Plan-De-La-Tour: Hiking and Village History

For a stay in Plan-De-La-Tour, you can plan your itinerary around village history or walking routes. The commune has 25 hamlets scattered across its hills. A self-guided tour focuses on the history, monuments and historic buildings of Le Plan-de-la-Tour; other routes lead through wooded hills and vineyards or to a viewpoint. When looking for a hotel, you can plan your stay around whether you mainly want to take a village walking tour, go on easy hikes or try a cycling route rated as more challenging.

Walking Tours and Trails with Different Highlights

The Circuit découverte – Visite du Village can be completed independently. Information panels explain the history, monuments and historic buildings of Le Plan-de-la-Tour. History and architectural heritage are therefore at the heart of the tour. Check the latest practical information before setting out.

The easy Les Hameaux route is 4.5 kilometres long and suitable for hikers and mountain bikers; the stated walking time is one hour. It is a family-friendly walk through the countryside near the village. Les Gorgues is also easy, at 5.2 kilometres, and suitable for walkers and mountain bikers. The trail passes through wooded hills between hamlets and vineyards. The Menhir du Pra-Bourdin, also known as the Menhir du Pré de la Pierre Enchantée, lies along the hiking trail; its historical origins date back to the Neolithic period.

The marked Chemin vers le San Peire is a six-kilometre out-and-back route with 370 metres of elevation gain; the stated duration is two hours. It passes through the ruins of the oppidum to the summit of San Peire, where there is a viewpoint. The San Peire site preserves the remains of a fortified settlement on a hilltop, as well as a defensive wall measuring 30 metres long and four metres thick. When planning, the one-hour walking time for Les Hameaux and the two-hour duration of the San Peire route, with its elevation gain and summit destination, offer contrasting time and distance profiles.

Cycling is also represented by a dedicated route. Rated as difficult and bearing the FFC label, mountain bike/e-mountain bike trail 5 crosses the Préconil and follows shaded paths along vineyards. Its stated difficulty therefore differs from that of the easy Les Hameaux and Les Gorgues routes. The Les mines de Vallaury route, in the commune of Le Plan-de-la-Tour, combines a hike with the commune’s mining history. From there, you can see the Gulf of Sainte-Maxime stretching into the distance as far as Saint-Tropez.

History in the Hamlets and Buildings

Individual buildings also provide tangible points of reference for local history. The Tour Paulety, which gave the commune its name, was built in the 14th century by Antoine Paulety, a notary from Grimaud. In the hamlet of Saint Martin, the present-day Saint Martin church replaced a chapel that had become too small in 1785. Le Four du Revest in the hamlet of Revest dates from the 18th century, was used mainly for baking bread and remained in operation until the 1930s. Together, these landmarks trace a timeline from the medieval tower through the construction of the church to the oven’s former use.

Discover more destinations: La Roquebrussanne, Aups, Saint-Mandrier-Sur-Mer, Figanieres, Moissac-Bellevue, Villecroze, Sollies-Toucas, Entrecasteaux

For the broader travel overview: Var.