How busy are the Alps in July/Aug?

lmg

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Hopefully this is in the correct section. I have some time off of work stretching from now until end of August and I was thinking of doing a few days riding some of the high Alp passes (Alpe d'Heuz et al).

My question is what would the traffic be like around the times I've mentioned before? Likewise camping - would I be able to easily find a place to pitch a tent for a night or two?

TIA

Sent from somewhere...
 
Any famous ones will be very very busy...cars, coaches, bikes, push bikes....aim for the lesser known ones and you'll be fine.
 
I think I have that book back in England. Will check it out next week.

Sent from somewhere...
 
A really simple way is to google best driving roads in the Alps...then avoid those on the list. Works with 'best cycling cols' etc People are like lemmings and seldom do proper self planning preferring to read an article in Evo or suchlike to get their 'inspiration'. I think an exception is Ride with their better thought out routes.
 
To be honest the roads can be a hit or a miss, like anywhere during the summer months. I've traveled around the alps in the past from June, July right up until the end of August. I've never really seen them packed. Now and again you find a wee convoy stuck behind a bus or some slow moving cars whom maybe are trying to take in the scenery. I'd say just get on your bike and go, you won't regret it.

One of my favorite routes though the alps has to be the Route Des Grande Alps. It takes you over the highest pass in the alps and over 16 passes and more if you take some of the loops that come off it. See the below link for some information on it.

http://www.moveyouralps.com/en/route-des-grandes-alpes/the-alpine-route

There are lots more to do around those area's as well. As for camping I can't comment on that as I've always just stayed in hotel's or BnB's. In the alps so many of the ski resorts have plenty places open for the summer and they are always looking for people to fill there rooms and more often than not they can provide you with an evening meal and breakfast for a good price. Look out for the "Moto" signs with a picture of a bike on it. These are bike friendly hotels. :thumby:
 
Never a huge problem in the first week of July (we always go last week June/1st week July), but I guess it gets worse following those periods. Still wouldn't put me off going there, and sampling La Bonnette, Allos, Cayole, Gorge de Verdon, Daluis, L'Iseran, Isola, Vars etc.......

Take plenty of water - each day out.

Al
 
Don't go anywhere near them until the Tour De France is finished !
 
Julie and I tour in School holidays,last week July to first week September. Done all the favourite places, only busy bits were entering Dolomites once on the Val Gardena Pass.
Later in an afternoon or early morning can be very clear. Have done many pass roads from 1800 to Dark with very little on the road and amazing Sunsets.
On our last visit in August Route Des Cretes, Grand Ballons, Black Forest , Harz Region were very quiet. We had formulated the routes to travel midweek and not weekend. Enjoy your trip :thumby:
 
As stated, if you get out very early in the morning, or go out in the evenings - you get pretty quiet roads. can be a tad chilly in the mornings, but worth it,

only problem is- the call of the beer-bottle in the evening........ can be strong:D:beer:
 
Not busy at the minute where we are in Austria because it has been p@ssing down for the past 5 days
 
They will be busier than they are in September but let's have a bit of perspective: you will not be stuck in a queue of nose-to-tail traffic from the bottom of each alp to the top. If there are roadworks, which there sometimes are, you might sometimes have to queue a little - but bikes go to the front of the queue and then you have empty road ahead of you.

August is French/Italian holiday season so there will be more cyclists and motorhomes to overtake than at other times of year. The Route des Grandes Alpes and the cols that featured in this year's Tour will be the busiest. Compared with traffic in south-east England, the most of the roads will still seem pretty quiet. Get away from the main ones and the roads will be quiet.

How do you find the quieter ones? Ahem. Go to the shops, pick up this month's RiDE, get the Guide to France which routes in the south-east using both the popular routes and the less well-known ones. However, if it's your first time down there, don't avoid the great passes because you're worried they'll be busy: you still deserve to ride them. Just check your attitude and approach them with a bit of patience, soak up the views and enjoy the ride.
 
Never read RiDE magazine - but if it has some bumpf on the Alps I shall procure.

When I asked how to find the quieter ones, there have been times where reviews have pointed out "routes less travelled".

Thanks one and all for the responses.

Sent from somewhere...
 
RDGA is my favourite Alps trip, ridden it twice now - both times in July / August, by the standards of where I live the roads were very quiet, much more so than any decent road in the Cotswolds or South Wales.

Just got back from a trip out to the Dolomites and Italian Alps taking in parts of Switzerland and Austria as well, generally no problems with traffic anywhere.

"Lesser" passes are indeed quieter, but the famous ones are never that bad as to be worth avoiding (IMO)

Alp d'Huez is pretty crap IMO, just a bunch of hairpins covered in lycrists so unless you have an ulterior motive give it a miss, it is likely to be busy all the time, the passes of RDGA will be pretty good from my experience, and the many great passes each side of the main RDGA route will have even less traffic on them. Check out the Journeys book, RDGA is not listed as a route, but look at the chapters "The Grey Alps" and "Some High Stuff" for roads that make up parts of RDGA (and surrounding passes) as well as "The Mont Blanc Region" and "Annecy"

In my 5th edition the trips I would recommend are below (I think they have been the same for a few editions now)

13 - "All Around Mont Blanc" - may be busy in places, but one of the best days out you can have in the Alps

23 - "Around Guilestre" / 24 - "Agnel Sampeyre and Lombard" - I have done most of the passes in these two routes, but never the routes as described, but they should both be great - but a few of the passes are a bit nadgery and the book does not always make it clear how rough / smooth some of these roads are.

25 - "Three Highs" - Or two good roads and a Motocross track - well one half of Champs which is bumpy / tight / falling apart, I really enjoyed it on my Super Tenere, the Mrs was not happy on her TDM, the other side is brand new surface (or was about 2 years ago) so they might have improved the West ramp by now.

26 - "La Bonnette" - Great route as written

The "Gorge du Dulais" is also really nice, not a pass, just a twisty (generally well surfaced) ride through a wonderful canyon.

I would recommend you plot out the routes you like the look of and put together a plan mixing in elements of the trips in the book, this is what I tend to do, if looking at RDGA I would ride from the coast Northwards and stop arounf Guilestre / Barcelonette for a couple of nights to do some of the looping ride outs, and again around Bourg St Maurice so you can do the loop around Mont Blanc (worth it even with a bit of traffic.

IMO North of Cormet de Roseland it gets a bit duller (and busier) the best bit is that middle section mentioned above so if pressed for time skip the most southerly and / or northerly parts.
 
Not busy at the minute where we are in Austria because it has been p@ssing down for the past 5 days
Interesting as we were also in Austria and only got caught out once cause we got lost, every thunderstorm came after 6pm, the night we got lost we didn't get to our digs til 10.30 but on the whole Austria was quiet, Italy on the other hand was heaving, found around Livigno/St Moritz quiet but the Fluela pass today was busy but it is the weekend.
 


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