Best Cycling in France: 10 Regions and Long-Distance Routes

Cycling in France at a Glance

France is usually pictured through the Tour de France: high cols and hairpins. The signposted network tells a different story. France Vélo Tourisme counts over 30,000 km of waymarked cycle routes, and most cycling in France is flat along rivers, canals and old railway lines.

The mountains are real, and four of the regions below are built around them. A first trip usually starts on the Loire, in Champagne or along the Moselle instead, where most riding days are 20 to 60 km on towpaths and quiet lanes. Ten EuroVelo routes cross the country.

The Best Cycling Regions in France

The ten entries below are numbered for navigation, not ranked. They start with the gentlest regions and move into the mountains, with the flat Rhine and Moselle last because most of their riding is outside France. Every distance comes from the itinerary of a tour that rides it.

1. Loire Valley

• Distance: 190 to 260 km over 4 to 6 riding days

• Terrain: flat towpaths and vineyard lanes, 730 to 1,040 m of total elevation gain

• Base towns: Montsoreau or Chinon

• Season: April to October

Nowhere else in this guide is as gentle as the Loire, which is why it is the usual first cycling holiday in France. The Loire à Vélo route runs 900 km from Cuffy near Nevers to the Atlantic at Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, and 280 km of the valley is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape. No riding day here gains more than 230 m, so the chateaux set the pace.

The six-day tour is based in Montsoreau and rides loops to Fontevraud Abbey, Saumur, Chinon and the Château d'Ussé, 20 to 75 km a day. Riders who prefer a new town each night have the eight-day castles, rivers and vineyards tour, which moves from Chinon through Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau, about 260 km in all.

2. Provence and the Luberon

• Distance: 123 to 302 km over 4 to 6 riding days

• Terrain: rolling village roads, with Mont Ventoux as the optional summit

• Base towns: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Mazan or Gordes

• Season: April to June and September to October

Provence is three different holidays wearing one name. The Luberon tour leaves Saint-Rémy on the EuroVelo 8 path, crosses the Durance to Fontaine-de-Vaucluse and climbs to the ochre cliffs of Roussillon, with Gordes and Bonnieux on the way back. It totals 238 km and 2,250 m of elevation gain over six riding days, and no single day gains more than 590 m.

Riders who want a mountain take the Provence Bike Tour instead, whose day 4 rides from Mazan up Mont Ventoux to Sault: 58 km and 1,861 m of elevation gain to a summit at 1,910 m. Mont Ventoux is the only true mountain in Provence, and the rest of that week rides 34 to 83 km a day, including the Gorges de la Nesque. At the gentle end, the Van Gogh's Secrets tour rides 123 km in four loops from Saint-Rémy past Glanum and Les Baux-de-Provence.

3. Burgundy and Champagne

• Distance: 144 km (Champagne) or 243 km (Burgundy) over 4 to 5 riding days

• Terrain: vineyard slopes and canal towpaths, 1,124 to 1,360 m of total elevation gain

• Base towns: Beaune, Epernay

• Season: May to October, with the grape harvest in September

Both wine regions ride the same way: short climbs through vines in the morning, a flat canal or greenway in the afternoon. The Burgundy loop leaves Beaune for Buxy and Mâcon along the Côte Chalonnaise, then turns back through the flat Bresse farmland via Louhans and Chalon-sur-Saône. Day 5 follows the Voie Verte La Bressane greenway, and the week ends under the coloured tiled roof of the Hospices de Beaune.

Further north, the Champagne tour is shorter and flatter than Burgundy: a triangle from Epernay to Châlons-en-Champagne to Reims and back, with riding days of 22, 35, 53 and 35 km. Champagne is the easiest wine region to ride in France, because half its riding days follow canal towpaths with under 60 m of elevation gain. Reims Cathedral, a UNESCO site, ends the longest one.

4. Dordogne

• Distance: 168 km over 4 riding days

• Terrain: river valley with short, steep climbs, 1,540 m of total elevation gain

• Base towns: Souillac, Sarlat, Les Eyzies

• Season: April to October

On a map the Dordogne looks flat, and it is not. The tour averages 40 km and 400 m of elevation gain a day, and the 54 km stage from Sarlat to Les Eyzies carries 500 m of elevation gain on lanes that leave the river to cross the ridges between valleys. Expect more hills here than on the Loire, on shorter days that leave time for the caves.

The reward for the hills is the Vézère valley's prehistory. Les Eyzies holds the National Museum of Prehistory and the UNESCO-listed painted cave of Font-de-Gaume, and the Lascaux IV replica reproduces paintings made 17,000 years ago. Sarlat-la-Canéda, the medieval town that grew around a 9th-century monastery, is the overnight before them.

5. The French Alps

• Distance: 235 km (lakes) to 535 km (cols) over 4 to 6 riding days

• Terrain: lakeside cycle paths, or Tour de France cols with 10,000 to 14,000 m of total elevation gain

• Base towns: Annecy, La Clusaz, Morzine, Geneva

• Season: June to September

Two holidays share this region and almost nothing else. The Three Lakes tour rides from Geneva to Annecy by way of Seyssel and Aix-les-Bains, 235 km in four days along the Rhône and the shore of Lac du Bourget, the deepest lake lying entirely in France. Its hardest day gains 890 m and its last day into Annecy 270 m.

Col riding is a different sport: the French Alps Cycling Tour climbs the 7 km Col des Aravis and the 16 km Col de la Colombière on day 3, then the Glandon and the 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez. Book a col tour only if a 2,300 m day sounds good, because day 3 is exactly that. The Classic Alps Climbing Tour stretches the same mountains to eight days and 535 km, and a Morzine-based week rides the Joux Plane and Ramaz.

6. The Pyrenees

• Distance: 871 km over 8 riding days

• Terrain: high mountain cols, 19,959 m of total elevation gain

• Start and finish: Bayonne to Platja d'Aro

• Season: June to September

Eleven days from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean make this the longest and hardest itinerary on the site, and the only one that crosses a border. It starts in Basque Bayonne and finishes on the Costa Brava at Platja d'Aro, with a rest day in Bagnères-de-Luchon in the middle. Riding days run 84 to 130 km.

Day 5 is the reason people book it: the Tourmalet, the Col d'Aspin and the Col de Peyresourde in one 94 km, 2,700 m ride. The Spanish side adds the 2,072 m Port de la Bonaigua, the highest point of the crossing. The Pyrenees crossing is a fitness project, not a holiday ride, and the last two days are both 130 km.

7. Nice and the Riviera Cols

• Distance: day rides of 40 to 110 km from one base

• Terrain: a 7 km seafront cycle path, then cols that start at sea level

• Famous cols: Col d'Èze (507 m), Col de la Madone (927 m), Col de Turini (1,607 m)

• Base town: Nice, with Villefranche-sur-Mer and Menton nearby

• Season: October to May, when the Alps are under snow

Nice is where much of the professional peloton lives and trains, and the reason is the country behind the city. The cols start at the beach, so a morning ride can reach 900 m and be back for lunch. The Paris–Nice race often ends over the Col d'Èze, and in 2024 the Tour de France finished in Nice, the first time the race ended outside Paris.

The Col d'Èze rises 9.6 km from Nice at 4.7% to 507 m. Above Menton, the Col de la Madone runs 14.5 km at 6.7% to 927 m and is where professionals test their form. Further inland the Col de Turini reaches 1,607 m on the Monte Carlo Rally road. We run no tour here, so Nice is a base to ride from on your own.

8. The Côte d'Azur Coast: Esterel to Menton

• Distance: about 100 km from Saint-Raphaël to Menton, in day sections

• Terrain: coast roads and the EuroVelo 8 route, gentle apart from the corniches above Nice

• Highlights: the red Esterel rocks, Cannes, Antibes, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Monaco

• Season: March to June and September to November

West of Nice the Riviera is a coast ride. The Corniche d'Or, a road built between 1901 and 1903, runs about 30 km from Saint-Raphaël to Mandelieu-la-Napoule through the red volcanic rock of the Esterel, and it is the finest half-day ride on the coast. EuroVelo 8, La Méditerranée à Vélo, links it to Cannes, Antibes and the 7 km Promenade des Anglais cycle path in Nice.

East of Nice three corniche roads run one above the other to Menton on the Italian border, past Villefranche-sur-Mer, Èze and Monaco. Summer is the wrong time for this coast: in July and August the roads fill with traffic, while spring and autumn are warm and quiet. Nice airport handles about 15 million passengers a year, which makes this the easiest region on the page to reach.

9. Corsica

• Distance: 614 km over 6 riding days

• Terrain: mountain roads to the coast, 13,460 m of total elevation gain

• Start and finish: Porto-Vecchio loop

• Season: May to June and September to October

Corsica is a mountain range in the sea, and the loop treats it that way. From Porto-Vecchio it climbs 86 km to Zonza over the 1,217 m Col de Bavella, then rides the 123 km queen stage to Corte, the old capital in the island's centre. Day 4 to Porto crosses the Col de Vergio, the island's highest road pass at roughly 1,480 m.

From Porto the second half follows the west coast through Ajaccio and the granite town of Sartène back to Porto-Vecchio. Corsica has Alpine gradients with a Mediterranean season, so May and late September work here when the Alps are still closed or already cold. Figari airport is 25 km from the start.

10. The Rhine and the Moselle

• Distance: 310 km (Moselle) or 370 km (Rhine) over 5 to 7 riding days

• Terrain: river cycle paths, 540 to 1,750 m of total elevation gain

• Start and finish: Metz to Koblenz, or Constance to Strasbourg

• Season: April to October

Both river tours start in France and spend most of their days in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The Moselle tour rides 310 km from Metz to Koblenz with only 540 m of total elevation gain, passing Schengen, where Europe's open-borders agreement was signed in 1985, and Trier, whose Roman Porta Nigra, amphitheatre and basilica are UNESCO-listed.

Its sister, the Rhine River Bike Tour, follows EuroVelo 15 for 370 km from Constance to Strasbourg, averaging 55 km and 250 m of elevation gain a day, with the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen on day 2. The Moselle is the flattest week on this site, and the Rhine is the second flattest, so both suit riders who want distance without hills.

Long-Distance Cycling Routes in France

France's long routes come in two numbering systems. The véloroutes are national routes with their own names and signs, and the EuroVelo network is laid over them, so La Loire à Vélo is also EuroVelo 6.

A green sign with a bicycle and route number marks both. None of our tours rides one end to end, but several ride sections. The five routes below run from 750 to 1,300 km.

• La Loire à Vélo: 900 km, Cuffy to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, EuroVelo 6. Flat, and both Loire tours ride its Saumur to Chinon stretch.

• La Vélodyssée: 1,300 km, Roscoff to Hendaye, EuroVelo 1. About 80% traffic-free, the flattest long route in France.

• ViaRhôna: 815 km, Lake Geneva to Sète, EuroVelo 17. The Three Lakes tour rides its Geneva to Seyssel section.

• Le Canal des 2 Mers à Vélo: 750 km, Royan to Sète. Towpath beside the UNESCO-listed Canal du Midi.

• Route des Grandes Alpes: 758 km, Thonon-les-Bains to Nice. Over the Iseran, Galibier, Izoard and Madeleine.

Of these, a beginner should start on the Loire or the Vélodyssée, both flat, signed throughout and lined with Accueil Vélo stops. The EuroVelo overview of France lists all ten, and France Vélo Tourisme's planner has the stage maps.

Cycling in France: Rules of the Road

Several French cycling rules differ from the UK and the US, and each carries a fixed fine. The list is from Sécurité Routière, the national road-safety agency, checked in September 2026.

• Helmets: compulsory, and fastened, for every rider and passenger under 12. Adults are not required to wear one.

• Hi-vis: a certified reflective vest is compulsory outside built-up areas at night or in poor visibility, for the rider and any passenger.

• The bike: two working brakes, a white or yellow front light and a red rear light, reflectors (red rear, white front, orange on the sides and pedals) and a bell audible at 50 m.

• Earphones: any device worn in or over the ear is banned while riding, as is a handheld phone. This carries the highest fixed fine on the list.

• Riding two abreast: allowed, but drop to single file at night, on narrow roads and whenever a vehicle overtakes. Groups of more than ten must split.

• Pavements: only children under 8 may ride on them. In shared "zones de rencontre" the limit is 20 km/h; in pedestrian zones, walking pace.

• Alcohol: the limit is 0.25 mg per litre of breath, the same as for drivers, roughly 0.5 g per litre of blood.

On the spot, visitors are fined most often for earphones and for not singling out. An e-bike counts as a bicycle only if assistance cuts out at 25 km/h and the motor is 250 W or less; anything faster is a moped needing registration, insurance and a helmet.

Touring France by Bike: Practical Planning

Three questions decide most of the planning: getting the bike there, when to go and where to sleep. The answers apply everywhere.

Getting There and Around by Train

On TGV INOUI and Intercités a bike space must be booked with the ticket. If none shows, that train has none left. A bagged bike travels free on any TGV without a reservation if the bag is under 90 by 130 by 50 cm.

Regional TER trains carry assembled bikes, usually free, though some restrict peak hours. From London, Eurostar takes bikes only boxed or bagged, on set daytime departures, for a fee that drops if booked over 48 hours ahead. SNCF Connect's bike page has the current rules and OUIGO options.

When to Go

The river regions have the longest season. The Loire, Dordogne, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhine and Moselle tours run April to October, with May, June and September driest and quietest. Provence and Corsica split into April to June and September to October; July and August are too hot for a 60 km day.

Snow closes the high passes for most of the year, and the Alpine and Pyrenean cols are only reliably open June to September. The Tourmalet, Glandon and Iseran usually clear in late May or June. Book July to early September and expect afternoon storms even then.

Where to Stay: The Accueil Vélo Label

The label to look for is Accueil Vélo. More than 9,000 hotels, campsites, bike shops, restaurants and visitor sites carry it, each inspected against seven guaranteed criteria. Those are route directions, a personal welcome, secure free bike parking, luggage storage, device and e-bike charging, and a repair kit.

Labelled places sit close to the signed routes. Beyond that, carry water for the whole day outside towns: village shops close from noon to mid-afternoon and many shut on Monday. Most village cemeteries have a tap by the gate.

How Much It Costs

Every tour here is priced per person for the week: three-star hotels with breakfast, daily luggage transfer, route booklet, GPS app and ride support. At the hotel desk, tourist tax is the one thing paid locally, a few euros a night. Bike hire, single rooms and transfers are extras.

France itself is cheap to ride. Parks charge no entry, cols need no permits, and Mont Ventoux is free to ride. A bagged bike travels free on the TGV and for €5 on OUIGO.

TER trains carry an assembled bike free in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes the space costs €1 in summer, and the reservation is compulsory even at that price.

What to Pack

French law sets the kit list before you do. Beyond brakes, bell, lights and reflectors, children under 12 need a helmet and a high-visibility vest is compulsory outside towns after dark. Keep one in a jersey pocket.

After that, pack for the day's hills rather than the region. Carry two 750 ml bottles and a pump, because bike shops are rare between towns.

A rain shell and arm warmers go on every tour. Add a gilet and full-finger gloves on the col tours, where the summit can be 10°C colder than the valley you left.

Which France Cycling Holiday Suits You

Choose by hills, not scenery: every region is beautiful and only some are flat. For a first trip, start with the Loire, Champagne or the Moselle, where no day gains more than 230 m or runs beyond 75 km. Burgundy and the Dordogne add vineyard hills, around 400 m a day.

The Alpine col tours, including the Morzine-based Tour de France tour, the Pyrenees crossing and Corsica are for trained riders. Days run 80 to 130 km with 1,500 to 2,700 m of elevation gain. The Three Lakes tour, 235 km and 2,360 m, is the gentlest way in.

Ready to Ride France?

Every tour here is self-guided, with hotels booked and luggage moved daily. Pick a region, then send an inquiry with your dates and daily distance.