Hiking trails on the Riviera generally fall into one of two categories: mountain hikes and coastal walks. Today, we will be offering you an alternative in this fascinating hike in Sasso.
The Sasso is a small river, but it nevertheless comes with its own valley and its own patch of wetland. The Sasso’s waters flow down from the Maritime Alps, but when they arrive in the lowlands, they have dwindled to a trickle for most of the year.
What the many private and commercial gardens on its banks have not taken out will be eagerly lapped up by the thirsty wetland plants.
Sometimes, however, this trickle (nearly everywhere, you can wade through the Sasso in waterproof boots ) swells to a mighty stream.
Which is why today’s post comes with a warning: you can only do this if there has been no significant rainfall over the past day or two.
If there has, you may find that much of the area we will be crossing today lies under several feet of water.
Where to start this fascinating hike in Sasso
To get to the Sasso, take the bus from Ventimiglia direction San Remo and leave on the eastern outskirts of Bordighera (that is behind Bordighera, if you come from France and Ventimiglia), at the stop in front of the Hotel Dei Fiori.
Turn away from the sea into Via Al Camposanto and follow this country road through its left turn. The dry river bed on your right hand side is the Sasso or, more precisely, what is left of it this close to the coast.
The painter Claude Monet loved to explore the area, and although most of the spots where he set up his easel further down in the wetlands can no longer be found (nothing to do with encroaching civilization because river sceneries change a lot over a 100 years).
One particular motive can still be recognized (the actual landscape has weathered the wind, the rain and the passage of time better than the facsimile painting).
On the hill at your left hand side, you can see the Beodo trail, but since we have been there before, we are going to take a slightly different route today.
We follow the country road past the cemetery to the pink house and then take the narrow path in its back all the way down to the Sasso, which starts to carry water here …
… before we cross the river to the stairway and climb up to join the Beodo for its final stretch.
Last time we were here, we did not go further than the stone bridge which crosses the Sasso just before the motorway. This time, we continue and descend down to the river level, to find a landscape out of this world …
… with a lake …
… a small waterfall …
… and even The Haunted Castle of Fairy Tale Forest (okay, an abandoned farm, but the mind is allowed to wander).
Don’t worry: you are never far away from civilization as it looks, and besides, the trail is well marked. For this fascinating hike in Sasso, just follow the blue arrow and everything will be all right.
To finish the walk, we leave the river and climb up to Sasso, one of the area’s most isolated hilltop villages.
Hopefully, you have remembered to prepare a packed lunch, which you can now have on a bench at the large village square …
… before returning to Bordighera.
On weekdays, you can take the bus (line no. 10 with 9 departures a day Mondays to Saturdays; for bus schedule details, see here).
Otherwise walk back in the direction of the motorway and take the footpath all the way down just after the bridge. On this route you will get to the Beodo trail, which serves as a shortcut and allows you to be back at the coastal Via Aurelia (for your bus home) within 45 minutes.
This fascinating hike in Sasso was shown to us by and made possible with the guidance of our friend, Narda Besems (originally from the Netherlands, but who has made Bordighera her home.) She has done several other fascinating hikes in Sasso and its environs, and promised to show us some more in the future.
