With its coastline, beaches, mountains, lakes and rivers, its beautiful towns and cities steeped in history, France is the ideal country for cycling. And unsurprisingly, it’s one of the world’s leading destinations for cycle tourism. Our agency takes a unique and rational approach to designing wonderful cycling trips. The first question our experts are often asked is: “Where can I go on a cycling trip? After all, there are some unmissable cycling spots in France. With over a million kilometers of roads across France, it can be difficult to choose the best stretches for cycling this summer. Here are just a few…
Cycling from Tours to Blois
Eurovelo 6 is a 3600 km trans-European cycle route linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, following three of Europe’s great rivers (the Loire, the Rhine and the Danube). The 77 km stretch between Tours and Blois is the perfect journey through French history. From the royal château of Ambroise to the manor house where da Vinci lived, from the pagoda of Chanteloup to the magnificent château of Chenonceaux, and finally to the majestic Château Royal de Blois.
Circuit de la Vallée de la Vienne (73 km)
In the Vienne region of Poitou-Charentes, the fortified medieval town of Chauvigny is the starting point for this tour of the Vienne valley. Heading south towards Lussac-les-Châteaux, you pass through a region rich in prehistoric sites, some of which date back to 15,000 BC. A visit to the Musée de la Préhistoire is a pleasant cultural stop-off for the curious. Retracing your steps along the Vienne River, you can’t help but be seduced by the magnificent 12th-century Château de Touffou, with its Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance features, keep, park and gardens.
Discover Bordeaux by bike
The city of Bordeaux, by virtue of its geographical position and public planning policies, is “cyclofriendly”. It’s an ideal starting point for exploring this famous wine-growing region by bike. The heart of the city for cyclists is the 5 km of riverbank, from which you can easily access the medieval streets or the neoclassical splendor of the Parliament district. There are many routes to explore outside Bordeaux, such as the famous Roger Lapébie cycle path on a disused railroad line where former stations have been transformed into restaurants and wine bars.
Discover our Bordeaux and Gironde bike trips
A route from La Rochelle to Royan
One of our favorite stretches of the 1400 km long Vélodyssée is between La Rochelle and Royan, in the Charente-Maritime region. Starting from the famous towers defending the historic port of La Rochelle, along the bay of Châtelaillon before heading inland to the “royal city” of Rochefort, the route enters the oyster-farming center of Marennes before threading its way through the coastal forest, cliffs and beaches of the Côte de Beauté, and entering the seaside paradise of Royan.
Discover our bike tours on La Vélodyssée
Hiking between Arcachon and Bayonne (190 km)
Another major section of the Vélodyssée begins on the magnificent Arcachon Basin, overlooked by the great Dune du Pilat, then winds its way between lakes, forests and the region’s pretty seaside resorts such as Biscarrosse, Mimizan and Léon. It follows the beautiful surf beaches past the iconic resorts of Seignosse and Hossegor and the lively port of Cap-Breton, before heading into the Basque Country. This is one of France’s most popular tourist regions, thanks to its beaches and summer cultural activities (festivals, restaurants, etc.).
Discover our cycling trips on the Atlantic Coast
Canal du Midi
The Canal du Midi is a UNESCO World Heritage site, lined for almost all of its 240 km by magnificent plane trees, through a landscape rich in history, linking Toulouse to the charming Mediterranean port of Marseillan. It’s the perfect cycling itinerary, despite a few uneven stretches, because the paths are flat and protected from cars. This gives you a more bucolic access to the spectacle of Nature, before discovering the medieval fortified city of Carcassonne (a fabulous site), the Gothic town of Narbonne and the Roman city of Béziers, while pedaling through an ever-changing landscape of vineyards, sunflowers and lavender.
Discover our bike tours on the Canal du Midi
The Saint-Pardoux lake tour
Lac de Saint-Pardoux is a 330-hectare artificial reservoir impounded in 1976 and located in the Haute Vienne region of Poitou-Charentes. The lake has a shoreline of 28 km, and there are 50 km of marked trails around it. It’s a popular destination for hikers and cyclists. The 24 km cycling circuit is named after a famous French cyclist, André Dufraisse, and offers an interesting variety of landscapes. This makes for a bike ride that combines forest and water landscapes, because despite the moors and forests, you’re still close to the lake.
Sarlat-la-Canéda
The famous medieval town of Sarlat, capital of the Périgord Noir, is an excellent base for exploring some of the Dordogne’s superb scenery. Set beneath towering cliffs, La Roque-Gageac is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France, while nearby, along the Dordogne loop, lies the imposing Château de Beynac. This authentic site allows you to explore almost five centuries of French history, through the evolution of its architecture. But you can go even further back in time, by riding your bike inland towards Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, the world capital of prehistory, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Vézère valley, famous for its prehistoric caves.
Alpe d’Huez
Although best known as a flagship stage of the Tour de France, the iconic corkscrew climb from Bourg d’Oisans to l’Alpe d’Huez is such a breathtaking course that thousands of cyclists, both casual and professional, climb this cycling Mecca every year. The 21 gentle bends, with breathtaking views over the Oisans valley, take you up 1,150 meters at an average gradient of 7.9% over the 15 km course. Numbers mean little compared to the exhilaration of the race. While bike tours in the Alps are often sporty, Evazio also offers accessible bike trips.
Jarnac Tower
The Charente valley, which stretches from Angoulême to Saintes, is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets of southwest France. Although it’s possible to cycle the entire valley, one of our favorite sections is around Jarnac. Several signposted itineraries start from this historic town and take in Cognac vineyards, fields of sunflowers and melons, an abundance of Romanesque art and, of course, as Henri IV put it: “The most beautiful stream in the kingdom”.
