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-   -   Is There a Most Scenic section of the Route des Grandes Alpes? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/is-there-a-most-scenic-section-of-the-route-des-grandes-alpes-1280856/)

ILUVPARIS Apr 20th, 2017 10:22 AM

Is There a Most Scenic section of the Route des Grandes Alpes?
 
We're considering changing the end of our upcoming trip to France from Paris to the Alps/Annecy. We have never been to this area before. The dates would be May 24-28. Our flight leaves on 5/28 in the early morning so we are staying at CDG on the night of 5/27.

Vence to Annecy in late May. We don't want to take the time to drive the entire route from Nice but, I was hoping to drive at least a section of the route. I've read that the road may not be fully open at this time---passes could be closed.. I don't know if there's a way to see what passes are currently closed once we get closer to our travel dates. I couldn't find a website.

I'd love to at least drive part of this route so I was wondering if there's a "most scenic" section? I did it piece by piece on Google Maps and it looks like it's about a 10 hour drive from the Cote. I don't know how accurate that is. We don't want to take more than a day so hoping to drive part of the way on the auto route and then somehow connect over to the RdGA. Is this feasible or not?

StuDudley Apr 20th, 2017 11:15 AM

Take it as far as Briancon. Then cut over to Grenoble, return the car, and take one of the no-train-change trains back to Paris, or 1 chg in Lyon to CDG.

Perhaps start the trip by taking the D6202 to Entrerevaux, viit Entrevaux, then backtrack past Puget-Teniers then north through the lovely Gorges du Cians, then on the D2202 over the Col de la Cayolle, then to Barcelonnette (visit). Then the D902 to St Veran (visit), then on to Briancon. If it is snowy, perhaps deviate to Embrun & stay the night. Otherwise, stay in Briancon. We did this once in early/mid June without reservations - but make sure you reserve a hotel by 3:00. We stayed in Embrun & Briancon.

Stu Dudley

Michael Apr 21st, 2017 12:02 AM

viamichelin allows you to state the date of travel and will automatically take into consideration things like road closures at high altitude during winter months.

ILUVPARIS Apr 21st, 2017 07:47 AM

Thank you, Stu & Michael! I have another question. I found these driving times online and wanted to know how accurate they are.

http://www.moveyouralps.com/en/route...on-advices/faq

If this is the case, does it really take 27 1/2 hours to drive from end to end? Hard to tell if this is just straight driving time and if so, you'd have to add even more for stops. Our destination is Annecy for 2 nights.

Michael Apr 21st, 2017 07:50 AM

It took me two days from Chamonix to Nice in 1967 with an overnight stop in Briançon. The road may have been improved since then.

StuDudley Apr 21st, 2017 08:39 AM

We departed from the Nice area, stayed in Embrun the first night & Briancon the second night. If you get an early start - you could easily make Briancon the first night. Then we stopped/slept in Bonneval sur Arc, followed by Chamonix, then Annecy.

Stu Dudley

ILUVPARIS Apr 21st, 2017 09:52 AM

Thank you again for the info. I was trying to avoid a bunch of one night stays so this is helpful. I just wish there was an easy way to connect to the RdGA from say, Grenoble. That way we could drive half way on the auto route and then the remainder of the trip on the scenic road to Annecy. I can't find an easy way to get to the RdGA from the auto route so maybe it's not meant to be. Appreciate the feedback, it's very helpful!

scrb11 Apr 21st, 2017 11:40 AM

Are there many cable cars along this route?

Maybe kind of like the Engadin for instance?

I guess Chamonix isn't too far off from this route so there are plenty of cable cars there.

StuDudley Apr 21st, 2017 01:31 PM

ILUV - just concentrate on Vence to Briancon and then over to Grenoble. This is a beautiful portion of the Alps. St Veran is the highest village in Europe, and Briancon the highest city.

There are scads of cable cars around Briancon & north. But they consume a lot of time. We took many of them.

Several years after we did the Toute des Grande Alpes, we stayed in Embrun for 1 week, & near Briancon for 1 week. Last year we stayed in the southern Alps for 1 week and near Chamonix for 1 week.

Here is my wife's Shutterfly book for last year's trip to the Ardeche & Alps. Click "full screen".
https://stududley.shutterfly.com/53
The Alps start on page 38.

Stu Dudley

neckervd Apr 22nd, 2017 09:15 AM

The village of Juf (Switzerland) is at an altitude of 2126 m. It can be reached by Swiss Post bus all the year round.


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