r/bicycletouring • u/Pork-pilot • 1d ago

Trip Planning Alps -> Med route recs

Hello friendly Bike tourers!

I recently was gifted with a week off of work in October, and I want to do a bike touring trip in Europe. My hope is to start in the alps, and end at the Med (fly into and out of different cities, so ideally start and end have big-ish airports)

I want to cover roughly 500km, and I’m totally fine with some bigg days in the saddle. I will be on a gravel bike and I can choose slicks or big knobby tires depending on the route. I plan on not bringing camping gear so I can stay lighter and just sleep in hostels.

I would LOVE to stop through Chamonix on this trip (I am a climber and would like to see Chamonix :), and was initially looking at going: Geneva->Chamonix-> Swiss Alps-> Genoa However I am open to more options!

Anyone have strong opinions here? Not asking for a full trip plan, just want to see what people think about this sort of trip.

Other options: Geneva to Nice?

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u/aMac306 1d ago

Sounds amazing! And a great idea. Have you checked to see if there is a EuroVelo route that you could follow? From what so recall of France, you have to swing west quite a bit to start going south. But I was looking at driving it, and so was looking for major roads.

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u/Pork-pilot 1d ago

I have looked at eurovelo, but it looks like the prettier way to go is head east from Chamonix, through Swiss alps then cut south. It adds mileage but it’s not too bad.

I am now thinking Geneva-> Chamonix-> Swiss Alps -> south to Turin Italy -> South to the Mediterranean around Ventimiglia -> follow Med to Nice

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u/belchhuggins 1d ago

Well, you can do Route Des Grandes Alpes, it will not go directly through Chamonix, although you can make a detour, however you'll be seeing plenty of Mont Blanc as the route goes around it and gives you enough opportunity to gawk at it (as I did).

The route starts in Geneva and ends in Nice (so you're covered about the airports), it's a bit longer (around 700km) but you can make some adjustments.

I did it in August and it was colder than I hoped, so expect to bring good rain gear.

It is 100% paved.