Four days in the French Alps
- Nimrod
- Sep 28, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Jan 7
July 2024
Area: French Alps, Hautes Alpes region - Queyras Park
Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Duration: 4 days
Season: Summer
Additional info: Natural park, blooming flowers, streams, forests. Focus: Hiking in the French Alps, Queyras Park
The French Alps - Introduction
We arrived in the Hautes-Alpes region of the French Alps from the city of Lyon, where we rented a car. We stayed in the village of Guillestre, renting a house there for six nights. The village is located between two parks in the French Alps: Queyras Regional Natural Park and Parc national des Écrins.
Both parks are amazing and include dozens of day hikes as well as longer trails like the GR-58.
On the map below, you can see the location of Queyras Park between the cities of Grenoble, Turin, and Nice.
On the first day, we had the chance to watch Stage 19 of the Tour de France, which passed right through the village. The night before, I scouted locations for taking photos. On the day of the race, we waited patiently, and then they arrived in a storm and passed by us quite quickly (even though they were already on an uphill section).
Here you can see the Tour winner, Tadej Pogačar, in the yellow jersey. Wow, as a road cyclist, it was incredibly exciting!
The entire area is dedicated in the summer to cycling (road and mountain biking), rafting, mountain hiking trails, and other sports. There are many campsites, village hotels, and ski cabins in the region.
The atmosphere is peaceful and sporty, and everyone can find something to do here, including families with young children.
The French often go hiking in the mountains, bringing their dogs along and even small children.
The French Alps - Why These Specific Trails
As part of our long trip, which ends with the Paris Olympics, we decided to include another segment of daily treks in France as a form of physical preparation for the Olympics (they say an athlete should be at their peak performance when participating in the Olympics). So, we took this seriously :) Just kidding…
At first, I thought we would hike in Parc Écrins, which is closer to Grenoble, but I couldn’t find a private house in the area, so we extended our search to the village of Guillestre, which is actually closer to Queyras Park. It turns out that its scenery is no less beautiful than its national park counterpart.
We were looking for day hikes with medium to high difficulty and diverse, beautiful views. We used the Hika and AllTrails apps for guidance.
In the end, we did two difficult hikes and two medium difficulty hikes, which allowed the body to recover better.
It’s convenient for us to shop at the local supermarket and prepare most of our meals at home (by the way, prices in France are almost double compared to Spain—refer to the treks we did in Sierra Nevada).
Additional Treks
The French Alps - Tips
When: We hiked in mid-July and had a wonderful sunny week, with cool mornings ranging from 12-16°C depending on the trail’s elevation. During the day, temperatures reached up to 26°C.
In general, you can hike here from May to September (some trails are only accessible from June due to snow).
Difficulty of the Hikes: The trails are typically around 12 km long, with ascents ranging from 600 to 950 meters. Since you don’t need to carry much on your back (other than water and a bit of food), the difficulty of the trails is between medium and hard on a scale for experienced hikers.
Accommodation: We stayed in a private house in the village of Guillestre.
How to Get Here and Where to Finish:
We arrived here from the city of Lyon by car.
We rented the car through the website: https://www.economycarrentals.com (Lyon train station).
You can also easily arrive via Torino, Italy, or Grenoble, France (about two and a half hours by car from either of these cities).
Driving Navigation: Waze worked excellently, as did Google Maps.
Navigation During Hikes: The trails are well-marked, and there are almost no points where you need to decide which way to go. It's essential to follow the signs (most trails have red and white stripes), and there are also markings indicating where not to turn (the "X" sign). If you haven't seen a sign after 200 meters of walking, you've likely deviated from the trail.
I downloaded GPX files to my phone for the days of the trek and attached them to each hiking day (use them—no cell service is needed when using them). I used the GPX Viewer app (free) or the Hika app; either is sufficient to keep you on the trail.
Water: We used hydration pouches in backpacks (about 2 liters per person per day). Bring water for all the hikes; don't rely on finding water in the area.
Clothing:
Walking shoes, 2 pairs of good socks, hat and sunscreen, long and short hiking pants, hat, 2 short-sleeve shirts (preferably moisture-wicking), 2-3 underwear, a light hiking jacket, long-sleeve base layer, beanie/knit hat, light gloves, light rain jacket (it can rain here in the summer—check the forecast for the trek days in different areas and prepare accordingly). Of course, trekking poles.
In the morning, when it's cool, we wore a thin, close-fitting shirt in addition to the short-sleeve shirt. For those sensitive to the cold, a beanie or hat can be useful. Around 10 AM, you start to peel off layers and end up with hiking pants and a short-sleeve shirt.
Relevant Websites:
I mainly used Hika and subscribed for a month (approximately 5.50 EUR), which I canceled after our hikes. The site allows you to download the trail offline, so you can hike without cell service.
I also used AllTrails (downloaded the navigation file for the fourth hike).
French Alps - Hiking Days Overview
The First Hike: Lac Miroir and Saint-Anne
The Second Hike: Belvédère de l'Homme de Pierre
The Third Hike: Lacs du Malrif
The Fourth Hike: Chalets de Clapeyto - Col Neal - Le Collet
The First Hike (Lac Miroir and Saint-Anne)
[Difficulty: Moderate to Hard || Type: Linear || When: May to September || Ascent: 800 m || Maximum Elevation: 2460 meters || Length: 13 km || Duration: 5 hours || Signage: Red and white stripes]
How to Get to the Trailhead:
Type into Google Maps/Waze: Départ sentier Lac Miroir to reach the parking area where the hike starts.
You can see on the sign that you can reach Lac Sainte-Anne, which is 6.4 km in that direction.
The weather was great, we drove from the village to the trailhead in about 20 minutes.
The start of the trail is at an elevation of 1670 meters and it was cool, around 12°C. At first, like all the trails here, there is an ascent through a forest and a particularly rushing waterfall. Everything here is blooming and green, and it’s July, yes?
At first, we thought of just going to Lake Miroir and returning. The lake turned out to be very charming, with a lovely panorama of surrounding mountains and impressive remnants of snow.
We decided to continue to Lake Saint-Anne because we wanted a lake with a blue-green color, and we weren’t disappointed. The lake is amazing (there were also people who went for a very short swim—I checked the water, and it was indeed freezing).
The French set up in their own corners around the lake and have impromptu picnics. Each person has their own corner, with complete tranquility, even with quite a few children who have climbed up here.
We returned via the same route we came from. It turns out it can be made into a loop. From Lake Saint-Anne, you can descend towards the path that leads back to the parking area, it’s up to you…
Map of the trail here:
Navigation file for download (GPX). The file shows a one-way direction (return walk via the same route):
The Second Hike (Belvédère de l'Homme de Pierre)
[Difficulty: Medium || Type: Circular || When: May to September || Ascent: 580 m || Maximum height: 2366 m || Length: 11 km || Duration: 4.5 hours || Marking: Red and yellow stripes]
How to get to the start of the trail:
The hike starts in the village of Risoul (a ski resort).
Arrive here using Google Maps: here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/49emFdVkmLQYXW5E6)
It’s about a 25 minute drive from our village to the start of the trail. The weather on this day was cloudy and a bit rainy.
We decided on this trail since it’s a little shorter and less difficult, also because it was raining a bit we figured we wouldn’t get too wet…
At first, you walk on a path through the forest, and then the path becomes a trail. At the fork, we took the counterclockwise turn. After a short walk, you arrive at a very cute little pond. You can see it here:
We arrived at a small shelter cabin just as it started to rain, and we waited there for the rain to stop.
From the cabin, the path continues with a rather steep ascent. In the forest clearings, there is a very beautiful view of the Durance River, and you can also see all the mountains surrounding the area. The sight is stunning. I'm sure on a sunny day, the visibility and the view are even more impressive...
After about 6 km, you reach a ski lift station, which is also a sleeping cabin. From there, the descent back to the village begins (pay attention and follow the GPS, as the trail is not very clear in this section).
The descent goes through the forest again, back to the car.
The map of the hike is here:
The navigation file for the trail to download (gpx):
The Third Hike (Lacs du Malrif)
[Difficulty: Hard || Type: Linear || When: June to September || Elevation gain: 1000 m || Maximum height: 2892 m || Length: 13 km || Duration: 5.5 hours || Marking: Red and white stripes]
How to get to the start of the trail:
The hike starts at a parking lot near the village of Aiguilles.
Arrive here using Google Maps: here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/kVtfip8ohSvsGkDV9)
It's about a 50-minute drive from our village. There is a section on a dirt road before reaching the trailhead (about 5 km to the parking lot), so it's a good idea to arrive early.
The weather today is clear and cold in the morning, 12°C (we even started wearing gloves).
The trail is divided into several sections:
The first section is a climb up to Lac du Grand Laus, a large and stunning lake. The ascent isn’t particularly difficult (also because it’s the start of the hike). It begins through the forest and then transitions to more open scenery (as you ascend, there are fewer trees).
The second section is from the lake to the pass (Col du Malrif).
The ascent to the pass is challenging and steep but relatively short. The view on both sides is amazing.
Here, Dorit is crossing the remaining snow strip at the pass after most of the snow has melted. This year, there was a lot of snow, so it was only possible to cross here from mid-June.
From the pass, the original route is supposed to lead along the ridge towards Lake Le Petit Laus, then to Lake Mezan, and then descend to the first large lake and return to the parking lot the same way.
When we tried to cross from the pass towards Lake Le Petit Laus, we couldn’t manage (the crossing seemed too dangerous—very steep and narrow). We turned back, descended to the large lake, dipped our feet in the freezing water, and had a short picnic.
Because we didn’t reach the other two lakes via the original route, we decided to go to Lake Mezan.
The lake is not as impressive as the large lake, so we also decided to skip the even smaller Lake Le Petit Laus.
Afterwards, we returned the same way to the parking lot.
The map of the trail is here (note that the trail is not circular—after the ascent to the pass, we went west as per the original plan but were unable to cross there).
After returning to the large lake, we went to Lake Mezan and then back to the parking lot.
Navigation file for the trail to download (gpx):
The Fourth Hike (Chalets de Clapeyto - Col Neal - Le Collet)
[Difficulty: Medium || Type: Circular || When: May to September || Elevation gain: 528 m || Maximum height: 2507 m || Length: 11 km || Duration: 4 hours || Marking: Signposts and low wooden posts with yellow stripes]
How to get to the start of the trail:
You can drive up to the upper parking lot via the dirt road (the parking prohibition sign is for beyond the upper parking lot).
Arrive here using Google Maps: (https://maps.app.goo.gl/5p3wttGpE7hdcNAJ7)
(this is the upper parking lot. If you don’t want to drive up, you can park in the lower lot and walk to the trailhead)
It’s about a 40-minute drive from our village to the start of the trek. We parked in the lower, designated parking lot about 650 meters before the trailhead (it turns out you can reach the upper parking lot and save 1.3 km round trip).
The weather was sunny and pleasant, and we even started later than usual (around 10 in the morning). This trail is also suitable for mountain biking…
We did the loop counterclockwise (it can also be done the other way). Along the way, you pass through a village that seems mostly abandoned (there are a few cabins rented out in the summer). There are stunning views of blooming flowers and peaks (there's also a rock climbing site for those interested).
Along the way, you pass a relatively large lake and a few smaller but impressive ones, and you reach the pass (Col de Neal).
After the pass, you climb a bit more and then start the descent back.
The map of the trail is here:
Navigation file for the trail to download (gpx):
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