Recommend me a nice town between Aosta and Martigny

Wonkey donkey

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Hiya,

Need a recommendation for a 1 night stay between these 2 towns ideally. We were looking at Brig but travelling from Annecy and doing a detour to see The Matterhorn means a near 280 mile day and considering the terrain Brig maybe 50 miles too far.

Prefer nearer Martigny as that gets us closer to the passes for the next day.

Thanks
 
Difficult to tell where you mean, Annecy well to the west?
So maybe Sion in Switzerland
Bourg st maurice in France
or Pre saint didier in Italy.

Suspect Bourg will have more choice and be cheaper, you then have the option of Grand and Petite St Bernard passes. Great roads. Dont know if this helps?
 
As with J Biker, it’s not too clear what you are trying to do. If I read your post correctly, you start your day in Annecy, ride out to view the Matterhorn (I’m not sure what that means exactly) and want to finish up in the evening somewhere along the line Aosta to Martigny?

Aosta to Martigny direct is 75 km, call that 50 miles. If I’d not wanted to stay in either Martigny or Aosta, I’d just slide my finger between the two and pick a town or village that suited me.

Not directly between the two but at the right latitude is Chamonix, not too far away. Or how about Zermatt?
 
Be handy to know where you are planning to ride the next day, and is this a one night stopover, or somewhere you intend to stay to do some epic looping ride out the next day.

You also mention intending to end at Brig, but that maybe being 50 miles too far at 280 miles, so if stopping at Martigny you would still be doing a 230 mile day, presumably on Alpine passes as opposed to seeking out Motorways, plus some sight seeing, in which case I think 230 miles is too far.

I work on a 30mph "moving average" for the Mountains, I can some times manage mid 30's if there some stretches of faster straighter roads, but I suspect your 230 mile day to Martigny will be in excess of 7 hours riding before you factor in coffee stops, lunch, stopping for pictures and your plan to "see" the Matterhorn (whatever that means)

I thought most people go to Zermatt to "see" the Matterhorn, but if this was your plan you would not be going past Aosta and Martigny between the Matterhorn and Brig....

...so very confused about your plan and your route and your mileage calculations.

If you wish to go from Annecy to Brig and see the Matterhorn, this is a really easy days ride - Annecy - Zermatt - Brig, about 4-6 hours depending on route.
 
Wonky, clearly everyone is confused about what it is you are trying to do.

Perhaps if you drew a simple Google map and shared it with us all, it might help? Failing that, give us all a much clearer idea, please.
 
What about Saint-Gervais-les-Bains?

Looks nice enough.

(might be better if it was called "Saint Gervais LesBians" though :eyebrow )
 
Head north from Aosta towards the Mont Blanc Tunnel. As someone mentioned earlier, at Pre St Didier turn left and head up a great road to La Thuile. You can look up "Chalet Alpina" which is a brilliant hotel run by Eddie and Debbie. The next morning you could head up the Mountain to The piccolo San Banard for some great views then turn back down to Pre St Didier, turn left up to the Tunnel with more great scenery. Head down the french side to Chamonix and turn right towards Switzerland for another great road. All depends on what time of year your doing this.
 
As someone mentioned earlier, at Pre St Didier turn left and head up a great road to La Thuile. You can look up "Chalet Alpina" which is a brilliant hotel run by Eddie and Debbie..

Juts past here you can take a shortcut over Col San Carlo on the way to the Grand St Bernard - not the best pass in the world, but very pleasant, it also has a couple of nice looking "refuge" style Hotels on it, we stopped at one for a cuppa once and I really wished I could of made it a beer and not ridden off.

The Op could easily get away with riding until he has had enough and / or spots a nice looking place to stay for the night, we often enjoy this when needing a stop halfway between two places, means we can press on if making good time, or enjoying good weather (or fearing the following days weather) and stop a bit short if things are not going our way and / or the following day looks better.
 
The Matterhorn is situated above Zermatt, which is traffic free and in a dead end valley. You have to ride to Tasch, put your bike in the large car park and take the train the last few kms to Zermatt. The Italian side of the Matterhorn, Mount Cervin, is above Cervinia, a village also in a dead end valley off the Aosta valley.
 
I must be missing something here. Aosta to Martigny is Grand St Bernard. There aren't really any towns or villages between the two, though there are some hotels (including one at the top of the pass - though it's closed at the moment and open only in summer).

If you don't want to stop at on the pass, the logical thing to do is to stop in Aosta or Martigny. Aosta's a whisker less expensive (Italian v Swiss prices), has a lot of Roman bits to look at and a nice main square for evening eating/perambulation; Martigny's like a lot of modernised Swiss towns - clean to the point of being a bit characterless.

The alternative is one of the nearby villages, I guess. On the Italian side, I've stayed in La Thuille on bike trips (on the Petit St Bernard, about 20 mins from Aosta) and it's a charming enough little place. On the Swiss end, the obvious choice is Verbier - though I've only ever been there for the skiing, so I don't know how much of it's open in summer.

Anywhere else – and your choices are pretty much Chamonix-and-its-environs – strikes me as being a fairly pointless detour. Though not as pointless as riding past Martigny to get to Brig, another 50 miles to the east.

If the question was actually: what's a good stop between Aosta and Brig, the answer is... Martigny. (Though Veysonnaz is good: nice climb up the valley sides, epic views - including of light aircraft landing below you at Sion airport down in the valley)
 
Once stayed in Hotel du Repos which is in a nice little village just up the road (and hillside) from Martigny near Champery (which also looked very nice, a bigger place with a good choice of restaurants) better than being in a large modern industrial town.
 
Hiya guys you lot have been busy while I have had to spend the day shopping with Mrs Wonkey and baby Wonkies so apologies for my late reply.

Also apologies for confusing everyone.

We were planning to see the Matterhorn from a village on the Italian side, Cervinia. This meant passing through Aosta to the village then having to double back along the same road to Aosta again. From there we head over the St. Bernard pass, I think, before hitting Martigny then on to Brig, but have now realised that the mileage is not really on and think we should scrap the Matterhorn bit. This will allow us to push on past Martigny as I want to find a place to stay before then doing the Furka, Grimsell and Susten passes the next day and ending up somewhere near Interlaken. The following day we have to be back in Geneva by 1pm so all looks doable.

I guess we can now stay anywhere between Martigny and the start of the first pass, believe that's the Furka?

Anyway sorry to confuse you but some of the posts have helped bring me to my senses and not try to cram it all in by doing silly miles.
 
Still confused - So how many miles will you be doing from leaving Annecy to arriving in Martigny?

You obviously wanted to get to Brig, by not bothering with your detour to Cervinia is this still not attainable, IIRC the run from Martginy to Brig is a fairly dull schlep along the valley floor, just past Brig at Ulrichen (about 30 minutes further) is the Hotel Astoria, right opposite the turning to the Nufenen pass, highly recommended.

You will need to do at least one of the Andermatt passes twice to end up at Interlaken, for my money I would choose the Grimsel or Susten, also try to work in the Nufenen and St Gothard, you will have time to do them all, just it is not possible to come up with a run that does not repeat a pass / require doubling back on yourself.
 
Etroubles is the obvious choice between Aosta and Martigny.

Lovely little alpine town and most importantly, has a couple of good hotels and a very good restaurant which has an extensive list of oterwise hard to ind local wines.
 
I must be missing something here. Aosta to Martigny is Grand St Bernard. There aren't really any towns or villages between the two, though there are some hotels (including one at the top of the pass - though it's closed at the moment and open only in summer).

If you don't want to stop at on the pass, the logical thing to do is to stop in Aosta or Martigny. Aosta's a whisker less expensive (Italian v Swiss prices), has a lot of Roman bits to look at and a nice main square for evening eating/perambulation; Martigny's like a lot of modernised Swiss towns - clean to the point of being a bit characterless.

The alternative is one of the nearby villages, I guess. On the Italian side, I've stayed in La Thuille on bike trips (on the Petit St Bernard, about 20 mins from Aosta) and it's a charming enough little place. On the Swiss end, the obvious choice is Verbier - though I've only ever been there for the skiing, so I don't know how much of it's open in summer.

Anywhere else – and your choices are pretty much Chamonix-and-its-environs – strikes me as being a fairly pointless detour. Though not as pointless as riding past Martigny to get to Brig, another 50 miles to the east.

If the question was actually: what's a good stop between Aosta and Brig, the answer is... Martigny. (Though Veysonnaz is good: nice climb up the valley sides, epic views - including of light aircraft landing below you at Sion airport down in the valley)
The residents or Orseriers and Etroubles, and their hoteliers in particular, will be disappointed to hear that.
 
Sorry, of my two-dozen-odd traverses of the pass they've made zero impact on me. When I think of Grand St Bernard I rather think of the riding from the moment you turn off for the pass/to avoid the tunnel on the Italian side until you enter the tunnel when you rejoin the main route 21 on the Swiss side (or vice versa). Which is reductive and does miss out these two locations. I'm so sorry.

However, they're not big towns – we have bigger villages in Lincolnshire – and there's nothing on the main road as you pass though, apart from a nice big car park in the bowl of the hairpin in Etroubles.

Indeed, the main route 21 bypasses Orseriers completely - you have to turn off to go into the town, which may worth doing for the Col de Champex, which is scenic enough to make it worth the bother (though it's a slower way to complete the descent to Martigny). I've done that a couple of times in both directions and still struggle to call to mind anything of Orseriers but having to slow down to go through a village, before getting back on the Grand St Bernard.

But there are no sights to see/attractions to visit in either one. When you have good cafes directly on the pass, there's no reason to stop in either when riding past. When looking for places to stay, there are hotels directly on the pass, hotels plus Roman stuff in Aosta, or more choice of hotels plus bike dealerships in Martigny. Which to my way of thinking makes all three better options. The only reason I can see for stopping there is either (A) they fall in exactly the right place for whatever arbitrary daily mileage limit you've imposed on yourself, or (B) you've got a really good deal on a hotel, or (C) you don't want to stay in a big town (which is fair enough).
 
Right on plan B, maybe C, ok plan W.

So decided to bin the Matterhorn and instead do Annecy to Aosta to Martigny then found a road that ends at Spiez, just to the west of Interlaken. 233 miles from start to finish but happy to do 8-9 hours and will set off earlyish from Annecy anyway. This way we are near the passes for a full day and can stay around Interlaken again the day after before returning to Geneva.

So anyone have any views on this? Do I need to do plan X.

Also what's the best order to do the 3 passes, or more if doable, that will take a day and put us back towards Interlaken?

Thanks
 
So anyone have any views on this? Do I need to do plan X.

Also what's the best order to do the 3 passes, or more if doable, that will take a day and put us back towards Interlaken?

Thanks

Views on what???

All we know is you are going from Annecy and ending up at Spiez and riding 233 miles, I doubt anyone here has the time or inclination to try and figure out every possible route that is 233 miles from your point A-B and then guess which one you are using...

...we are near passes all day is not a great clue considering you're in the Alps.

The only thing I can guess is you do not work in the field of human communication.
 


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