Cycling the Beaufortain and Aravis: The French Alps Stage Nobody Markets

The Beaufortain sits in Savoie, between the Tarentaise and the Aravis range, and it is a valley where the primary export has always been cheese rather than cycling achievement. Beaufort AOP — the rich, complex mountain cheese that alpine dairy farmers have been producing here since the Middle Ages — is the Beaufortain's most exported product. The cycling is a secondary claim on the world's attention.

That is a mistake worth correcting.

Stage 8 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes traces a 120-kilometre loop through terrain that, if it were in the Haute-Alpes or the Isère, would appear on every guided cycling holiday brochure between Lyon and Turin. Four climbs, 3,860 metres of elevation gain, the Aravis range, Mont Blanc visible from the pass in clear weather, and a finish on a plateau that looks back over three valleys simultaneously. The fact that most cyclists drive through Beaufort toward the better-marketed destinations is simply a function of where the road signs point.

Starting in Beaufort

The village of Beaufort sits at roughly 750 metres in the Doron de Beaufort river valley, an hour by car from both Albertville and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. It is a small, functional Alpine town — hotels, cafés, a fromagerie where the co-operative's Beaufort wheels go directly from the dairy, a church, a weekly market. The road that leaves Beaufort toward the Col du Pré begins climbing almost immediately.

There is no gentle approach to this area's cycling. The valley floor is short and the climbs start.

Col du Pré: 6.9km at 10.1%

The Col du Pré is the Beaufortain's sharpest climb and the stage-8 route's first major gradient. At 6.9 kilometres averaging 10.1 percent, there is no section of the climb where a rider at full effort can reasonably rest. The road rises from Beaufort village through forest, breaks into open terrain in the upper section, and delivers the summit at 1,703 metres with views across the Roselend reservoir to the east.

The Cormet de Roselend — a different pass — runs above the reservoir and is itself a significant cycling climb. From the Col du Pré summit, the two passes are connected by the high-altitude road that crosses the Roselend dam. Riders who want to extend the loop can turn east from the Pré summit toward Roselend and add a second high-altitude traverse before descending back toward the valley.

The Col du Pré's descent toward the Montée de Bisanne is fast and technical — the upper section loses altitude quickly on tight switchbacks before settling into a longer valley descent toward Queige and the Arondine valley. Handle the top section with care in any wet conditions.

The Bisanne climb is the stage's longest and the one that most resembles a classic Alpine ski-station ascent: 11.4 kilometres at 7.7 percent, rising from the Arondine valley floor toward the ski area at Les Saisies at the summit. The gradient is more even than the Col du Pré, making it a better climb for pace work — the kind of sustained threshold effort that cross-country athletes and road cyclists use to calibrate their Alpine fitness.

The summit at Les Saisies sits at roughly 1,650 metres. The ski station is operational in winter for Nordic and downhill skiing; in summer, the plateau opens for hiking and mountain biking, with the ski-lift infrastructure largely idle. The view from the Les Saisies summit across the Beaufortain toward the Tarentaise and, on clear days, across to Mont Blanc, is worth the 1.5 to 2 hours the climb takes.

The descent from Les Saisies toward Flumet is a long, high-speed run down the Arly valley — one of the more satisfying descents in this corner of Savoie. Traffic stays light on weekdays and the road surface is generally well-maintained.

Col des Aravis: 7km at 6.8%

The Col des Aravis at 1,498 metres is the stage's third major climb and the geographical hinge between the Savoie valleys and Haute-Savoie. The climb from the Arly valley (Flumet/Megève side) is 7 kilometres at 6.8 percent — a more comfortable gradient than the two climbs that precede it in the stage, but arriving in legs that have already crossed the Col du Pré and the Bisanne.

The pass is the saddle between the Pointe Percée to the north and the chain of Aravis summits that runs toward La Clusaz. On clear days, the Mont Blanc massif appears directly to the south from the summit — white above the lower ridge lines, the most obvious reference point in this corner of the Alps.

The descent from the Aravis toward La Clusaz is the stage's final technical section: a winding road that drops into the Fier valley through the village of La Giettaz and into Saint-Jean-de-Sixt below. From Saint-Jean, the Plateau de Solaison climb begins.

Plateau de Solaison: 11.3km at avg 9%+

The Solaison is the least famous of the four climbs and the most decisive. The road rises from the Fier valley above Thônes to the Plateau de Solaison — an exposed limestone shelf at roughly 1,460 metres — on 11.3 kilometres averaging above nine percent.

The climb's lower section runs through forest, holding moisture and shade that the open upper section loses. The transition from the treeline to the exposed plateau is where the wind and the view arrive simultaneously: the Aravis chain to the west, the Fier valley directly below, and the plateau's rolling terrain ahead. The finish line at Brison sits on this plateau, a small hamlet that becomes the highest-profile location in Haute-Savoie for an afternoon every time the race comes here.

For visiting cyclists, the Solaison is best approached from Thônes (the practical start) or from Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (slightly shorter lower section). The climb does not have the mythological status of its neighbours' more famous ascents, but the gradient across 11 kilometres justifies the approach.

The Full Loop

The stage-8 course traces a loop that works well for a single big day from a Beaufort base. Leave Beaufort early, climb the Col du Pré, drop to the Arondine, climb Bisanne, descend to Flumet, climb the Aravis, drop to Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, climb Solaison. Return to base via the valley roads through Thônes and the Col de la Croix-Fry (an option that adds a fifth but smaller climb) or via the direct valley road back toward Albertville and north to Beaufort.

Total distance: approximately 120–135 kilometres depending on the return route. Total climbing: 3,500–4,000 metres. A strong amateur cyclist who starts early and manages pace across the first two climbs can complete this loop in 6–8 hours. Bring food for the Bisanne summit and the Solaison plateau — the Col des Aravis col has a café that is not always open on weekday mornings.

When to Ride

June through September. The Beaufortain and Aravis roads are open and rideable through this window, with the ski-station infrastructure at Les Saisies closed for winter from roughly November to May. June is the competitive sweet spot: clear roads (school holidays have not started), stable weather, and the possibility of encountering race infrastructure from the Tour Auvergne event in the vicinity.

July and August: Traffic increases on the Col des Aravis and around La Clusaz, which is a major summer-tourism destination. Early morning or midweek riding handles the traffic; arriving at the Aravis pass before 10:00 avoids most of the tourist vehicle movement.

September: Excellent month. Light traffic, cooler temperatures, and the cheese is at its late-summer best.

Where to Base

Beaufort is the most logical base for the full stage-8 loop — you start and end in the same valley, with both the Col du Pré and the return routes from the Fier valley accessible without significant additional driving. Accommodation is limited to a small selection of hotels and gîtes; book in advance during Tour Auvergne event week.

Albertville (30 minutes north) offers more accommodation choice and direct rail connections to Lyon and Chambéry. The drive to Beaufort is a straightforward valley climb; Albertville can function as a base for multiple days of riding in both the Beaufortain and the Tarentaise.

La Clusaz (south of the Aravis) suits riders who want to spend more time in the Aravis range. The ski resort is a well-developed summer destination with a strong MTB scene and access to multiple road climbs in addition to the descent from the col.

Thônes at the foot of the Solaison is the quieter option — a traditional Haute-Savoie market town with good food, a smaller tourist footprint than La Clusaz, and proximity to the Solaison base and the Fier valley roads.

Getting There

Fly to Geneva — 75 minutes by car to the Col des Aravis / La Clusaz area, 90 minutes to Beaufort via Albertville. The Geneva-to-Albertville route crosses the Sallanche valley and offers the classic first view of the Mont Blanc massif as you enter Savoie.

By train: TGV Lyria from Paris to Geneva (3h20), then regional connection to Annecy or Albertville. Bikes travel in bike-reservation cars on TGV services. From Annecy, the drive to La Clusaz is 35 minutes; from Albertville, Beaufort is 30 minutes.

From Lyon: 2 hours by car via the A41 through Chambéry or the A43. The Chambéry approach delivers the view of the Belledonne range; the A43 follows the Arc valley toward Modane.

Beaufort Cheese and the Rest Day

The Beaufort AOP cooperative's fromagerie in Beaufort village produces the cheese from the valley's mountain herds — typically Tarine (Tarentaise) cattle whose summer transhumance to the high pastures of the Beaufortain produces the milk that the cheese requires by appellation rules. A rest-day visit to the fromagerie combines the mechanics of cheese production with the landscape context that makes the Beaufortain distinct from other Alpine cheese-producing areas.

Pair the fromagerie visit with lunch at one of the valley's farm auberges and the day argues for itself.

Frequently Asked

Is this area too remote for a cycling trip? No. The roads are surfaced, the villages have food and accommodation, and Geneva airport is under 90 minutes from the Aravis. The sense of remoteness comes from the absence of tourist infrastructure by Alpine-resort standards, not from actual logistical difficulty.

Can I combine Beaufortain riding with the Tarentaise classic climbs (Galibier, Iseran)? Yes, comfortably. Bourg-Saint-Maurice is an hour from Beaufort and serves as the base for Iseran and Petit-Saint-Bernard approaches. Chambéry, 75 minutes from Beaufort, opens the Galibier, Croix de Fer, and Chartreuse networks. The Beaufortain is a natural add-on to any Savoie cycling week.

Is the Solaison climb well-known to local cyclists? Yes. The local cycling clubs from Thônes, Annecy, and La Clusaz use Solaison regularly for training. The climb is well-known regionally but has not penetrated international cycling tourism to the extent of the nearby Aravis or the Annecy lake routes.

Where can I find cycling partners for these roads? Connect with riders training in the Beaufortain and Aravis area via Find Athletes in Haute-Savoie/Savoie on ZealZag.

For Stage 8 race coverage finishing on the Plateau de Solaison today, see our Stage 8 Solaison field report. For yesterday's Stage 7 and the Grand Colombier's climbing profile, see our Grand Colombier cycling guide.