Colorado Provençal

The Colorado Provençal is an abandoned ochre quarry at Rustrel, in the Luberon 10 km north-east of Apt. A century of digging left behind a landscape of red, orange, violet and white pinnacles that belongs in Arizona rather than in Provence.

It is the larger and wilder of the region’s two ochre sites — the other being the ochre trail at Roussillon — and it works as a walk rather than a viewpoint.

What it is

The beauty here is half natural and half man-made. The ochre — iron-rich sand laid down when this was a shallow sea — was quarried at Rustrel from the end of the nineteenth century for pigment, and the industry ran until the 1990s, when synthetic pigments finished it.

What the quarrymen cut away, and what rain has eroded since, produced the cheminées de fées — the fairy chimneys — and the amphitheatres and ravines that the paths run through. Some twenty distinct shades of ochre have been counted, from pale yellow to deep crimson.

Walking it

Waymarked circuits from the car park:

• Sahara circuit — about 1 hour, the white and yellow sands and the Cheminées de Fées
• Belvédères circuit — about 2 hours, the viewpoints over the Rustrel basin and the deepest colour
• The two combine into roughly 5.5 km, with 150 m of climb in places

Practical points that matter here more than at most sites:

• Ochre stains permanently. Do not wear anything you care about, and expect your shoes to stay orange.
• Paths cross private land by agreement with the owners — stay on them.
• There is no shade to speak of and the sand reflects heat. In July and August go early.
• The site is fragile; every step off the path takes some of it away.

Also on the walk: the small chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Anges.

Practical

• Car park — the only access; open 8:00–18:30 in summer, shorter hours out of season
• Parking charge — around €4 for a car, €2 a motorcycle, €6 a camper, €25 a coach; entry to the paths is included
• Guided visits — about €6, €3 for children 4–15
• Telephone — +33 (0)4 90 04 96 07 / +33 (0)4 90 04 91 09
• Details at colorado-provencal.com

Getting there

• By car — the only realistic way. Rustrel is 10 km north-east of Apt on the D22; follow signs to the Colorado car park south of the village. Avignon is 1 h 15, Aix 1 hour, Marseille 1 h 30. See parking in France, and Provence by car.
• By bus — sparse services to Rustrel village from Apt; the site is a further walk.

Nearby

• Roussillon — 20 minutes, the ochre village and its sentier des ocres
• Apt — 10 km, with the Saturday market
• Gordes and the Sénanque abbey — 30 minutes
• Mont Ventoux — an hour north
• Sault — the lavender plateau, 45 minutes

When to go

April–June and September–October: the light is low, the colour is at its strongest early and late in the day, and the heat is manageable. Avoid the middle of a July afternoon. After rain the colours deepen but the paths are slippery clay.

See the Grands Sites de France and Provence.

Nearby

Other places on this site within easy reach, as the crow flies:

• Bonnieux — 18 km
• Lourmarin — 19 km
• Ansouis — 20 km
• Lacoste — 20 km
• Forcalquier — 23 km
• Manosque — 25 km

Weather in Colorado Provençal

This page in Russian: Colorado Provencal de Rustrel

Updated: 15 October 2026