Attractions and Places To See around Saint-Laurent - Top 20

The view from the Belvédère du Pas du Roc is breathtaking, offering a panoramic view of the valley below. From this vantage point, you can admire the vast landscape, where rolling hills, dense forests and meandering rivers create a picturesque scene. The dramatic cliffs and rugged terrain add to the grandeur of the view.

Breathtaking viewpoint over the Pertuis valley and the Diau cave, and the rocky bar with the Plan de l'Aigle and the Tête de Bunant. Be very careful on the steps of the Sentier des Espagnols. It's slippery, even in dry weather.

Beautiful cable climb Slippery even in dry weather Alpine plateaus after Nice for a picnic

The gravel section is easy to do with a racing bike

Wonderfully located in a protected valley, a wonderful hiking destination for a rest, in summer with a hut that is open all day, otherwise only on weekends or not at all.

The Col de la Colombière is a pretty Alpine pass, connecting the Borne valley to the Avre valley. It was climbed more than 23 times by Tour de France riders between 1960 and 2021. It is an essential part of the sporting event.

Lake Bénit is located at an altitude of 1,452 meters, on the northern slope (ubac) of the Bargy chain, in the Bornes1 massif. It is dominated to the south by the limestone wall of the Bargy chain from where the scree of the Col d'Encrenaz cirque spills out and delimits the south-west shore of the lake. The northwest bank corresponds to the slope of the old glacial basin while the east bank opens onto the valley of the Lac Bénit stream. In 1988, Father Arsène Bourgeaux, ethnographer, in a publication dedicated to the parish, indicated that the lake, “for the inhabitants of the Mont is considered as a sort of founding place where the identity of a population originates” 7. The lake was the subject of processions by the populations of Marnaz and Mont-Saxonnex, on Saint Claude's Day, in order to protect the villages from flooding. The lake benefited from developments in the early 1960s, notably with the raising of the lake level, which made it possible to double its surface area7. The inauguration took place on July 11, 19657. A mass was improvised by priest Claude Scherantz. Lake Bénit is the subject of many legends. One of them relates that the fairies came to bathe there and were at the origin of the production of butter and tomme in the town. A second legend says that an episcopal ring is found in the lake9. Following a deadly avalanche, the bishop of the diocese is said to have gone “in a grand procession” to bless the lake and to have thrown “his episcopal ring into the waves asking heaven that such a catastrophe never happens again”9. Another version says that the object was so heavy that it fell into the lake at the time of the blessing9. According to this legend, an avalanche emptied the lake and flooded Marnaz below4. Finally Alphonse Favre (en) reports that “this lake is due to a collapse in which a fir forest disappeared. As for the time, it can only be established in a very doubtful manner, by the fact that an old man from the village of Brezon assured, around 1845, that this event had happened in his father's youth. »1

Passage offering a view of the lake and leading to the green needle from which we have a view of the whole valley.