Passage de la Petite Clue is a balcony road in France

Passage de la Petite Clue is a short mountain road located in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It was bypassed by a tunnel and totally closed to motor vehicles. It's one of the famous French balcony roads.

Passage de la Petite Clue

Where is la Petite Clue?

The road is located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the southeastern part of the country, within the Mercantour National Park. The deep gorge carved through the mountains by the River Cians is made all the more spectacular by the deep red of the exposed rock.

How long is the road through la Petite Clue?

Part of the old D-28 road (the road through Gorges du Cians), this old road is 457.71 m (1,501.66 ft) long. It starts at a parking area just before a tunnel. It’s totally paved, very narrow, and completely impassable for 2 cars at the same time. Along its way, it’s possible to admire the landscape with the colors and forms carved in the red-blood rock: the stream below and its small waterfalls and natural sculptures.

Is the road through la Petite Clue open?

Due to its narrowness and dangerousness, especially because of the high risk of landslides, rockfalls, and mudslides that can occur anytime and sometimes block sections of the road, it was permanently closed many years ago and bypassed by a tunnel called Tunnel de la Petite Clue (430 m long). Fallen rocks are found along the road.
Pic&video: Emmanuel Bechu

 

 

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