France's river canyons don't get the press its beaches and vineyards do, but a recent round-up makes a strong case that they're the country's most dramatic scenery. The pick of five gorges, mostly in the south, mixes the famous with a couple of genuinely unexpected choices.

The obvious headline act is the Gorges du Verdon, often called Europe's Grand Canyon. It runs roughly 25km through limestone between the Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence departments, and its turquoise river is best appreciated from the water: hire a kayak or pedal boat near Lac de Sainte-Croix and paddle into the canyon itself. Cyclists get the Corniche Sublime, an 83km loop of continuous viewpoints, and the surrounding Verdon Regional Nature Park counts 2,200 plant species and four types of vulture among its residents.

Further west, the Gorges du Tarn take a slower-burn approach. Rather than one big reveal, the river carves 65km of cliff-lined canyon through the Grands Causses in the Cévennes National Park, mostly in Lozère. Canoeing is the smart way to take in the scale — look up mid-paddle and you'll spot roads dangling halfway up the rockface. Historic villages like Sainte-Enimie and Saint-Chély-du-Tarn make good lunch stops, and hikers can pick up a stretch of the GR736 long-distance trail.

The Ardèche delivers the single most photographed sight of the bunch: Pont d'Arc, a 54m-high natural limestone arch spanning the river. Canoes passing beneath it are the classic image, and strong paddlers can run the full 30km of gorge down to Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche. Drivers have options too, via the Route Touristique des Gorges, with a stop at the Grotte de la Madeleine — a vast cave where stalactites and chambers get a sound-and-light treatment.

For something quieter, the Gorges de la Dourbie in Aveyron and Gard stretch 18km from the village of Dourbies down to a meeting with the Tarn at Millau. It's less about adrenaline and more about hamlets perched on rocky outcrops: Cantobre, Saint-Véran and Montméjean, plus larger towns like Nant — nicknamed the Garden of the Aveyron for its network of little canals — with solid eating options.

The wildcard pick heads to the Basque Country. At Larrau in Haute-Soule, Les Gorges d'Holzarte hides a 70m footbridge suspended 150m above the Olhadubi canyon, reachable only after an hour's hike. Built in 1920 by sawmill workers to reach beech-forest cutting sites, it's now a vertigo-testing viewpoint. The name translates from Basque as 'between walls', which tells you most of what you need to know — bring water and skip it if heights aren't your thing.

Anyone keen should consider travelling outside peak summer. These spots get busy in July and August, while spring and autumn offer cooler hiking weather, fuller rivers and photo spots without the crowds. Most of the gorges sit within a few hours' drive of one another, so a southern France road trip could reasonably tick off three or four in a week — paddle the Verdon, lunch in Sainte-Enimie, then finish with a legs-wobbling crossing in the Basque hills.