Looking for recreational land for sale in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04) means looking at a department of scrubland, lavender and high mountains, where agricultural or natural plots remain affordable away from the main resorts: stony fallow land on the Valensole plateau, pine and holm-oak woods in the garrigue, alpine pastures and larch stands around the Ubaye valley. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: a terraced plot, a wooded hillside, a hay meadow in a valley, land to develop in the garrigue.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of the areas where these plots are concentrated, and the points to check before buying a parcel classified as agricultural or natural in the mountains. Before you plan anything, read our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land: it explains what the local planning rules allow and, above all, what they forbid.
There is no such thing as a "recreational land price" in the French notarial records: the DVF database records sales of agricultural land, woodland and ponds, and a recreational plot is priced against these three benchmarks, higher or lower depending on what it adds (vehicle access, a water point, fencing, an existing shelter, a village nearby). The table below gives, for each benchmark, the sales recorded in 2025 in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04), the median price and the range between the first decile (floor) and the ninth decile (ceiling), with the national figure for comparison.
| DVF 2025 benchmark | Sales | Median price | Range (P10 – P90) | France median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare agricultural land (€/ha) * | 59 | €13,518/ha | €5,947/ha – €23,101/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 50 | €1,462/ha | €884/ha – €6,412/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 313 | €2.54/m² | €1.03/m² – €6.90/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well above the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving -9.8% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades well below the national benchmark (€4,934/ha), and a pond, a much rarer asset, is valued per square metre of water and banks. To compare a listing, bring everything back to the square metre: €13,518/ha of bare land is €1.35/m², against €2.54/m² for a pond. Recreational land, almost always classified as an agricultural or natural zone, generally sells slightly above bare agricultural land; but it usually remains subject to the SAFER land agency's right of pre-emption, and the SAFER may pre-empt with a downward price revision if the price is excessive compared with local land prices. These benchmarks therefore also help you avoid paying a price the SAFER would challenge.
Find the detail by department, plot size and year in our agricultural land price observatory and in the forest price observatory. Source: DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), 2025 sales, processed by ma-propriete.fr; medians published from 30 sales upwards. * Fewer than 30 sales in the department: the benchmark shown is the regional figure for "Bare agricultural land"; national figure for "Pond".
The south of the department, around the Valensole plateau and the Plans-de-Provence, offers garrigue plots and former lavender fields, often classed as non-constructible land, where holm oak and thyme have taken back the ground. Around Forcalquier and Manosque, the hills carry pine and downy oak woods interspersed with dry-stone terraces left from earlier farming. These are plots to develop, rarely fitted with a shelter, where the terrain often means the last stretch of access has to be on foot.
Further north, towards the Ubaye valley and the Seyne area, the plots turn into alpine pastures and mountain larch stands, with hay meadows on the valley floor. Ponds are practically absent here: it is mountain streams and irrigation channels, far more than stretches of water, that shape the landscape, apart from a few dam lakes of regional scale.
The Valensole plateau and the area around Riez hold the largest garrigue and former lavender plots, reached from Manosque and Digne-les-Bains via the RN85. The Forcalquier area and the Durance valley offer wooded hills and terraced plots close to villages, with easier access than in the high mountains and decent year-round road connections all the way to Manosque. Further east, the Seyne-les-Alpes area and the Ubaye valley offer more remote alpine pastures and larch woods, where winter access can be limited by snow. The department has no TGV station: Digne-les-Bains is served by the Chemins de fer de Provence, while the TGV stations of Aix-en-Provence and Avignon lie an hour to an hour and a half away by road.
The most affordable areas lie in the remote Ubaye and Verdon valleys, away from the main routes. Plots close to Manosque, Forcalquier and the Verdon gorges, more sought after for their setting, sell well above the average for the rest of the department. Around Digne-les-Bains, the departmental capital, land prices sit somewhere between these two extremes.
The first step is to check the local planning document (PLU) or the carte communale: in an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, any new building is in principle prohibited, and installing a cabin, a chalet or a caravan remains tightly controlled, especially in areas protected for their landscape value. Check real year-round access to the plot (rural track, right of way, landlocked parcel), the frequent absence of water and electricity away from hamlets, and the risk of forest fire, real from early summer in the pine and garrigue massifs.
On agricultural parcels, the SAFER land agency may exercise its right of pre-emption, with a risk of the price being revised downward if it strays from local land prices, which are modest in this department. In the mountains, also check natural hazards (avalanches, landslides) noted in planning documents, along with the exact cadastral area and whether the boundaries have been surveyed, often long ago on these plots. On indivision-held plots, inherited from several generations, ask for clear proof of ownership before making an offer, since unresolved co-ownership can delay a sale considerably.
The listings of recreational land in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price and the presence of a water source, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
