Despite often being listed in the most beautiful French trails, the GR49 remains on of the lesser known routes in the region, likely overshadowed by the famous GR4 that it intersects.
The GR49 is a true Sea to Summit trail, starting by the beach in Saint-Raphaël before snaking its way up and over the famous Esterel massif, around Lake Saint-Cassien and through the Fayence valley, moving crossing through towns perched on hilltops until running right under the nose of Mount Lachens the highest mountain in the Var region. You'd think this would be the pinnacle of the journey but more hilltop towns await before you dive into the Verdon Gorge and its turquoise blue waters, only to have to climb back up the other side to finish in the town of Rougon, facing the Verdon Gorge's Grand Canyon.
Recently (2021?) the official route was modified by the French hiking federation that manages it, because part of the trail is now on private land. This detour is actually a great change because it adds some nice new segments, and the old segments had some not so friendly land owners. The new route is several km longer, but no one had recorded an FKT on the old route anyway.
Details are here: https://www.gr-infos.com/gr49.htm
Note you can do the FKT in either direction.
