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Southern French ALps: Zou.maregionsud.fr

Northern French Alps: oura.com

+ check with tourism info center for local shuttles

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The highest European town

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Close to the Vercors natural park, this city is beautiful and you can drink a lot of CLAIRETTE. You can eventually pursue your trip on Crest, Mirmande...

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!! expensive location !!

Tour du Mont Blanc is crowded...!!

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Usually allowed, stricter restrictions are in place in the Northern French Alps (Savoie, Haute Savoie), due to the increasing number of visitors.

For the 3 Alpine National Parks:

Vanoise: only permitted from June to September, near 23 mountain huts

mandatory reservation + pay a fee (2-3€).

Écrins: bivouacking is allowed at least one hour's walk away from roads or the park's boundaries and by some mountain huts on popular long-distance hiking trails.

Mercantour: bivouacking is allowed at least one hour's walk away from roads or the park's boundaries. (If you are less than one hour's walk away from the border of the park , you should pitch your tent outside of it...)

Other sensitive areas:

Réserve naturelle des Hauts de Chartreuse (Isère, Savoie): no bivouac allowed

Réserve naturelle des Contamines‑Montjoie (near Chamonix): only in designated spaces and with mandatory reservation

Réserves Naturelles Nationales du Massif des Aiguilles Rouges (near Chamonix): only in designated spaces and with mandatory reservation

In other specific places, bivouac is also banned. Please always do your research! You are welcome to ask the other French travelers and ambassadors if you struggle to find the info in English.

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Mountain hut managed by the Alpine club: https://www.ffcam.fr/rechercher_refuge_chalet.html

Mountain huts guarded / unguarded: https://www.refuges.info/

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In French look for "Auberge de jeunesse"

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easily put your tent in the garden of different home owners

(Airbnb for tents)

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Each summer you can go to the "Fêtes nocturnes" at the castle of Grignan.

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of Drôme and Ardèche

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Most of the things you need to know about traveling in the French Alps: 

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Most of the things you need to know about traveling in the French Alps: 

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Last update in 2023, so some info might need to be double checked.

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Alpine stages (late July)

19-26 July 2026

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France and Principality of Andorra will be on the menu of the 108th edition of the Tour. In France, 9 regions and 31 departments will be visited.

8 flat stages

5 hilly stages

6 mountain stages with 3 finishes at altitude (Tignes, Saint-Lary-Soulan col du Portet, Luz Ardiden)

2 individual time-trial stages

2 rest days

Stage 8 Vierzon > Le Creusot, 248 kms, will be the longest of the Tour since 2000 (Belfort > Troyes, 254,5 kms)

In 2021, there will be two individual timetrial stages which hadn't occurred since 2017. Their total distance will be 58 kms, 27 kms between Changé and Laval Espace Mayenne on stage 5 and 31 kms between Libourne and Saint-Émilion on the occasion of stage 20.

NOVELTIES

10 new stage cities or sites sites will appear on the map of the 2021 Tour on a total of 39:

Landerneau (finish stage 1)

Pontivy (finish stage 3)

Changé (start stage 5)

Vierzon (start stage 7)

Sorgues (start stage 11)

Malaucène (finish stage 11)

Quillan (finish stage 14)

Céret (start stage 15)

Pas de la Case (start stage 16)

Chatou (start stage 21)

The Armorican mountains will get the ball rolling as soon as the Grand Départ in Brittany. Will then follow: the Massif Central, the Alps and the Pyrenees.
There will also be a first ever climb in the Morvan, le Signal d'Uchon.

They will distributed at the finish of each normal stage allowing the first three riders to gain 10, 6 and 4 seconds.

They will be given at the summits of the 6 following climbs situated at strategic places of the course and will allow the first three riders to gain 8, 5 and 2 seconds (under the approval of the
Union cycliste internationale).

Stage 2: Mûr-de-Bretagne, first passage

Stage 7: Signal d'Uchon

Stage 8: Col de la Colombière

Stage 11: Mont Ventoux, second passage

Stage 14: Col de Saint-Louis

Stage 15: Col de Beixalis

These bonus points will have no incidence on the points classification.

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France and Principality of Andorra will be on the menu of the 108th edition of the Tour. In France, 9 regions and 31 departments will be visited.

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La bastille (hike or cable car to have a view of the city)

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Cycle all around the lake

Annecy Paysages Festival (July to mid-September) – open-air contemporary art installations across the city, lake, and parks

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La nature vous éveille : Annecy - Passy - Chamonix

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Thèmes : Montagne sans voiture - Rando découverte de la nature en Haute-Savoie

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Découvrez les randonnées correspondant à vos envies avec notre moteur de recherche

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1 day of the week, the road is closed up to a mountain pass in Savoie just for the cyclists to safely climb up.

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Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre

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Discover the long-distance hiking routes GR®

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For over seventy years, the white and red markings have symbolised the long-distance hiking routes, the GR® and have been a rallying point for all long-distance adventure enthusiasts.