Col de Braus

A celebrated ladder of stacked hairpins in the Maritime Alps behind the Riviera, long a fixture of the Monte Carlo Rally.

The D2204 climbs from L'Escarene over the 1002 metre Col de Braus and drops the far side to Sospel, and it is the hairpin stacking on the L'Escarene side that draws drivers from across Europe. A famous run of tightly piled switchbacks coils up the hillside in full view of itself, a sight often likened to a tangle of shoelaces. The pass has a deep motorsport pedigree as a Monte Carlo Rally stage and remains a favourite for spirited drives out of Nice and Menton, with views back toward the Mediterranean from the upper bends. It is well surfaced and wider than many cols, though still demanding. The Sospel side is gentler and wooded. Mind the popularity with motorcyclists and cyclists, gravel washed onto the apexes after rain, and the long sequence of low-speed corners that punish overconfidence.