Route Des Grandes Alpes where to stay?

Hey Gents,

Im currently working overseas and planning a 2 week trip with the wife to France when I return to the UK (13th Sep). We'll cross on the tunnel spending the first night in Reims, Second night in Thonon-les-Bains with the 3rd and 4th night somewhere on the RGDA.

I'll plot out the route in basecamp when I'm home.. not having done the RDGA before, I'm struggling with where to book hotels on nights 3 and 4

I've given us 2 nights (3 days) to complete the RDGA.. figuring in 7-8hrs on the bike a day, where do I need to be booking the stop overs?




Cheers,
Dale

It is really hard to tell (or even suggest) places for bods to stop along the full length of the RdGA. The route, by its very nature, is littered with hotels, many centred on the world of skiing. Not least, what one fellow (or their pillion) expects, might be very different from what another expects. Some will all but demand a garage that would shame Fort Knox to lock their bike into for one night, whilst others are happy just to leave it in the car park with maybe a lock on it. Any or all of the hotels will be ‘Biker friendly’, * just as they’ll be friendly (or at least should be) to someone arriving on foot, on a bicycle, in a people carrier with six kids or in a feck off Ferrari 488.

You want two overnight stops. Starting from Thonon-les-Bains, I’d suggest somewhere around Beaufort for night one and somewhere around Briancon (or maybe a bit further down, perhaps) for night two.

What I’d do is display your route in BaseCamp and break it up into logical (for you, at least) thirds. You say, “7 to 8 hours on the bike a day” but that is all but meaningless if it includes a two hour stop for lunch, a coffee and tea stop, separate stops for fuel and who knows how many stops stops to gawp in slack jawed wonder at the scenery and pressing wild flowers. At the end of roughly the first third, look on Google maps for hotels or just pump the place name into Booking.com or Tripadvisor. Surf through them a bit and find a hotel that floats your boat. Then repeat at the end of the second third. Job done.

For a simple example only, this might work for night one: http://www.hoteldudoron.fr/ Have I stayed there? No. Might I give it a whirl? Yes, if I felt like it and / or it suited me on that day. If you selected, Briancon for the second night, the place has more hotels than you can shake a stick at.


* I have no idea what that actually means. Some will think it has to have a house AC/DC cover band (tinged with a bit of Sabbath) performing until three AM and 10 mullet haired blokes, named Karl from Karlstadt to chill with, I guess? That and lots of frits with ketchup. Others can think of nothing worse.

Cuff it

Ride until you recon you have a couple of hours left in you both.

Book somewhere 50 miles away that looks nice and has a river in the town

Always works for me, bonus is a bit of adventure thrown in.

You’ll never be stuck for a room


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What hotels have you stayed in on the RdeGA using that method? Ping them up, as they might suit the OP.

The great thing about Google is that it’s free and you can play around.

This site popped-up, which sort of confirms my suggestion in post #2.

https://www.mytriptailor.com/en/tour/great-alpine-way-motorcycle/

All be it, they seem to take three days.


PS The bod also has some other quite good suggestions.

[mention]Arsey [/mention] and I Have stayed the night here in September 2019. It is a skying region so over 80% of places were shut. There is a restaurant around the corner (seemed like the only one in town, we did not check), but it provided a meal and a place for a chat. The hotel has a biker friendly garage. Rooms are typical for a skying resort, just like most hotels along the route. The following night we stayed in Castellane, which does detour West from the RDGA.

However, like others have said. When you stop for lunch, pull up your pocket gadget, see how much longer you want to ride and book something on Booking.com

Some people are keen to have a 15 minute baguette and coffee lunch, others might insist on sitting down for a full on meal and then an hours kip before setting off again.

Some people happy to cover 100 miles, where others are trying to beat their personal best and cover 250+ in a day, on the roads that will see you average 30-40mph all day long.

2 days to cover entire RDGA is cutting it fine. The temptation to pull over for a picture, a break, fuel stops, will see you pushing your, and more importantly your pillion limits. Don’t ask me how I know.

It’s a great place to be visiting, so I would suggest allowing an extra day as a minimum, for it to be memorable for the right reasons.

Wife and I done it (two bikes) starting in Menton and peeling off towards Geneva on day 3. I wish we allowed one more day for that extra bit of flexibility.

Enjoy your trip and best of luck.

Post #5 highlights the problem with the oft spouted, “Wing it, pal”. The bod is going in September. Ski centric places often shut much after the middle of the month, preparing for the ski season to come. There is nothing duller than being in a ski resort, out of season. The bigger towns will, of course, be fine.

As Ev said above, Valloire is a sensible distance from Thonon for the next stop.
The Hotel de la Poste is great.I’ve stayed there four times and once elsewhere when it was shut. They have their own restaurant which just so happened to be shut last time we were there.
It’s a cracking spot to wake up to this view :



It’s also only a 15 minute ride up to the Col du Galibier so it means you get there before any crowds and can take uninterrupted photos.



For the next night I’ve stayed in a few places such as Valberg, Sospel and even at the top of the Col de Turini.

Valberg was a ski resort so a bit quiet off season.The hotel up the Turini was the iconic one with all the rally pics inside where we’ve stopped for coffee many times



But the room was very tired and the food shite.

Sospel, which was a little bit further down the road was much nicer.

I stayed here at the Auberge Provencale and this was the view from my room



Lovely spot for a beer on the terrace then wonder into town for dinner.

Found this using Mark's and other's method of stop for a coffee and browse Booking.com when you've nearly had enough for the day.
This place is at the top of the hill overlooking Albertville. Stunning views. Great restaurants, couple of bars all within the Citadel walls. Secure parking.

CITADELLE DE CONFLANS , Albertville.

Towns with hotels can be far apart on RDGA.

Val d'Isere

Great little place. Garage parking and the owner kindly gave me a lift to the town and collected me later
https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...00fb2!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d45.476171!4d6.9493138

GrantB said:

Great little place. Garage parking and the owner kindly gave me a lift to the town and collected me later
https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...00fb2!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d45.476171!4d6.9493138

Click to expand...

Yebbut, is Val d'Isere on the RdGA?

I did RdGA four or five years ago on a tight timeline. The big mistake was allowing only two days for the entire Thonon to Nice route. We stayed near Thonon, l'Argentierre (a bit off route) then up behind Nice. Two long days. Then back up the Route Napoleon via the Verdon gorges to Gap. Another long day.

ChazzyB said:

Yebbut, is Val d'Isere on the RdGA?

I did RdGA four or five years ago on a tight timeline. The big mistake was allowing only two days for the entire Thonon to Nice route. We stayed near Thonon, l'Argentierre (a bit off route) then up behind Nice. Two long days. Then back up the Route Napoleon via the Verdon gorges to Gap. Another long day.

Click to expand...

https://www.roadstotravel.net/france-route-des-grandes-alpes/