals to worry about and you are never very far from help so you don’t need the same amount of preparation as you might for an extended adventure in Australia.

If you plan on doing a fair bit of camping, you are probably better off buying it from one of the hypermarches or big sporting goods stores like Decathlon. Given the proliferation of villages and country inns you may not even need to worry about taking food. Obviously you should research your route and identify your overnight and meal stops, but can travel a lot lighter than you would in Oz.

Walking hotspots include the Pyrenees, the Luberon area of Provence, the Cevennes National Park in the Languedoc Mountains, the Auvergne Region in the Massif Centrale, the Doubs and Jura areas in the Franche Comte Region and Corsica.

National and Nature Parks of France click here.