Free Walking Tour Roussillon: Village to Ochre

The Roussillon Walking Tour, Stone First, Then Pigment

1. 1

   Place de la Mairie

   

   Face the town hall and you are standing at the heart of Roussillon. Place de la Mairie is the village's central square, open air, free at any hour, and the natural place to get your bearings before the walk begins.

   Everything on this route unfolds from here. The church sits one short street over, the old castrum just beyond and above it, and only after that does the route leave the village for the ochre. The square itself asks nothing of you: no ticket, no schedule. Take a moment, then walk the 90 metres, about 2 min, to the church.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place de la Mairie on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Église Saint-Michel de Roussillon

   

   Saint-Michel is Roussillon's Catholic parish church, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who is also the patron saint of the village. It most likely replaced an older wooden building and went up around the turn of the 11th to the 12th century as a simple Romanesque church with a single nave under a plain barrel vault.

   What you see today is the result of centuries of adjustments. The vault had to be renewed later in the Middle Ages. In the 14th century the walls of the nave were broken through to make room for chapels dedicated to various saints, and these chapels did a second job: they took the thrust of the vault and gave the building stability. Look at how they are vaulted in round arches set at right angles to the nave. The west front was only added in the 17th century, and in 1858 the choir collapsed and had to be rebuilt. Together these changes give the church the feel of a basilica rather than a small village chapel.

   Inside, look for the baptismal font with its canopy, carved in 1791 by the sculptor Alexis Poitevin in neoclassical style and now listed as a monument historique. Entry is free, so even ten minutes inside is worth it if you like reading a building's history in its walls. From here the castrum is only 30 metres away, about 1 min.

   Hours

   Daily: 09:00–17:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Église Saint-Michel de Roussillon on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Castrum de Roussillon

   

   Here the village reaches its top. This is the old castrum, the fortified high point of medieval Roussillon, and today it is entirely public: free, outdoors, never closed, and ending at a cliff edge with a 60-metre drop.

   That cliff gives the place its story. Local legend ties this edge to Dame Sermonde, and once you look down, you understand why a legend would settle here. Then turn round and take in the panorama, the widest on this route, with a table d'orientation that helps you name what you are looking at.

   Of the three village stops, this is the one that deserves a real pause: it costs nothing and runs on no schedule. From here the route finally leaves the village, a walk of 1030 metres, about 16 min, out to the ochre trail; on the way you pass the Marché de Roussillon.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Castrum de Roussillon on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Sentier des Ocres

   

   Everything so far was stone, outlook and legend. The Sentier des Ocres is the place on this route that exists because people dug: a marked trail through the former ochre quarries, where the coloured sands that made Roussillon's fortune were taken out of the ground.

   This is the must-see of the walk and the first stop that charges admission, which tells you where your time should go. The trail keeps seasonal hours with a last entry before closing, and that last entry moves with the season; late in the year it falls in mid-afternoon. An unhurried morning is the safe plan here, and it is worth knowing that the trail can also simply be shut, so check before you head out.

   When you come out, the story continues with what happened to all this dug-up sand. The next leg is the longest of the walk, 1930 metres, about 26 min, to the old ochre factory at Okhra.

   Hours

   September 1 – September 30: daily 09:30–19:00 (last entry 18:30); October 1 – October 31: daily 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30); November 1 – November 15: daily 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30); November 16 – December 31: daily 11:00–16:00 (last entry 15:30); closed Dec 25 & Jan 1; open daily from start of February holidays (zone 1) to end of Christmas holidays

   Price

   3.50 EUR individual, 2.50 EUR group

   Website

   roussillon-en-provence.fr ↗

   Location

   Sentier des Ocres on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Okhra - Conservatoire des Ocres et de la Couleur

   

   The route ends where the ochre was turned into pigment. Okhra, today an ecomuseum of ochre, occupies the old Mathieu ochre factory, a company run for more than three decades by Camille Mathieu, who was also mayor of Roussillon. It lies at the foot of the Monts de Vaucluse within the Luberon regional nature park.

   The site covers the factory's five hectares. The cooperative that runs it has restored the area where the ochre was washed and renovated the 2,000 square metres of the old ochre mills, with the aim of explaining how ochre is made, the geology behind it and the ochre heritage of the Pays d'Apt.

   That heritage goes back to one man, Jean-Étienne Astier, who studied the yellow and red sands on his land between 1780 and 1785. In 1790 the new town council let him use the village oil mill, and the revolutionary years did not stop his business from growing: by 1810 he ran two factories near the village and a workshop in Roussillon itself. His neighbours were less pleased. A complaint from the time accuses him of blocking the street with sand, dumping the leftovers near a house so that the slightest wind blew dust into homes and cisterns across the whole quarter.

   Others followed his lead anyway. Over the 19th century more than a hundred quarries opened in the Pays d'Apt, feeding twenty-five factories, until the trade faded in the middle of the 20th century, when the big chemical companies brought synthetic colours to market. Okhra charges admission, and it is worth it if the quarries made you curious about the craft. This is the end of the walk; the GPS navigation can guide you back to the square if you want.

   Hours

   Daily: 10:00–13:00, 14:00–18:00

   Price

   8.50 EUR

   Website

   okhra.com ↗

   Location

   Okhra - Conservatoire des Ocres et de la Couleur on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Roussillon

Not every day has room for both ochre visits. These cuts keep the route's logic and simply stop earlier or start later.

The village core only

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For a short visit or a late arrival: square, church and castrum lookout. Only 3 min of walking between them, and all three are free.

Village and ochre trail

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4

For most visitors: the village core plus the walk out to the Sentier des Ocres. 19 min of walking in total, and the trail is the only ticket you need.

Ochre only

Stops: 4, 5

For anyone here mainly for the colour: start at the Sentier des Ocres and walk the 26 min on to Okhra. Both charge admission.

How Long This Roussillon Walk Takes, With and Without Tickets

The pure walking time is 44 min, and almost all of it sits in two legs: the 16 min from the castrum out to the ochre trail and the 26 min from the trail to Okhra. The three village stops are packed into barely 120 metres.

With a proper look inside the church, a pause at the castrum and time for both the ochre trail and Okhra, roughly three hours is realistic. The village core alone fits comfortably into under an hour; adding the ochre trail makes it a solid half morning.

Before You Set Off in Roussillon

• Start: Place de la Mairie is the recommended start, but you can join the route at any stop.
• End: The walk ends at Okhra, outside the village core. If you want to get back to the square, the GPS navigation in your browser guides you there on request.
• Time of day: Go in the morning. The ochre trail runs on seasonal hours with a last entry that moves earlier as the year goes on, so a late start is the easiest way to miss it.
• Tickets: The Sentier des Ocres and Okhra charge admission; the square, the church and the castrum cost nothing.

Questions People Ask Before Walking Roussillon