Bike routes in the French Alps

The French Alps are large and diverse. I've included some rides at the eastern edge of the Jura here as well as they can be easily combined with an Alps trip. 

Click the routes above for popups with individual descriptions + GPX downloads

This page is a work in progress – I'm adding more and more routes as time permits.

The different colours are simply to help make the routes easier to identify on the site – they don't represent levels of difficulty or anything. I haven't seen any point in describing the climbs as easy/moderate/challenging as I have on bike routes for other regions of France (i.e on leisure/touring routes). I think we can assume most are challenging for the average rider, though levels of difficulty obviously vary. As some of our routes combine multiple cols, or start before the actual climb, I've given the overall metres gained rather than average gradients. Distances are for the entire route, not just the actual climbs.

For the most part this page is intended to make it easier to match routes to accommodation and bike hire options and to help make planning a trip easier. I also wanted to make the GPX files available for download where possible. As always, the information is for guidance only – please shout (lyn@freewheelingfrance.com) if you need clarification on anything.

Thanks very much to Will, who runs cycling-challenge.com, for making his GPX files available for me to share. Most (though not all) GPX files are his. Other sources include other local cyclists and tourist information centres. 

Supported rides in the French Alps

Col du Petit Saint Bernard.

Col du Petit Saint Bernard. Photo: Pierre Metivier

More bike route ideas all over France

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