Route des Grandes Alpes

From Lac Leman to the French Riviera, this route takes in the best scenery of the French Alps

The Route des Grandes Alpes or Great Alpine Road is a 700-kilometre-long itinerary through the French Alps. Starting on the south shore of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) at the northern tip of the Alps, it traverses some of the highest and most beautiful mountain passes in Europe - ending at the French Riviera on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

The idea for a road through the Alps originated in 1909 when a member of the Touring Club of France, Léon Auscher was looking for a route from Evian to Nice taking in the most picturesque mountain passes and valleys. He described this route as the most beautiful mountain road in the world.

In the 1900s, the Alps were an isolated region of France with poor transport links from valley to valley, often only mule tracks. With its proximity to Italy, this new route was of strategic interest to the French State, so they financed the construction of many of the missing sections using the military on the most challenging parts and the Touring Club built numerous orientation tables and signage throughout its initial 615 kilometres.

In addition to the State and Touring Club, the Compagnie des Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée, often referred to as Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée and abbreviated to PLM, was also interested in the route. The PLM was an early French railway company that operated chiefly in the southeast of France and a north-south rail link between these valleys would have required the construction of many long and expensive tunnels for too little profit. In summer the PLM would operate coaches on the route, an easier and more profitable enterprise.

In 1911 with the route far from complete, the Touring Club de France organised a major promotional campaign for the 'Routes des Alpes' to which the press and various personalities of the time were invited. The PLM company set up a network of coaches from its stations and from July 1911 the first tourists took part in this planned route from Nice via the Col de Saint-Michel and the Col d'Allos to Thonon. At this time the Cayolle, Iseran and the Croix-de-Fer were still mule tracks. This didn't stop 15,000 passengers from boarding the coaches. The coach service was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and didn't resume until 1919 transporting around 25,000 tourists from Nice to Thonon, in six stages stopping at Barcelonnette, Briançon, Grenoble and Annecy.

During the war years, two routes were being explored: a Franco-Italian route connecting Thonon-les-Bains to Nice via the Col des Gets, Le Fayet, the Col du Bonhomme, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, the Col de l'Iseran, Lans-le-Bourg, the Col du Galibier, Briançon, Col de l'Izoard, Guillestre, Col de Vars, Barcelonette and the Col de la Cayolle.

The other option was an Italian Alpine road linking Le Bouveret (in Switzerland) to Genoa via Martigny, the Grand-Saint-Bernard pass, Aosta, Turin, Susa, Césane, Pignerol and Coni. Linking the roads would be the Col des Montets, Petit-Saint-Bernard, Mont-Cenis, Mont-Genèvre, the Lacroix Pass, the Larche Pass and the Col de Tende.

In 1920 the State classified the Route des Alpes (Nice to Thonon-les-Bains) as Route Nationale (RN) 202 and in 1934 the French Alpine troops were used to open three of the most inaccessible passes, the Col de la Cayolle, Col de l'Izoard and the Col de Vars.

The final pass on the route to be opened was the highest - the Col d'Iseran. At the summit of the pass, the depth of the snowdrifts was so great that it was undecided whether it would be better to dig a tunnel rather than clear them.

The Route des Alpes was inaugurated in 1937 by the last President of the Third French Republic, Albert François Lebrun.

On 1 January 1938, the PLM was nationalised becoming part of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) and in 1939 World War II broke out. These events led to a downturn in customers and the opening of other routes across the Alps including the open all-year Route Napoléon meant the original Route des Alpes became less popular. In 1950 the route was renamed Route des Grandes Alpes as its strategic importance started to fade. In 1992, the Commission for Planning and Economic Development of the Alps relaunched the concept of the RDGA as a tourist itinerary.

Today the RDGA is open from June to September depending on the snow cover and is travelled by thousands of motorists, motorcyclists and cyclists. The Cayolle, Galibier pass and Iseran passes are affected by snow in late spring and autumn but remain clear in the high season.

The quickest route from the lake to the coast is now via the Autoroute but the Route des Grandes Alpes remains an important road linking the valleys of the French Alps. Whether you are driving or riding, the Route des Grandes Alpes is still the best way to see the variety of landscapes that make up the French Alps.

Léon Gustave Auscher

Born in Strasbourg on the 31st of May 1866 Léon was a French automotive engineer and writer, known for his promotion of tourism. His book Le Tourisme en Automobile, published in 1904 looked at the automobile, roads, maps, the hotel industry and what to see or do. A cyclist and later a car racer he joined the Touring Club of France after its creation in 1890 and became Vice-President from 1919 to 1939. He died on 11th August 1942 in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse.

Touring Club de France

The Touring Club de France was founded on January 26th, 1890, in Neuilly-sur-Seine and created under the impetus of Paul de Vivie, by a group of passionate cyclists - their goal was the development of tourism.

After starting with cycle tourism, the TCF opened to all forms of tourism, covering a wide range of activities and developed quickly to 700,000 members. It was important in the development of tourism in France before the creation of a state ministry. The association was wound up in 1983 following serious financial problems.

The Route

The original route from Thonon-les-Bains to Nice via the Var Valley was replaced with a more Alpine route from Thonon-les-Bains to Menton passing from Guillaumes through Valberg, Saint-Martin-Vésubie and Sospe in the Alpes-Maritimes and avoiding the Daluis gorges cut into the red rocks of the Dôme de Barrot.

Numerous variations of the route exist but the main two are via the Cayolle or the Bonnette passes.

The RDGA corresponds for the most part to the original Route Nationale - RN202 downgraded to a Route Départementale - RD902

• D902 from Thonon-les-Bains to Cluses
• D4 from Cluses to Saint-Jean-de-Sixt
• D909 from Saint-Jean-de-Sixt to Flumet
• D218B from Flumet to Beaufort-sur-Doron
• D925 from Beaufort to Cormet de Roselend
• D902 from Cormet de Roselend to Bourg-Saint-Maurice
• D902 Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis
• D1006 from Lanslebourg to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne
• D902 from Saint-Michel-de Maurienne to the Col du Lautaret
• D1091 from Col du Lautaret to Briançon
• D902 from Briançon to Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye
• D900 from Gleizolles to Barcelonnette
• D902 from Barcelonnette to the Col de la Cayolle
• D2202 from the Col de la Cayolle to Guillaumes
• D28 from Guillaumes to Beuil
• D30 from Beuil to Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée
• D2205 / then D2565 from Saint-Sauveur to La Bollène-Vésubie
• D2566 from La Bollène-Vésubie to Menton

Statistics

The Passes