Chamonix to Annecy Ride Review

Planning a route from Chamonix for a weekend on the bike can be a tricky task, with so many options available close to the valley in France, Italy and Switzerland and with renowned routes such as the Tour de Mont Blanc and the Grande Route des Alpes looming, which cyclists are often keen to tick off. We chose to ride to Annecy, as it fits manageably into a weekend, has great potential to do a super interesting loop without recovering any ground and for the beautiful overnight stop in Annecy itself.

We were certainly not disappointed with our choice! Setting off shortly after leaving the office on Friday evening, we rode the 35km to Megeve to arrive in time for dinner. This section of our route is actually also a great day trip from Chamonix - head up and over the Vaudagne hill to Servoz, descend all the way into Sallanches, crossing the market square and heading left up towards Combloux. The road then climbs steadily for around 7km until you reach a roundabout where you can either continue to Megeve, or turn left to descend down a very fun, open section of road to Saint Gervais. From here you can return to Chamonix via Chedde and Servoz and back over Vaudagne, or, if you’ve had enough climbing for one day, take the train.

We carried on past the roundabout for about another 4km to our overnight stopping point in Megeve.

The next days riding took us down into Flumet - it’s easy to pass quickly by this beautiful little village, but is well worth a coffee stop to take a look at the impressive steep sided gorge, with houses perched on the sides. The village is also the starting point for the Col des Aravis, a climb of two stages: it starts with a gentle couple of kilometres of up to get the legs working, before a long flat section and then a more demanding 7.5km climb to the col. From here you can descend all the way down the resorts of La Clusaz and Saint Jean de Sixt - we opted, however, to take a left turning to climb for a further 4km up to the Col de la Croix Fry. This was the long last section of uphill of the day, leaving us with an afternoon of beautiful descents and then a long section on the flat from Thones right down to lake Annecy.

We celebrated our arrival with a well earned snooze by the lake and then a lovely meal overlooking the river in the old town.

Our return route towards the Chamonix Valley could not have provided a better contrast in scenery from the Col des Aravis. On day 3, we traded the impressive steep sided valley and mountain passes for wide open views over rolling green hills. We exited the city by the north, bypassing Annecy le Vieux to head towards Villaz and our first climb of the day. From Villaz the terrain was undulating, with very steady sections of gentle uphill. The most enjoyable of these was from Thorens-Glieres up to the Col des Fleuries - a 6km climb with an average gradient of 4.2%.

From the col there is only one more small climb up out of the picturesque town of Roche Sur Foron towards Saint Laurent. This is followed by a long descent into Bonneville and then around 40km of riding along the flat valley floor back to Sallanches. Large sections of this can be done on designated cycle paths, although these are not at all well signposted, so you sort of have to hope that you stumble across them! We accessed a nice section in Bonneville just after crossing the railway tracks which took us away from the motorway towards Marignier, where we rejoined the quiet roads into Cluses. There was then another section from Magland to Sallanches, weaving under the motorway.

After a respectable 87km of riding, we called it a day in Sallanches and got a transfer back up the valley. A good decision, as the climb back up from Saint Gervais would have been tough for our tired legs and for the fact that heavy showers started up shortly after we arrived at home!

The route covered approximately 190km with a total 2500m of vertical ascent - all in all a fantastic weekend of road biking, with no terribly challenging sections and a route dominated by quiet roads and unbelievable scenery.