Trail des Maures

The Trail des Maures is a demanding 55-kilometer race with 2,000 meters of elevation gain, crossing the Maures massif from Collobrières in the Var department. This crystalline massif, one of the oldest in Provence with rocks dating back 300 million years, stretches between Toulon and Fréjus over more than 60 kilometers. Its name derives not from the Saracen invaders but from the Provençal word "mauro" meaning dark, referring to the dense forests that cover it and give it its characteristic color when seen from the sea.

The course plunges runners into one of the largest cork oak forests in France. Trails wind beneath the canopy of these Mediterranean trees with their stripped, orange-hued trunks, whose bark is still harvested by hand to make bottle corks. The Maures forest also shelters centuries-old chestnut trees — Collobrières is the chestnut capital of the Var — maritime pines, and tree heathers that form a dense, fragrant maquis. The streams rising in the massif, often dry in summer, carve steep-sided valleys where lush vegetation contrasts with the aridity of the ridges.

The 2,000 meters of elevation gain are distributed in long, steady climbs toward the massif's summits, which peak modestly between 500 and 780 meters but whose accumulation over 55 kilometers represents a considerable effort. The terrain is typically Mediterranean: friable schist trails that roll underfoot, rocky passages on gneiss ridges, narrow single tracks through maquis where branches scratch the calves. Heat is a decisive factor, especially in late spring and summer, when the Provençal sun transforms south-facing slopes into furnaces. The risk of forest fires, ever-present in the massif, sometimes affects the race calendar.

Collobrières is a character village nestled in a green valley at the heart of the massif. Its paved lanes, medieval bridge over the Real Collobrier, and artisanal candied chestnut shops make it a charming stopover. The Chartreuse de la Verne, a monastery founded in the 12th century in an isolated and grandiose site deep in the forest, bears witness to the spiritual appeal of this wild massif. The Maures massif is also the last refuge of Hermann's tortoise in France, protected at the Village des Tortues in Gonfaron.

For international runners, the Trail des Maures offers an immersion in wild, secret Provence, far from the beaches of the nearby Côte d'Azur. The proximity of Toulon and Hyères, served by motorway and high-speed train, facilitates access to this little-known massif. Running beneath centuries-old cork oaks, amid the fragrances of Mediterranean maquis, with visual glimpses of the Golden Islands — Porquerolles, Port-Cros, Le Levant — glittering offshore, is an authentic and deeply rejuvenating Provençal experience.