Cirque de Saint-Même: the waterfall path

From the large car park at the entrance to the cirque, the walk follows the closed road along the right bank of the Guiers Vif to the Pont Drugey and the foot of the cirque, a roughly 500 m high amphitheatre of Urgonian limestone. The Sentier des Cascades turns off there and climbs through the forest; about halfway up a small lookout shows the first fall, the Pisse du Guiers. The path levels out, and a branch on the right drops to the Grande Cascade. A wooden footbridge crosses to the left bank, a short branch leads to the Cascade Isolée, and the path runs down through the forest to the meadow at the foot of the cirque and back to the car park. The top fall, the Cascade des Sources, is not on this walk.

It is 3.4 km round with 235 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Moderate: short, but the climb is steep and the path is rocky and rooty. Chartreuse Tourisme gives 2.5 to 3 km, 195 to 225 m of ascent and 1 hour 30, and rates the walk medium; its pages differ, and ours starts at the car park, 150 m before the Pont Drugey.

Paths can be wet, steep and in places on the edge of a cliff, and tree roots are a trip hazard, mostly on the way down. At the top of the climb take the path on the right down to the Grande Cascade: the tourist office warns that the path on the left is unmarked and dangerous. The woods are private, so stay on the marked paths; bivouacs and fires are forbidden in the cirque. The Hauts de Chartreuse nature reserve bans dogs, even on a lead (Parc de Chartreuse). Chartreuse Tourisme says the ban does not apply on the trails at the bottom of the cirque and at the waterfall, but the Parc's own summary of the rules names no exception, so check the signs at the cirque before bringing a dog. Chartreuse Tourisme's page for this walk lists it as open daily from 1 April to 31 October, subject to favourable weather (see the notice for what its other pages say).

The car park is at the end of a narrow, steep, dead-end road above Saint-Pierre-d'Entremont. The car park is run by the Communauté de communes Cœur de Chartreuse, which charges for it from 9 am to 5 pm on certain days: in 2026, weekends and public holidays from 4 April to 4 July, every day from 5 July to 31 August and weekends from 5 to 27 September, at 5 € a car. Chartreuse Tourisme adds that on busy Sundays and holidays in good weather the car park fills and access closes, and advises arriving before 10:30.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.