Grotte de la Sainte-Baume

Plan-d'Aups-Sainte-Baume

The most famous site in the whole French cult of Mary Magdalene. According to Provençal tradition, the saint, fleeing Judea with Martha and Lazarus, is said to have landed at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer before withdrawing in the year 47 to this cave to live thirty years of prayer and total penitence, until her death. Legend tells that angels came to lift her to heaven seven times a day so she could hear the celestial singing — an episode commemorated by the Saint-Pilon chapel a little further up the trail. The chemin des Roys, laid out at the end of the 14th century and marked by seven wayside shrines, takes its name from the kings of France who came on pilgrimage there from François I in 1516; Catherine de Médicis, Louis XIV and Charles de Foucauld are also said to have made the same walk.

Getting there : Free access, 45 min walk from the Hôtellerie car park

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound