EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

One place you're unlikely to be cycling to is the ski resort of L'ALPE D'HUEZ , signposted just outside Le Bourg. It is situated more than a vertical kilometre above the valley floor, and the eleven-kilometre road which crawls up the valley side is often used as a stage in the Tour de France. As you ascend through the 21 hairpins, you get a fine view of the acutely crumpled strata of rock exposed by passing glaciers on the south side of the Romanche valley. Undoubtedly a skier's paradise in winter, the purpose-built resort itself has little character in July and August, when it's only partially open. The extensive network of télécabines , extending as far as the 3327-metre Pic du Lac Blanc , at the bottom of the Chaîne des Rousses ridge north of the resort, does support some summertime skiing, but they can also be used to undertake some superb high mountain walks . Two recommended ones, detailed in the map L'Oisans au bout des pieds (15F/¬2.29 from the tourist office ), are the eight-kilometre Lac Blanc and Refuge de la Fare walk, which winds through the bleak wilderness past the lakes encircling the Dôme des Petites Rousses to the east of the glacier-clad chaîne , or the less exposed ten-kilometre hike to the gorges of the Sarennes valley, to the east of the resort along the GR54. In addition to the locally published map, walkers should also pick up the IGN 3335E 1:50,000 map. A narrow and impressively scenic road through the Sarennes valley also offers an alternative descent back to the Romanche valley floor when the Col de Sarennes is free of snow. The tourist office in the Maison de l'Alpe, in place Papignon (July & Aug daily 9am-9pm; tel 04.76.11.44.44, www.alpedhuez.com ), will give information about accommodation and walks.