Campsites in French Alps

[Mighty_Quinn]

We're off for 3 weeks in the Alps this July, and I'd like some recommendations for good campsites in the area.

I plan to start at Mont Blanc, then head towards Switzerland then down to the Italian Lakes.

Secondly, if anyone knows of a good stop-over between Caen and Mont Blanc where the bikes are safe, that would also be a help.

Cheers,
MQ

 

[Grazoid]

This is a good base .... it's at the foot of the Petit St Bernard

http://www.campinglereclus.com/anglais/accueil.htm

 

[Mighty_Quinn]

This is a good base .... it's at the foot of the Petit St Bernard

http://www.campinglereclus.com/anglais/accueil.htm

Cheers, added to my Garmin map.

 

[ashylad]

We stayed her for a couple of nights - 10min walk from Chamonix centre - good clean facilities and reasonable pitches - all with sight of Mont Blanc.

www.campingdesbarrats.com/campsite-chamonix-en/3stars-campsite-chamonix.html

 

[Sooty09]

Try a bit further south, we stayed at Barcelonette for a few nights. Its a nice town with good facilities. The camp site we used was about 1/2 mile out of town on the D902 and cost 12 euro / night with very good soft grass in the pitches and clean toilets. Its a very good base to explore the 9300 ft high Col du Bonnette (Highest road in Europe) and the Col De Allos /Col de la Cayolle.
We traveled to Barcelonette via the Massive Central and enjoyed leaving the tent and luggage here for a day while we rode the high Cols. Its the perfect launch pad for then heading north over the passes into the Col d'Izoard, and on over the Petite St Bernard's to the foot hills of Mont Blanc, Or via Isola 2000 into Italy
I found this area of France much more interesting than Switzerland and the Aosta Valley of Italy.
Traveling south from Barcelonette you can also visit the many Gorges heading down towards the south coast.
100% recommended, out of three weeks I would happily spend one week here.
I have only just discovered it after several years of exploring the Alpine area, I have no idea why I have not been before. I will return.
Check it out on google earth or Bing maps,

 

[scud]

Just returned from down that way...

The Col du Bonnette will blow your mind... it's AMAZING! we wild camped just below the col (not s'posed to, but there were others there to) meaing we could return to the Col as the sun was coming up....

The Route from Briancon to Nice, is an old Napolean route and goes through so many different scenic mountain passes; it left us speechless.

At Sposel, we came off the route heading toward Menton - more fantastic scenery and you can pop into the Maginot line forts as well

Over in Italy, we used the Splugen pass to drop down at Lake Como - steep, deep and stunning!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=46.491065,9.400864&spn=0.133547,0.338173&z=12

and finally of course, In Switzerland, the Grimselsee - OberAlp route is high and you can stop off at the Glacier!

Have fun!