L'Alpe d'Huez, France Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

One place you're unlikely to be cycling to is the ski resort of L'ALPE D'HUEZ , signposted just outside Le Bourg. It's situated more than a vertical kilometre above the valley floor, and the eleven-kilometre road which crawls up the valley side is often used as a stage in the Tour de France. As you ascend through the 21 hairpins, there's a fine view of the acutely crumpled strata of rock exposed by passing glaciers on the south side of the Romanche valley. Undoubtedly a skier's paradise in winter, the purpose-built resort itself has little character in July and August, when it's only … more »