Hiking in the French Alps
- Walk spectacular high trails in the quiet and unspoilt Queyras
- Magnificent backdrop of high peaks, wildflower meadows and grazing pastures
- Savour delicious local cheeses, jams and charcuteries
- Spot chamois, marmots and golden eagles
- Authentic French dinners included each night
Gallery
Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive in CeillacYour tour start in Ceillac, a lovely village in the heart of the Queyras, surrounded by peaks and meadows. If you arrive by high speed train in Oulx, the transfer is about 1hr40. From the nearby Mont Dauphin train station, it is a 30 minute drive (45 minutes by bus) to join the village. From the town of Guillestre, the road winds its way along the cliffs as you enter the secluded Queyras massif.
If you have time, take a stroll to the nearby waterfall (Cascade de la Pisse) to stretch your legs after your journey and get ready for the start of your adventure tomorrow.
Located about 2km from the centre of the village, the Hotel La Cascade is set in a beautiful and serene corner of the Queyras, just a couple of minutes from the impressive Cascade de la Pisse. It offers comfortable rooms and authentic local cuisine.
The Queyras National Park makes for a great first alpine hike. The absence of glaciers and technical terrain is coupled with a proliferation of infrastructure and traditional alpine villages for hikers. The Tour du Queyras is often referred to as a mid-mountain walk, but it's important not to underestimate the challenge; today's route still involves ascending over a thousand meters to reach the Col des Estronques.
After leaving Ceillac you walk into the depths of the valley, passing only a couple of isolated hamlets. The mountains pulse with life as the whistle of marmots, hum of bees, and crescendo of crickets all provide a soundtrack to your percussive footsteps. Wildflowers of every colour carpet the grassy pastures at your feet.
Crossing a "col" (mountain pass) is one of the most exhilarating moments of alpine trekking. After being confined to one valley with towering mountains concealing the landscape beyond, the next valley reveals itself after the col, as if you'd stepped through a window. From Col des Estronques, you can see tiny Saint-Véran straight ahead, the highest village in Europe - and one of the loveliest too: it boasts the accreditation "Most Beautiful Village in France".
13km, 7.5Hours, Ascent/Descent: 1242m/845m
Located in the lovely village of Saint Veran, highest inhabited village in Europe and officially recognised as one of the most beautiful villages in France, the Hotel Grand Tetras is a perfect place to rest after a day of hiking.
From Saint-Véran, it is straight into a steep, lung-gasping climb. It’s over quickly and your reward for such swift progress is a meandering balcony that provides you with spectacular views down into the valley and up to the rocky peaks above you.
The path is an alternative to the main GR58, providing a quieter and more secluded experience. It is as if you have the mountains all to yourself, as though you're an intruder in a realm where marmots hastily retreat to their burrows, disrupting the stillness only with their sharp and piercing whistles.
Col du Longet is visible from a great distance, like a blue window in the sky that's bordered by mountains on either side. Step through to find yourself at the head of a new valley. A descent brings you through the dappled shade of Larch forests to the L’Aigue Agnelle stream.
Molines-en-Queyras is a tranquil village to spend the night.
18km, 6Hours, Ascent/Descent: 650m/963m
In the heart of the Molines en Queyras resort, the l’Equipe Hotel*** welcomes you to it’s comfortable family run establishment in an ideal setting to relax.
22 warm and cosy bedrooms, a traditional restaurant, a bar-brasserie and a spa area with heated swimming pool, spa, sauna, Turkish baths, massages.
Charming, typical hotel in the heart of the village of Molines. The owners offer a warm welcome and authentic, local food.
A shuttle bus will transfer you from Molines-en-Queyras to just below Col d’Agnel, France’s second highest paved pass and a border with Italy. The journey is a spectacle in itself, with breathtaking views flashing past the window, each vying for your attention. As you reach Refuge Agnel and begin your hike, one sight emerges as the clear winner: the imposing 3,200-meter-high pyramid of Le Pain de Sucre (Sugarloaf), resembling a colossal vertical flint. The best part is, you walk directly towards it and get a closer look.
Have your cameras ready: Col Vieux boasts one of the most impressive panoramas of the entire tour for the least amount of climbing (only 300 metres!) Lac Foréant appears like a sapphire cradled by the mountains, and it only gets more impressive as you get nearer. Much of the land around the lake has been roped off to protect this fragile habitat, resulting in a remarkable display of wildflowers that add bursts of colour and life to the landscape.
The adventure continues past cascading waterfalls, and a second lake, Lac Egorgéou, before following the River Guil to the pretty village of Abriès.
19km, 6.5Hours, Ascent/Descent: 309m/1332m
Located in the centre of the village, the family run Chalet de Lanza welcome their guests with a warm and cosy atmosphere. Relax in the recently refurbished rooms and enjoy delicious local food in the restaurant.
Located in the centre of the village, the Gîte L'Edelweiss welcome their guests with a warm atmosphere. You will enjoy delicious local and homemade food.
The GR58 is designed to take you through the numerous highlights of the Queyras region rather than opting for the most direct route. As you ascend from Abriès, contouring through meadows, breathtaking views unfold, reaching up into yesterday's Vallee du Haut Guil and down the Vallee Guil, where you'll spend a significant portion of the next two days.
Ascending gently through a forest of Larch trees with the Malrif stream bubbling to your left, the forest seems infinite as the trees undulate over the hills' contours as far as the eye can see. But the forest comes to an abrupt end and as you emerge above the treeline, you find yourself in a meadow of vibrant wildflowers and noisy crickets. Here begins the challenging part of the hike, as the path crosses back and forth along the same hillslope in large switchbacks, leading you slowly towards your goal.
But, Lac Grand Laus is worth the effort. The colours and clarity of the water are as inviting as a Carribbean beach and might tempt you for a swim… until you remember you’re 2,583 metres high. Maybe just dip your toes? After a break beside the lake, the path swings back towards the valley and drops down to Aiguilles.
15km, 6.5Hours, Ascent/Descent: 1038m/1112m
Charming family run hotel in the heart of the Queyras, the Hotel les Balcons de Combe Rousset offers comfortable south facing rooms with views of the impressive mountain of Mourre Froid.
After a climb from Aiguilles, you’ll enjoy an effortless balcony section that reveals great views as you peer down into the valley and up to the rocky peaks. From this grand vantage point, you might recognise valleys you walked through and cols you battled over and begin to piece together the journey so far.
While much of the tour has passed through relatively untouched nature, today’s journey passes through the hamlets of Meyriès, Rouet, and Souliers to provide an insight into how people have tamed these wild landscapes. The scattered houses that make up these villages appear to hang above the valley with meadows, grazing pastures and a magnificent backdrop surrounding them.
From Souliers, you’ll walk north towards the mesmerising views of the east and west peaks of Côte Belle, with a craggy ridgeline between them that resembles castle ramparts. Turning left, you’ll pass over Col Tronchet and down into La Chalp-Arvieux.
19km, 7.5Hours, Ascent/Descent: 1192m/971m
Located at 1700m above sea level, on the Route des Grandes Alpes, at the foot of the mythical Col d'Izoard, the hotel spa La Ferme de l'Izoard boasts an exceptional location, as well as comfortable rooms and delicious food.
After a taxi to Montbardon, this final hike is a spectacular one, climbing to admire the spectacular view from Col Fromage, climbing a little further to Col Bramousse, and then descending to Ceillac. Full circle!
After skirting along the base of an impressive rock wall, ‘Les Plates’, you’ll step onto Col Fromage, 2,301m, where I’m afraid there’s no cheese, but only an impressive view to greet you. Although Ceillac now lies at your feet, that’s not the end of the climbing; you’ll ascend a little more to Col Bramousse. Watch your step as you walk along a lofty balcony that needs a bit of a head for heights, but great views reward you.
As you descend back into Ceillac’s attractive square between Mairie and the Church, you’ll feel a sense of familiarity and achievement. This is where your journey began and now finishes. Congratulations on completing the Tour du Queyras!
15km, 6.5Hours, Ascent/Descent: 1059m/917m
Located about 2km from the centre of the village, the Hotel La Cascade is set in a beautiful and serene corner of the Queyras, just a couple of minutes from the impressive Cascade de la Pisse. It offers comfortable rooms and authentic local cuisine.
The tour ends in Ceillac, from where we can arrange transfers to several train stations.
Other Information
Is it for me?This trip is graded moderate to strenuous with the average daily distance being 16km. Each day has significant ascent and descent, and the paths are a mixture of woodland trails, rocky mountain paths, gravel tracks and some short sections of tarmac country road walking. To get the most out of this trip, you should be in good physical shape. Please note that every day takes you over 2000m of altitude, which will affect your breathing and heart rate as you walk. We recommend a good amount of fitness training to prepare. This is not a technical walk, so you do not need experience of Alpine walking, however, the terrain does require surefootedness as it can be rocky and exposed.
Classic Routes | If you’re the active, outdoorsy type, who’s interested in taking on the great routes of the world or looking for a challenge, then our Classic Routes are for you. We’re talking the West Highland Way, Tour Du Mont Blanc and the Passau to Vienna Danube Cycle Path, to name but a few!
Inn to Inn Walking | Walk from place-to-place changing accommodations each night. Generally staying in B&Bs, inns, and guesthouses.
Families with Teens
The minimum age for this tour is: 12 Years
This trip is graded moderate to strenuous with the average daily distance being 16km. Each day has significant ascent and descent, and the paths are a mixture of woodland trails, rocky mountain paths, gravel tracks and some short sections of tarmac country road walking.
To get the most out of this trip, you should be in good physical shape. Please note that every day takes you over 2000m of altitude, which will affect your breathing and heart rate as you walk. We recommend a good amount of fitness training to prepare. This is not a technical walk, so you do not need experience of Alpine walking, however, the terrain does require surefootedness as it can be rocky and exposed.
We use a mixture of 2, 3 and 4-star hotels on this tour, all of which are small family run hotels.
We hand-pick the accommodation to ensure you enjoy every minute of your stay. A warm welcome, traditional hospitality, and delicious local food and drink come as standard.
Details of the accommodation we normally use are detailed below. These are subject to availability.
We book en suite rooms as standard. If there are no en suite rooms available in an overnight location, we may book a room with shared facilities, but we'll always let you know first if this was the case.
Alternate Accommodation
We'll always try and use the hotels’ shown in the accommodation information. Occasionally, because of limited availability, we may have to accommodate you in alternative hotels which aren’t listed in the description. The alternative accommodation will be of the same or better standard than those described. In case alternative accommodation needs to be booked, supplements may be payable, and we’ll advise you accordingly.
Solo Walkers
This trip is not available to solo walkers due to the nature of the tour.
Single Rooms
If you require single rooms within your party we would be happy to accommodate you (supplement applicable). Please note some of the smaller hotels cannot accommodate single travellers in the high season, in which case we would arrange an alternative accommodation. This may be in a different loaction and require transfers. All of this would be arranged and confirmed at the time of booking.
Meals
Breakfast is included each morning. In France this is generally a continental breakfast, with pastries, fresh bread, jams, yogurts and cereals.
Lunches are not included. There aren't places to get food during the walks, so you need to plan for a picnic each day. Most of the hotels offer pack lunches which you need to pre-order the night before. Alternatively, you can go to the local shops and markets to get supplies for your picnics.
All dinners are included. The hotels all pride themselves in their local, authentic cuisine. This is a great opportunity to sample many of the delicious local specialities.
Navigation is straightforward with GPX tracks provided in our app. The trail is generally well waymarked (GR58 - with the red and white waymarks commons to all GR trails). The details in our app flag up any day where navigation might require to follow the gpx a bit more closely.
- 7 nights accommodation in 2, 3 and 4-star hotels
- All breakfasts
- 7 dinners
- Luggage transfers
- Taxi transfers on days 4 and 7
- Access to maps, GPX tracks and daily route information with the Macs Adventure app
- 24/7 Emergency telephone support from our UK office
- Lunches
- Drinks and snacks
- Additional local buses or transfers
- Personal equipment
This trip is available to start any day of the week, from mid-June to the end of September, subject to availability. Any time during this period is ideal for hiking, in late June/early July you can experience Alpine flowers at their finest while in bloom. August can be busy as this is the main holiday making a month for the French and indeed many other European countries.
At the start of the season and towards the end, there may still be some lying snow at the highest passes. This won't normally require specialist equipment like crampons, but we will always keep you informed of any unusual weather conditions.
Your tour starts in Ceillac, in the Queyras.
We would suggest the train for this tour, as it is straight forward, as well as a more sustainable choice. Taking the Eurostar to Paris and a TGV to Oulx-Cesana-Clavière-Sestrières in Italy (approx. 5hrs). From Oulx, we can arrange a transfer to take you to your accommodation (approx. 1hr40).
If you prefer to fly, the nearest airports are Marseille and Turin. From Turin airport, we recommend taking a train to Oulx, from where we can arrange a transfer, which takes around 1hr40.
From Marseille airport, a shuttle can take you to the train station, where there are regular trains to Mont Dauphin (approx. 4hrs). The bus 572 to Ceillac runs regularly from Mont Dauphin train station (the journey takes approx. 45minutes). Alternatively we can arrange a transfer from Mont Dauphin for you (approx. 30 minutes drive).
Luggage transfers between overnight locations are included in the tour. We request that you have only one piece of luggage per person, and it should weigh approximately 12kg.
At Macs Adventure, we work in partnership with many luggage transfer providers who set a limit on how many bags/suitcases they will transfer per person, and also the weight of the bag/suitcase. Your booking includes transfer of 1 bag per person. It is very important that you read the luggage information specific to your tour before departure. If you do not adhere to these limits, there is a great possibility that you will be charged locally both for extra bags or if they are too heavy. This limitation can be a challenge, especially as airlines generally have limits that are higher. However, our luggage providers have reasons for these limits (usually due to the Health and Safety of their employees), which we must respect.
It is a requirement of booking this tour with Macs Adventure that you have suitable travel insurance that covers you for the activity, emergency evacuation and hospital care.
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