The Route des Grandes Alpes, from Thonon to Menton
From Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean by the passes, never dropping back to the plain. A week is enough provided you do not try to do everything, and you leave at least two short days.
A crossing, not a collection of passes
The route links Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean while staying at altitude throughout. It adds up some twenty passes, among them the Iseran, the highest road pass in the French Alps.
The classic mistake is wanting to chain them. Three passes in a day is five hours behind the wheel and not one walk: the journey becomes a performance instead of a trip.
The pace makes everything
A week works if you accept two short stages — a hundred kilometres or so — placed after the highest days. That is where the lakes, the alpine pastures and the villages you actually stop in belong.
Practical notes
- When to go
- Mid-June to mid-September: before that, several passes are still closed.
- Getting there
- Start at Thonon-les-Bains; Geneva an hour away, Lyon two and a half.
- Access
- Open to all vehicles, but narrow and steep over several sections.
- Sleeping in a van
- Campsites and aires all along the route. Wild camping is regulated in the Vanoise and Mercantour parks.
- Worth knowing
- Pass opening dates vary each year: check before fixing the itinerary.
- Allow
- A week without pushing, ten days to walk as well.
Thonon-les-Bains → Menton
- 1Col de la Colombière · Col des Aravis
- 2Col des Saisies · Cormet de Roselend · Lac de Roselend
- 3Col de l'Iseran · Bonneval-sur-Arc
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Also worth reading
A starting point, a few wishes — ViaLooma builds the trip day by day, map, stops and roadbook included.