French Alps (but maybe Germany, too)

[Doc]

After EVskij posted a video of the area I fancy a visit there.
Just wanted to know if it's worthwhile having a base there for maybe a week if so any recommendations please. Or is it better to stay at different places whilst having a look round.

Thanks Doc

 

[John Armstrong]

Barcelonette worked for me a couple of years ago, stayed there three nights, but would have preferred longer. Near to the big hills, but a long day would mean you could dip your toes in the Med. and the Gorges de Verdon is doable.

Another option for a few days would be Briancon, especially if you like the forts Vauban constructed and want to do the Tarentaise sort of area.

I guess it's how long are you in the area for, a few days then moving around will get the chance to do the sights, a week or so, chance to find out what the towns are like, and if you like markets, get to enjoy one during a day off the bike. If you have a pillion with you, then this gets lots of smartie points.

 

[Wapping]

It depends on which bits of the French Alps you mean, Doc? Ultimately, they stretch from near enough Geneva, down to nearly the Mediterranean.



I guess that you mean the section centred around the northern skiing area? If so, very, very roughly:



If so, the most popular destinations might include:

Annecy
Chamonix
Grenoble
Bourg Saint Maurice
Val d’Isère
Chambéry

To name but six of several. Every man and his dog will have their favourite.

Note, if you chose some of the ski centric villages / smaller towns, they might be at the top of a blind end road, meaning that you have to ride down the mountain each morning (and up again each evening) just to get to somewhere else. That’s one of the problems with mountains, bloody great lumps of rock get in the way.

Depending on how long you plan on staying in the area and quite where you have in mind by ‘Freach Alps’, then a two (or more) centre holiday might well be a good idea, as you’ll see ‘All the bits in between’.

 

[Wapping]

You could copy this, riding north to south, right down to the sea.. It gives the key destinations, which would be easy to find on a map, the roads becoming obvious.

French Alps tour motorcycle tour

discover our 5 days tour in the French Alps with your motorcycle. Leave The lake Leman and reach the Riviera through the best motorcycle road of the Alps

www.ride-in-tours.com

or this:

Routes des Grandes Alpes - Best of - EN

Enjoy our guided & self guided motorbike trip in French Alps & South of France. Motorcycle tour & rental on the Route des Grandes Alpes, French Riviera & Nice.

thefrenchride.com

or this:

French Alps & Gorges Motorcycle Tour

Combining spectacular scenery with challenging roads the French Alps and Gorges Self Guided Motorcycle Tour never fails to disappoint. The tour included a comprehensive tour pack containing routes, suggested ride-outs, GPS info, daily itinerary and hotel information.

www.globalmotorcycletours.co.uk

Or these, easy to copy jaunts from RiDE’s website:







It all depends on which area(s) you want to visit, how far you want to go (for example, Geneva to the Mediterranean) and, not least, one week, two weeks, three…..

 

[er-minio]

I’m around there on the bike almost every year.
I would suggest multiple stopping points, as wapping suggests they stretch over a long distance. Using a single base might limit you.

As a note, last year, I did stop in Grenoble. It was meant to be one night but got stuck there 2 nights because of incredibly crappy weather. It’s actually fairly nice for a long stop and central. I normally avoid bigger cities, but getting in/out is fairly fast.

I stopped doing the “60 seconds videos” of my little trips, but I do have a couple of (very short) nice bits around the area – hopefully geolocated. Will post in a bit.

 

[Pukmeister]

Check out Grenoble as a decent base in a modern city with the surrounding "Balcony Roads" if you don't mind riding some winding narrow roads jutting out from cliff edges, complete with the odd tunnel. Our group spent three days there a couple of years ago and had a good stay and enjoyed some great riding.

Annecy is a beautiful place on the lake nestled amongst mountain views and worth a stopover.

Some great gorges to ride like Gorge Du Tarn and Gorge Du Verdon.

Likewise some great Cols to ride, my personal favourite is probably the Col De Rousset from the town of Die.

Wherever you choose, I don't think you can go wrong with the riding or the views........ Enjoy.

 

[Arsey]

I’d ride the Route Des Grandes Alpes over three days , stopping near La Clusaz and Valloire then ride up the Route Napoleon and stay in Castellane for a few nights . You can then ride out to the Gorge du Verdon and in any other direction you choose .
Done exactly this more than once .
The Alps are too spread out to have just one base .


Sent from my Nokia 3310 using Thetwatcantalk

 

[Wapping]

Barcelonette worked for me a couple of years ago, stayed there three nights, but would have preferred longer. Near to the big hills, but a long day would mean you could dip your toes in the Med. and the Gorges de Verdon is doable.

Another option for a few days would be Briancon, especially if you like the forts Vauban constructed and want to do the Tarentaise sort of area.

I guess it's how long are you in the area for, a few days then moving around will get the chance to do the sights, a week or so, chance to find out what the towns are like, and if you like markets, get to enjoy one during a day off the bike. If you have a pillion with you, then this gets lots of smartie points.

Doc,

This rather makes my point in post #3.

The fellow, very helpfully, suggests these two towns. They are both a decent schlep from say, Annecy, but they are both in the ‘French Alps’.





The lower of the two screen shots, shows all (or at least some of) the places in between. It’s a huge area and you haven’t yet gone southwards to the coast.

 

[Nin]

Bourg saint Maurice is a good base for a couple of days for Col de roselend, Val d’Isere etc, but as Wapping says, it’s a big place and you’ll want to move on

 

[Wapping]

I recall that I once or twice ran a Wapping Wander to Annecy, using it as a single base, so single bases can work. Likewise, Bourg Saint Maurice, as above.

Maybe have a look at this, Doc for inspiration:

French Alps, three jaunts out suggestions

Centred on Chatillon sur Cluses, this ‘3-Tour’ suggestion from Motorrad und Reisen magazine, May-June 2020 edition (available via Readly) looks pretty good. The advantage of staying in somewhere like Chatillon sur Cluses (yup, I haven’t heard of it either) is that you’d be able to access all...

www.ukgser.com

 

[KMD]

Thanks for posting this question Doc, and everyone for your replies. Due to arthritis I’ve decided this years trip to Austria where we trailered the bike there, rode long or short days as we liked and trailered it back is the way forward for us. For next year we were thinking of doing the same again with one, or two bases in the areas getting mentioned here.

 

[glenn2926]

As has been said, we’ll all have out favourite place to stay. Mine is Chamonix. That’s because my lad lives there, has a brewery and a bar there. It does make for a great base as there are plenty of mountain passes. He obviously knows the area very well and usually takes me on a one or two off road passes. It’s a half day to the med coast or Provence which are both great areas for riding. Next years trip is going to be hopping the French Italian border south from Chamonix for a week or so.

 

[Doc]

As always great info thanks.
No idea on which bit but I will take a look on the map.

 

[Wapping]

…..but I will take a look on the map

It’s a great place to start

 

[wessie]

I have used Grenoble as a base a couple of times. As said above, it's a nice place to spend a bit of time and the trams were free in the evenings so staying in a hotel a few km from the centre was no problem. It's easy to do some loops from there e.g. over Galibier then back across Croix de la Fer/Glandon is a nice day out. You can go south towards Gap or SW into the balcony roads.

If I had a week in the area then I would probably have 3/4 nights in two different bases. It's a massive area and I have not covered it all in 3 visits, especially the southern, Maritime Alpes and the area along the Swiss/Italian Border.

 

[er-minio]

I was going through videos, there was a small-ish road that I "discovered" summer 2022 that I didn't do before, and that is what I wanted to share, but that is a bit south and lower altitudes, south of the Mercantour area. Here it is connected to one of the points indicated by Wapping above:

And here is the video, D28, going north from Rigaud. Very scenic:

(video is still processing to HD, so might look like it was filmed with a potato for the next 30 mins)

As someone suggested exploring west as well, the D94 loop is a very nice, flowing, route with a few small pleasant villages along the way to stop a night (the loop is short, can be easily done in a few hours anyway) and is handy from Barcelonette.
I think I suggested this before in another thread, again with video of the road (bit long and boring, the video, not the road):

 

[stever1]

Doc, a lot depends on how much time you have. I did RDGA recently on the ADV350.
started off at a nice hotel in Thonon Le Baines, close to town but quiet. Then took 3 days to do it down to the cote da azure.
there’s many places to bed down in the Alpes,
The previous time I went I started at Thonon, then did 2 nights in Bourg St Maurice, 2 nights in Barcellonnette, 2 nights in Sospel ( I think. ). This allowed me to do the RDGA and explore the area.
I then had 2 nights in port grimaud to allow me to drink VERY expensive beer in the sun and do my bag wash.
came home via Route Napoleon overnighting in Gap.
then onto 2 nights in Annecy, we’ll worth a visit if you’re in the area.
There are many, many other fantastic places to stop, such as Guillestre, Castellane, and a favourite of mine, les Salles Sur Verdon.
2 main things IMHO is give yourself time to enjoy it, and be flexible about where to go.
I use booking.com and logis de France for finding hotels and haven’t failed me yet.

 

[Doc]

Would probably do 7 days.

 

[Wapping]

Would probably do 7 days.

Does the seven days, start when you roll off the ferry in Holland and stop when you roll back onto it?

 

[Pukmeister]

Timings:

You soon get to realise that all the good stuff in France is a fair Schlep from Calais, the Northern bit is just flat wind blown open farmland.

That's around two days riding to get to the good stuff, and two days to get back, which doesn't leave you much time to enjoy the hills and curves.

Our annual trips are usually ten days, based around the above timescales. Typically depart Friday lunchtime, arrive in France 35 minutes later via Le Tunnel (but one hour earlier due to the time difference), then aim for a few hours riding to get to the first stop. Day two is a blast using Peage roads to get well into the South. That gives you Sunday to Thursday to go out and play.

Return on Le Tunnel is a week Sunday lunchtime, home around teatime.