alps trip

twig

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hi, my girlfriend and i want to tour the northern alps in june. we have never been abroard before on a bike and ime struggling with the route. ive read loads of search pages on the subject but having a bit of a nightmare with it. we want to ride down to chamonix area (mont blanc) which ive allowed 2 days for, spend a rest day there and then move on. we have about 10 days in total so i didnt want to go any further south as don't want massive journey back to calais. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks :beerjug:
 
A few tips (in no particular order):

1. Consider buying a GPS receiver such as the Garmin 2610, available from www.gpsw.co.uk. Not essential by any means, but can take the stress out of navigation and finding fuel/hotel etc.

2. If you don't buy a GPSR, get a copy of Microsoft Autoroute for your PC. You can use it to plot routes, calculate distances and estimate times - useful for trip planning. You can use Michelin maps for on-the-road navigation, but planning on the PC is much easier.

3. Do an internet search on towns on your selected route, or plan your route around interesting towns or features. You don't want to spend all day on the bike.

4. Accommodation is relatively cheap. You can ask at tourist offices, or use one of the cheap hotel chains like Formula 1, Campanile etc (check the Internet).

5. Be aware that petrol can be hard to find on Sundays, and most UK credit/debit cards don't work in the French supermarket automatic petrol pumps.

6. Go with the flow, don't be afraid to change your route. If you are running late, you can make up time on the autoroute.

Hope this helps. The main thing is to do it yourself rather than relying on routes suggested by others - you get a much bigger sense of achievement. Biking in France is easy and enjoyable.

Glynn
 
Seems like you are on the right lines. From Calais, the French Alps are easily reached with 1 overnight stop.

As you live in Cheshire, my suggestion would be either take the overnight ferry from Portsmouth or get a lunchtime ferry from Dover.

If you choose the overnight ferry then you can reach Dijon easily for your first stop.

If you choose the Dover ferry then head for say Cambrai/Reims as an overnight stop. Both have reasonable hotels which you will find on the Logis de France website at http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm . From Cambrai you can get to Chamonix in a comfortable days ride on the Autoroute.

My suggestion: pick a region within the Alps & stick to that. For my first trip in 1995 we chose to stay mostly within France and did the more famous Cols (Galibier, Iseran, Bonnette etc) from a single base in Grenoble. We used the same 10 day time frame and spent a week in Grenoble. In 1995 the internet was less dominant: we used the Rough Guide to give us ideas for routes and then plotted these on the yellow (now orange) Michelin 1:200,000 Maps: we adapted the routes as we became better used to what sort of mileages were possible in such terrain. You won't know this until you get there as it depends on variables such as the stamina of you and your passenger; the amount of photos you take; cigarette breaks; length of lunch stops etc.

Nowadays I am more inclined to stay for 3-4 nights in one place. The big advantage of using a base hotel is that your day trips are taken without luggage and you do not have to seek accommodation in the late afternoon/early evening. This makes for much more leisurely touring in my opinion. I travel along with an empty topbox which makes for a useful helmet/GPS storage should you decide to get off the bike to do a bit of sightseeing on foot. I also try to pick bases where a day off the bike would be interesting just in case you get fog bound or fancy a day shopping, sightseeing or getting fatter on the local food & wine.

I've given you my take but the best advice is to go with an open mind. Don't have too many preconceptions and remember it's a holiday not an endurance ride.
 
Just a word of warning, I have done several trips to the Alps and the first was in June.

Most of the high passes that you will want to ride were closed because of snow.

These include the Grossglockner, Stelvio, Fluela etc. This is not deffinatly going to be the case but at 2500 metres up in June in the Alps there can be a lot of snow left.

I went in Sept last year and it was 85 degrees every day and no snow except in the Hintertux Glacier in Mayerhofen (Tirol) Thats year round anyway.

Have a great trip whatever you decide :thumb2

Jon
 
By mid-late June even the high French passes should be open.

When we went to the Alps in late May/early June 2004, the 2500+m passes were still closed in Italy and Austria (Timmelsjoch & Stelvio), but were opened a few days after we left :rolleyes:
 
www.alpineroads.com will tell you where the passes are and if they are open - your hotel might have internet access, and there is sure to be an internet cafe in any tourist town if you want to check after you have left the UK. I've gone over the Petit St Bernard from Italy into France in the third week of June.

Use the website to locate the good passes on a decent map of the region and then interlink them to make daily routes.

As I said in my first post, have a contingency for days off the bike. I missed the June date initially and this certainly increases the possibility of a rainy or colder day when some sightseeing on foot might be more enjoyable.
 
thanks for all the replys. june is not set in concrete, i chose that month because i thought it would be a little quieter, i.e. avoiding main holiday months. when would the ideal time to go be.
many thanks again
 
Twig - I have been to the alps for the last two years in June. Great weather both times.

Buy John hermanns motorcycling in the alps book (amazon £14) - it is a great reference and will help you plan a good trip. A good base for 2 or 3 days is Andermatt - it is surrounded by some of the best passes in the alps. Alternatively, consider douing the Routes des Grandes Alpes which goes over the highest passes in the alps and through great scenry. I did the route des grandes alpes and routes napoleon and gorges du verdon and parc vercours in 4 days at a fast pace so you could definitely do it in 10 and enjoy the trip immensley.

A sat nav is ok but I had one on the alps last year and barely used it - everything is so well signposted and a michelin map is so clear that it isn't an essential £200 spend. Its a nice to have if you have the spare cash.

Seriously consider the routes des grandes alpes - it is fantastic, combined with other sections I mentioned above. lots of threads here about it,.
 
hi, my girlfriend and i want to tour the northern alps in june. we have never been abroard before on a bike and ime struggling with the route. ive read loads of search pages on the subject but having a bit of a nightmare with it. we want to ride down to chamonix area (mont blanc) which ive allowed 2 days for, spend a rest day there and then move on. we have about 10 days in total so i didnt want to go any further south as don't want massive journey back to calais. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks :beerjug:

Hi Twig,

Last couple of years I have traveled to the alps in June, here are the ride reports for you. http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51695

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81180
 
August is the busy month in the alps/chaminox as the french nation take the whole month off for there annual holidays.i've always found july to be good as most/all the passes should be open.swiss is by far the best for biking.i have been to chaminox a couple of times yes its nice but i would find it hard to do 10 days there.whatever u decide enjoy your holiday just dont try to cram to much in.after all its a holiday not a race:thumb
 
hi,i can recomend dijon for an overnight stay,eat in the main square its got lots of cafes and a great atmosphere in the summer months,in chamonix try to take the cable car up to the top of mont midi,its not cheap 35 euros return i think (make sure you get a return ticket or you will have to walk/ski/paraglide back down)its worth it for the fantastic view and to experience the effects of thin air at 12000 feet when you try to climb the steps up to the viewing platform.the mont blanc tunnel is just outside chamonix which i always wanted to ride through,i found it a big let down,£11(yes thats sterling) to ride through what is a very short tunnel by the alps standards.further south is chambery which is a nice town,the route napolean is a fantastic road down to the med,(i think its the n85) try to do about 250 miles a day,i find this lets you cover a good distance without turning into an endurance style torture journey.and as said above,enjoy it.good luck
 
If this is your first bike trip abroad you’re in for a real treat!

My few tips are:

Take a large scale atlas of Europe, the Michelin one is ideal with its green boarder’s for the good roads and its great for an over view of the area too.

The idea of staying in one place for a number of days is a good one; Grenoble and the Vercors area has a lot to offer, it’s on my hit list for the near future. Check this page out. http://www.grenoblecycling.com/the-Vercors.htm
 
Paul,

I've got maps, gps tracks etc. Let me know if you want to have a look. Here's the link to the Stelvio webcam.

Dave
 
Its my first trip too, I'm going at the start of July. There is so much to choose for a route. I'm now thinking do this routes des grandes alpes then across italy to slovenia, taking in stelvio pass then back through Austria for Grossglockner, but i recon it may be a "see where i end up" trip.
 
Its my first trip too, I'm going at the start of July. There is so much to choose for a route. I'm now thinking do this routes des grandes alpes then across italy to slovenia, taking in stelvio pass then back through Austria for Grossglockner, but i recon it may be a "see where i end up" trip.

just enjoy your trip.and dont forget your digital camera.and go with what feels right.:thumb dont try to do to much.do less and enjoy more.:thumb
im turning green:eek:
 
I did a trip to the French Alps last September, we stayed nr Samoens which is about 40 miles west of Chamonix.

I took the Friday night Dover ferry and stopped at the Villages Hotel which is cheap and has a secure compound for parking and is literally a couple of mins from the autoroute. Early start on Saturday and headed to Reims then Chalon-Sur-Maine then towards Troyes keeping to N roads. Before hitting Troyes we turned off se and headed towards some lakes which are east of Troyes. We stayed at the Hotel D'Oree at Mesnil-Saint-Pere on Lac D'Orient which is a lovely location. Next day we headed for Chatillon-Sur-Seine (we overnighted here on the return journey) and stuck to the N71 towards Aigney-Le-Duc then the D16, Moloy, Dijon, Dole and onto the N5 which is a great road, very scenic, curvy and mountainous. Onwards towards Meyrin, D984/d884 before dropping onto the A40 somewhere south of Geneva. Whilst there visit Annecy and go up the Mont Blanc cable car - stunning.

If you have Mapsource i can send you my routes.
 


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