Les Calanques

It feels like a miracle to find a refuge such as the Parc National des Calanques only a short distance from grimy, pressured Marseille. In parts of this diminutive 85-sq-km patch of scrubby, convoluted promontories, it's easy to believe you're miles from civilisation. Then a twist in a pine-clad gully reveals the entirety of France's second metropolis spread out within apparent touching distance; the calanques appear almost as its uninhabited suburbs.