Chute de la Druise: the Vercors waterfall, far from Annecy

This one is neither in Annecy nor in Haute-Savoie. Give it nearly three hours on the road, heading for the Vercors range in the Drôme département: a different massif entirely, well over 180 kilometres away. We drove out on a weekday, outside the summer rush, and can confirm the waterfall is worth it — as long as you do not turn up on a Sunday in August.

Nearly three hours, a different mountain range

The Chute de la Druise sits in the Gorges d’Omblèze, in the commune of Beaufort-sur-Gervanne, on the Drôme side of the Vercors. From Annecy, allow two and a half hours to Beaufort-sur-Gervanne, then another fifteen minutes or so along the narrow road that climbs into the gorge to the Druise car park — close to three hours in total, before any stops. You are leaving the northern Alps for the southern Prealps: this is not an add-on to a lakeside walk, it is a trip in its own right, and it deserves a full day on the calendar.

Two routes work equally well for the final stretch, depending on where you leave the motorway: via Saint-Jean-en-Royans and the D70 towards Plan-de-Baix, or via Crest on the D93 and then the D70 to Beaufort-sur-Gervanne. Either way, the last section up to the car park is narrow and winding — not the kind of road you want to take at speed after two hours behind the wheel.

The trail

From the car park, the marked trail runs 1.8 km round trip, gaining around 140 metres — a short hour of walking including the way back up. The path is narrow and stony, follows the Gervanne river through a tight gorge, and is graded moderate difficulty despite its short length: closed-toe shoes are strongly recommended, and the trail can get very slippery in wet weather. It sits inside a site protected for its geological and landscape heritage since 1991, and is waymarked as a PR (short local hike) route throughout.

What you see

The waterfall drops 72 metres into a narrow canyon between cliffs thick with vegetation. It is known for filling up fast in summer — overcrowding is the main complaint levelled at it, with the car park often full by mid-morning on hot days. Flow is more impressive after heavy autumn rain than in the height of summer, when the river can run noticeably thin.

As with the Gorges du Sierroz, we do not yet have a photograph taken on site — the cover image here shows a generic mountain landscape, not the waterfall itself. We will swap it in once we have real images of the falls.

Nearby

The Gorges d’Omblèze are not just about the Druise. Upstream and downstream of the trail, the Gervanne forms pools you can swim in, and the cliffs of the Vercors plateau above the gorge are a locally known climbing spot. If you have driven all the way from Annecy, it is worth not turning straight back within the hour: the Gorges des Gueulards, another canyon nearby, can round the trip out into a proper day of walking rather than a single photo stop.

Practical information

The Druise car park is reached via the D578 and then the D578A from Plan-de-Baix, just above the hamlet of Ansage. It is not large, and fills quickly on fine days in July and August: aim for an early arrival, or push the visit to spring or autumn, when the site is considerably quieter. In places the trail runs alongside marked private land — stay on the waymarked path rather than wandering off it for a better angle on the falls.

What we would not do

Set off on a Sunday afternoon in August expecting to find a parking space. Wear sandals on a stony trail rated moderate despite its short length. And treat this as an evening outing from Annecy — with close to six hours of driving round trip, it simply is not that kind of excursion.

Three hours on the road for a 72-metre waterfall in a Vercors canyon is not a decision you make on a whim on a Saturday morning. Once the day is actually blocked out on the calendar, though, it holds up well against anything closer to the lake.