Grand Tour
The Route des Grandes Alpes
Four days from the pastures of the Aravis to the sea at Nice, over the highest cols in France.
The French invented the grand mountain road trip: the Route des Grandes Alpes has linked Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean for over a century. This is that journey distilled into four days: cheese pastures and cow bells in the north, bare stone and thin air over the great cols, and rally roads down to the sea at Nice.
The shape is simple: every day moves south, and the landscape dries and brightens with every col you cross. Iseran, Galibier and the Bonette hold their snow late and shut early, so mid June to mid October is the honest window, and in July check the Tour de France route before you set off: when the race passes, the cols close.
The Aravis opener
Overnight: BeaufortSouth from Cluses over the Colombière to Le Grand-Bornand, then through La Clusaz for the Aravis and the drop to Flumet. A gentle last link over the Col des Saisies lands you in Beaufort, a town that smells agreeably of cheese.
Roselend and the Iseran
Overnight: ValloireFrom Beaufort the Cormet de Roselend curls past its dammed lake and dives to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, then it is a long pull up the Tarentaise to Val d'Isère for the Iseran, the highest paved pass in the Alps. The descent through Bonneval-sur-Arc and an easy run down the Haute Maurienne set up the Télégraphe from Saint-Michel, with Valloire just over the top.
Galibier and the Casse Déserte
Overnight: JausiersOut of Valloire over the Galibier and down off the Lautaret into Briançon for lunch, then over the Izoard, dropping past the rock spires of the Casse Déserte. The Guil gorge leads out to Guillestre, and the Col de Vars carries you on to Jausiers in the Ubaye.
Bonette and the run to the sea
Overnight: NiceUp the Bonette from Jausiers, where the loop above the col tops out at 2,802 metres, the highest tarmac in France, then down to Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. The wooded link over the Col Saint-Martin into the Vésubie takes a good hour, and it earns you the Turini, the Monte Carlo Rally's most celebrated stage, and the long drop to the coast at Nice.
