Visiting the Southern Alps
Up here the mountains have a southern climate. Briançon, the highest town in France at 1,326 meters, is among the sunniest places in the country, and larch replaces spruce the moment you cross the Col du Lautaret. Two parks share the territory: the Écrins to the west, with its glaciers and its 4,102 meters at the Barre, and the Queyras to the east, drier, more open, turned toward Italy.
You come for a range that is not the Northern Alps: less mist, more bare rock, villages of wood and dry stone rather than decorated chalets. The ski resorts are here, Serre Chevalier, Vars, Risoul, Orcières, but summer now weighs as much as winter, between the cyclists' passes and the Serre-Ponçon reservoir.
You will love it if
- You want high mountains with sunshine and little rain
- Climbing passes by bike or hiking at altitude appeals to you
- A stone village at 2,000 meters speaks to you more than a resort village
Give it a miss if
- You are after lakes and green pastures all season long
- You want to come without a car beyond Briançon and Gap
- Switchback roads above 2,000 meters make you tense
The must-sees
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Vauban ringed the upper town with ramparts in 1700 and crowned it with four forts on the neighboring ridges. The whole is UNESCO-listed since 2008, along with the Pont d'Asfeld, thrown across in a single arch fifty meters above the Durance. You walk up from the Porte de Pignerol, the Grande Gargouille runs straight through the upper town, and the circuit of the ramparts takes a good hour. In winter, the Prorel cable car leaves from the lower town and opens onto the 250 kilometers of slopes at Serre Chevalier.
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2 The Col Agnel, by bike June to October
2,744 meters: the highest international road pass in the Alps, between the Queyras and Piedmont. Twenty kilometers of climbing from Château-Ville-Vieille, with the last six above 9 percent. It only opens once the snow has been cleared, usually from mid-June to mid-October, and it stays far quieter than the Izoard or the Galibier. No refreshment stand at the top: carry your own water.
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The highest commune in France, 2,042 meters, and one of the country's officially most beautiful villages. The larch houses carry open-slatted balconies for drying hay, and eight sundials punctuate the single street. Cars stop at the parking lots at the entrance and the village is walked. In winter it is a cross-country resort rather than an alpine one, and the Queyras road can close for a few hours after a snowfall.
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4 The Serre-Ponçon reservoir +7 recs
Twenty-eight square kilometers held back by an earth dam completed in 1961 on the Durance, just downstream of where the Ubaye joins it. This is the region's summer lung: sailing, paddleboarding and swimming from the beaches at Savines-le-Lac and Chorges, when the water reaches 22 to 24 °C in August. The level drops in the fall and exposes the shoreline, which changes the landscape completely between July and October.
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5 The transhumance Mid-June
The flocks go up to the high pastures in mid-June and come back down in early October. Several villages in the Champsaur and the Dévoluy turn it into a one-day festival, with thousands of animals filling the main street. It is free, it finishes early, and it is the only moment when you still see the pastoral economy that shaped these slopes. The dates shift from year to year with the thaw: confirm them with the tourist offices in spring.
The classic mistake
Assuming everything is open year-round. The Galibier, the Izoard and the Agnel close from November until May or June, and their closure adds two hours to some journeys. Only the Lautaret and the Durance valley stay passable throughout: check the state of the passes before building a spring itinerary.
Our itineraries in the Southern Alps
| Length | Itinerary | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Long weekend (4 d.) | Briançon › Serre Chevalier › Col du Lautaret | Vauban and the Écrins |
| 1 week | Briançon › Mont-Dauphin › Guillestre › Queyras › Embrun | Forts, Queyras, lake |
| 10 days | Gap › Champsaur › Embrun › Queyras › Briançon › Lautaret | Full loop, both parks |
Everything is organized along the Durance, which links Gap to Briançon on a steady climb. The side valleys, Queyras, Champsaur, Vallouise, are done as round trips from that axis: there is almost never a crossing route, and trying to invent one costs a pass and two hours. Count one valley per day, not two.
When to visit the Southern Alps
| Interest | Season | Temperatures | Crowds and prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| WinterDec. to Mar. | -6 to 5 °C | High | |
| SpringApr. to Jun. | 3 to 18 °C | Low | |
| SummerJuly and August | 12 to 28 °C | High | |
| FallSept. to Nov. | 1 to 20 °C | Intermediate |
Our tip
Aim for September. The passes are still open, the larches start turning yellow toward the end of the month, and prices drop the moment school goes back. Avoid the second half of May and the month of November: the lifts are shut, so are many of the passes, and a share of the hotels and restaurants close between the two seasons.
Getting to the Southern Alps
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1 By train The simplest
The Ligne des Alpes serves Gap, Embrun, Mont-Dauphin and Briançon from Marseille and Valence, and a night train links Paris to Briançon. It is the region's only rail service, and it follows the Durance axis exactly.
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2 By car The most flexible
Via the A51 to Gap from Marseille, then the main road up to Briançon. From Grenoble and the north, the route goes over the Col du Lautaret, open year-round but sometimes subject to winter tire requirements.
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3 By plane The fastest
No airport in the region: the closest are Marseille, Grenoble and Turin, each two to three hours by road from Briançon. The Col de Montgenèvre, open continuously, makes the Italian approach quicker than people expect.
For a resort stay, the train to Briançon or Mont-Dauphin plus a shuttle is enough. To move between valleys and climb the passes, a car is not a comfort but a condition.
Getting around the Southern Alps
A car is necessary as soon as you leave the Durance axis. Briançon and Gap are walkable and linked by train, but the Queyras, the Champsaur, the Dévoluy and the Vallouise have only coach service, timed around school hours and thinned out off season. Distances mislead: sixty kilometers of valley take an hour and a quarter, and a pass adds as much again.
Worth knowing
The high passes close in winter, but they can also close for a few hours in peak season after a storm or a rockslide. Before setting off over the Izoard, the Agnel or the Galibier, check the day's road conditions: a pass reported open yesterday is not necessarily open this morning.
What to eat in the Southern Alps
- Tourtons: square fritters of thin dough, filled savory with potato or spinach, sweet with prunes. This is the dish of the Champsaur, served in the farm inns around Saint-Bonnet.
- Oreilles d'âne: a gratin of wild spinach, crêpes and cream, a specialty of the Vallouise and the Briançonnais. Nothing to do with a meat dish, despite the name.
- Bleu du Queyras: a mild cow's-milk blue, made in the upper Guil valley, to be sought straight from the producers in Ceillac and Molines.
- Tourte de Champsaur: a pie of chard and raisins, at once savory and sweet, eaten as a starter or a dessert depending on the family.
- Ravioles de Briançon: filled with potato and cheese, closer to Piedmontese ravioli than to the classic Italian kind, a direct legacy of the border.
- Génépi: a liqueur made from glacier wormwood, picked above 2,000 meters, served at the end of a meal. The best are made on a small scale and are less strong than the industrial ones.
At the table
In resorts as in villages, kitchens close early: serving after 9 p.m. is the exception, and off season many restaurants open only in the evening, or close two days a week. Book the day before in July and August, and plan to eat earlier than you would on the coast.
Where to stay in the Southern Alps
| Area | What you do there | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Briançon and Serre Chevalier | Skiing, Vauban heritage, passes | The only real mountain town, open all year |
| Guillestre and the Queyras | Hiking, cycling, high villages | Central base, but pass roads beyond |
| Embrun and Serre-Ponçon | Lake, sailing, swimming, cycling | Short season, in heavy demand in August |
| Gap and the Champsaur | Stopover, families, gentle resorts | The cheapest, the furthest from the peaks |
How much does a trip in the Southern Alps cost?
| Trip | Length | Budget per person |
|---|---|---|
| Budget, hiking in summer | 1 week | 400 to 600 € |
| Comfort, hotel and activities | 1 week | 700 to 1,000 € |
| Skiing in February, lift pass included | 1 week | 1,100 to 1,600 € |
- The season: February and the first half of August cost twice what September does, for identical accommodation.
- The lift pass: this is the line that tips a winter budget, 50 to 65 € a day for an adult at Serre Chevalier, noticeably less in the family resorts of the Champsaur.
- Hiking: free, including in both parks, which charge no admission. A night in a staffed refuge runs 20 to 30 €, half board 50 to 60 €.
- The car: fuel and passes weigh more than you would think, and there is no toll beyond Gap. Budget the fuel for one valley per day.
- Refuges and hikers' lodges: far cheaper than a hotel and often better placed, but they book out weeks ahead in July and August.
Traditions and way of life in the Southern Alps
These mountains were long a country apart: the Escartons, a charter bought from the Dauphin in 1343, gave the Briançonnais valleys a fiscal and judicial autonomy that held until the Revolution, and the memory of it is still alive. The border moved in 1713 and cut that whole in two, which explains the ravioles, the painted sundials and the place names that sound Italian from the Queyras onward.
Herding still sets the year: up to the high pastures in mid-June, back down in early October, and villages that live by both. Alpine Occitan is spoken less and less but read everywhere, on fountains and lintels, beside sundials that often date from the 18th century.
The local custom
On a pasture trail, close the gates behind you and go around flocks on the downhill side. Livestock guardian dogs are not herding dogs: you do not pet them, you do not run, you get off the bike and pass at a distance, calmly.
