Ardeche and French Alps guided motorcycle holiday

The second day of the guided motorcycle-tour to France is a longish but quiet day in the saddle. 

Providing that our navigation goes as planned, it should be a nearly motorway-free ride towards our next destination in the Valley of the Kings. At a glance, there isn’t much to brag about today’s ride. However, this is precisely the beauty of touring in France. This beautiful country is one of the few biking bastions left in Europe where we can still experience empty roads and biking solitude. So we’ll be able to wiggle our way through some of the most eye-pleasing countryside, stopping as often as we wish. 

Your final destination for today is the town of Nevers. It has a lively town centre with many shops, cafés and restaurants and a relaxed rhythm of life.

The theme of the third day of our guided motorcycle tour to France is plenty of beautiful scenery and no motorways. Our journey will take us through many rustic hamlets, traditional villages, provincial market towns and two regions of outstanding beauty.

Livradois Forest Nature Park is crisscrossed with a web of green lanes, quiet country roads and smooth N-roads alternating between open countryside, conifer forests, green meadows and high-altitude moors.

We’ll travel via Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park as we approach our destination. This stunning Nature Park is a region of medieval fortress ruins perched on rugged lava cliffs and picturesque hidden villages nestled in the deep valleys.

We’ll arrive at our comfortable hotel just in time for a well-deserved post-ride rest and a pre-dinner cold drink.

Today is our first free day of the guided motorcycle-tour to France. You can organise your agenda, park your bike and relax, explore the town, or join a proposed ride. Our suggested ride-out will take us through the spectacular Ardeshe Gorge or, as the locals call it, Gorges de l’Ardèche and some rugged and scenic countryside. 

Our first port of call will be one of the local wonders of nature, the majestic Pont d’Arc. It is an excellent place to stop for a walkabout and take some fantastic photos. From here, we’ll continue wiggling our way along the gorge towards several towns where we can stop for drinks and lunch before returning to our hotel.

The whole ride is less than 70 miles, and it will be done at a leisurely pace. Or, if you wish, you can modify the mileage. If you prefer a longer ride, please feel free to extend it.

Today, our guided motorcycle-tour to France continues towards our second destination – Annecy, the jewel of the French Alps. 

Also, today, the route could go both ways. It could be a longer ride if we stay off the motorways as much as possible and meander along the picturesque country roads, traffic-free highways, and long-way-around (occasionally wrong-way-around) byways. However, if we prioritise an early arrival and take faster routes, we could make it to Annecy in the early afternoon, giving us more time to explore this beautiful town.

Our journey will take us via two areas of outstanding natural beauty – Vercors Nature Park and Chartreuse Nature Reserve. The route will also take us near and along the shores of two beautiful lakes – Lake Aiguebelette and Bourget’s Lake.

Our hotel in Annecy will welcome us with a comfortable room and a pleasant town atmosphere.

On the second day off of the guided motorcycle-tour to France, you can spend your free day organising your own agenda. Or you can follow our suggested itinerary. This ride includes some of the area’s best and most beautiful mountain passes. 

We’ll begin by riding along the shores of Lake Annecy towards Col de la Forclaz. The pass climbs through pretty alpine scenery alternating between forest, open green pastures and pretty villages. Next, we’ll wiggle through the Alpine valleys and ascend one of the Tour de France classics, the legendary Col de Roseland. Here, we can stop for a coffee by the Lac de Roseland and take some photos of the famous sign marking the top of the pass. As we descend, we can visit the Cheese Museum at Beaufort. Even if we don’t fancy stopping there, we’ll definitely be able to smell it. We’ll complete our ride by riding over Col Des Aravis and Col de la Croix Fry or via the ski resort of  La Clusaz.

If you prefer to park your bike and explore the town, there is plenty to see and do. It might be challenging to associate the present-day image of Annecy with its harsh past. Once upon a time, this beautiful lakeside town was one of France’s most notorious prison towns. The pristine Lac d’Annecy is one of the largest lakes in France and is known as the cleanest lake in Europe. Spend a day getting lost among the cobblestone alleys of the old town. The narrow streets are lined by pastel houses decorated with bright flower boxes. Stop at a boulangerie for a freshly baked croissant and coffee. Or find a pavement table at one of many gelaterias and have ice cream. Spend a bit of time on the shores of the lake, relaxing and people-watching.

Today, our guided motorcycle-tour to France continues. We’ll be heading from one beautiful mountain range to another. Leaving the French Alps behind, we’ll ride a combination of motorways, scenic N-roads and rural country routes towards our next destination in the Vosges Mountains. Most of it is an enjoyable and relaxing ride off the beaten track, starting with the Jura National Nature Park, so we’ll take our time and enjoy it. When we feel peckish or fancy a break, we’ll look for a café or boulangerie. 

As we get closer to the Vosges Mountains, hopping on the motorway is the easiest and quickest way to get to Munster. But we don’t have to. To avoid big towns like Mulhouse and Colmar, we can ascend to the Vosges Mountains by riding several famous and twisty local mountain passes: Col du Grand Ballon and Route des Cretes. The passes will take us via a few small ski resorts and traditional villages surrounded by beautiful mountain landscapes, cultivated fields, green pastures and thick forests. 

Our comfortable hotel will welcome us with a comfortable room and a gourmet evening meal.

As we depart from our hotel, we’ll take a ride over the Schlucht pass, the last mountain road on our guided motorcycle tour to France.

The Vosges Mountains are often overlooked because they are close to the Black Forest. But it is a great biking area. The mountains provide one last “hurrah” ride before descending to the flatter landscapes. There are several cafés and restaurants, and they all offer fantastic views as far as you can see. On most of our guided tours, we usually stop at the beautiful lakeside town of Gérardmer. It has several cafés and boulangeries for a quick drink and a bite to eat.   

For most of the day, we’ll travel through rolling hills, green pastures, thick woodlands and sleepy villages without setting a wheel on a motorway (unless we choose to). It almost sounds like reading a travel magazine, but it’s true. 

Your comfortable hotel in the heart of the Champagne Region will welcome us with a comfortable room and a gourmet evening meal.

On the last day of the tour, we’ll join the motorway that will take us to Calais to board our channel crossing. 

We hope you had a great guided motorcycle-tour to France with RideWithUs, and we also hope to see you again soon. Until next time, thank you, and ride safely.