Bike Trip To French Alps – What To Do?

As far as bike tours are concerned, there is not a great difference between the French Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites, and Swiss Alps. They all have very large hills to ride, as well as a spectacular panorama. The French Alps cycling tours let you explore home to many of the popular cols, typically with very long hard ascents. The Pyrenees have a denser network of mountain roads, and thus less traffic and a wider route choice.

Your preference of country will also infuse your trip with a taste of the home nation’s character and culture.

Optimally pleasant cycling weather has clear parameters, specifically between 150C and 250C and no rainfall – cooler than 150C is getting a bit chilly, especially long descents, and hotter than 250C starts to become stifling.

• Northern Alps – June to mid-September
• Southern Alps – mid-May to end September
• Pyrenees – mid-April to end October
• Mallorca – March to May, October & November
• Corsica – April & May, mid-September to end November

Make your base somewhere in the valley floor for the fixed-base French Alps cycling tours – low-lying accommodation is likely to give you far better route choice; high altitude accommodation, typically, means cycling up the same col to your hotel at the end of each day’s riding.

There are numerous holiday resorts in the Alps, which are used for skiing during the winter months. Staying in a lively resort will give you access to facilities like bars, swimming pool, shops and supermarket. These resorts offer you ready access to mountain biking, hiking, and other adventure sports.

Stelvio, Tourmalet, Ventoux, and Alpe d’Huez – These prominent ascents are all in different regions, and would not typically be ridden during the same bike tour. You can just narrow down your destination options by focusing on a specific col that you would like to conquer.

Alpe d’Huez is in the middle of the French Alps, surrounded by many of the sport’s most notoriously difficult ascents. Mt. Ventoux is not actually in the Alps; it stands alone, some 100 km from any other notable peak. Tourmalet is in the heart of the Pyrenees, and the Stelvio Pass is in the Italian Alps near the Swiss border. There are numerous notable cols that can be explored during French Alps cycling tours.