Hiking in the Rhône-Alpes

The exceptional natural heritage and breathtaking landscapes of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region make it a haven of peace for lovers of scenery with a view.

Everyone can find their own rhythm when hiking here. Relaxed or exciting hiking tours await you everywhere in the Rhône-Alpes, for example the "Chemin de Giono" in the Provençal Drôme or crossing the high plateau of the Ardèche. A tour around Mont Aiguille in the Vercors massif or mountain hikes in the Dents Blanches and Mont Blanc summit regions offer great experiences and can even be tackled without mountaineering experience.

The Rhône-Alpes is the only French region to offer the opportunity for glacier hikes. Mainly from June to September in the Mont Blanc massif and the Blanc glacier in Les 2 Alpes. However, these glacier tours should only be undertaken with an experienced mountain guide.
Experienced mountain hikers can enjoy a particularly interesting glacier hike. The 13 km to Nidd'Aigle at an altitude of 2,372 m are covered with the Mont Blanc cable car from Fayet. On this tour across the Bionnassay glacier, the mountain guide will explain the history of the formation of this alpine ice landscape. This was researched by Luc Moreau, a well-known French glaciologist.

In Les Saisies in the Savoie department, parents with small children can hire off-road baby carriages to admire Mont Blanc or the Beaufortain and Aravis massifs on three different high-altitude trails. On the way, you can stop for a snack at a farm.

It's not just in winter that you can glide down the slopes; in summer too, skiing fans can glide down the slopes, albeit on a mountain board. Mountainboarding is a mixture of snowboarding and skateboarding, where you glide down slopes and paths on a board with four all-terrain wheels. You can experience this little adventure in Les Saisies in the Savoie department.

No hiking wish remains unfulfilled in the Rhône-Alpes. A total of 43,000 km of marked hiking trails lead through the region. The GR5 long-distance hiking trail from Lake Geneva to the Briançon area is certainly one of the most beautiful; it is a kind of great Alpine route. It runs beneath Mont Blanc, crosses the Vanoise region, passes majestic three-thousand-metre peaks and magnificent glacier landscapes...

The Rhône-Alpes region borders Switzerland to the north-east and Italy (Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta) to the east along the main ridge of the Alps. To the south is the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, which in turn borders the Mediterranean. The region shares Lake Geneva with Switzerland. The most famous rivers that cross the region are certainly the Rhone, the Isère and the Saône.