The mountain the Tour made famous

Today

Arrive in good time and settle in, deliberately two days ahead of the race, not one.

• Easy afternoon spin around the Auris plateau to shake out travel legs; the road toward Col de Sarenne, the same road the Tour itself descended through here in 2026, makes for a scenic warm-up loop with the Oisans peaks as the backdrop

Dinner

Table d'hôtes at Chalet Harmonie, if arranged with the hosts ahead of arrival, alongside whoever else is staying that week, part of the charm of this particular place.

Today

A relaxed recon ride partway up the Alpe d'Huez switchbacks, enough to see the bend markers and gauge the gradient without burning the legs needed for race day.

• For stronger riders wanting a proper day out instead, two well-known rides start from nearby Bourg d'Oisans: the climb to Col du Galibier via Col du Lautaret (about 96 km round trip, ~1,900 m of climbing, roughly 6 hours) or the shorter loop up to Les Deux Alpes (about 42 km, ~1,270 m of climbing, around 2.5 hours)
• Both are popular, well-mapped routes with downloadable GPX on Komoot and RideWithGPS
• Either way, plan lunch for yourselves, a picnic or a stop in Bourg d'Oisans, since Chalet Harmonie doesn't do lunch without notice

The one thing to plan around

Road traffic into the valley turns serious from around lunchtime the day before the climb closes to cars, and closures can move earlier than planned.

• In 2026, the main road up to Alpe d'Huez was originally due to shut to vehicles at 23:00 the evening before, but heavy traffic forced organisers to bring that forward to 14:00 that afternoon instead; it was closed to bikes too from 22:00 that night
• Our own drive from Grenoble to Auris, normally under two hours, took five hours when we left at 14:30 the day before
• Aim to arrive by the morning of the day before at the latest, or build in a two-day cushion if you'd rather not think about it at all
• Being based at Chalet Harmonie the night before, rather than trying to drive in on race morning, is what makes the whole plan work

Dinner

Table d'hôtes again at Chalet Harmonie, if arranged ahead.

• An early night, since race-day mornings on the mountain start before the roads officially close

Get up early, or don't

Start the climb before 9am if you want a clean run at it: after that it fills in fast, and the lower ramps turn into a slow-moving crowd of riders clipping in and out of their pedals on the steep early switchbacks, awkward, and occasionally hazardous, with that much traffic packed around you.

• The alternative is to go up later on purpose: you'll move slower, but you get to soak up the atmosphere building through the morning: the crowd getting louder, people from every country sharing whatever they're drinking, the noise and giveaways of the publicity caravan passing through well before the race itself
• Even though you're there hours before the professionals do, it's worth it on its own: the socializing and the build-up are most of the experience

At the top, a good plan is lunch with a view, then heading back down partway to find a spot on the switchbacks for when the professionals actually climb, better than watching only the finish from the top.

• Bend 7, "Dutch Corner," is the place to be if a proper party is the point; plenty of spectators camp out on the mountain for a night or two beforehand, so the atmosphere builds well before race day itself

Dinner

Back down to Auris and Chalet Harmonie for dinner with the house, if arranged ahead, swapping race-day stories with whoever else made the same climb that day.