Great Alpine Crossing

Touring holidays: a new opportunity for the mountains!

5 great trails, 3,400 kms of footpaths, tracks, pistes and roads for exploring the French Alps. This makes a total of 8,000 kms including the routes belonging to the Via Alpina, outside France.

300 recommended places to stay

Who are we?

Created as a non-profit-making association in 1971 to "promote walking holidays between Lake Geneva and the Mediterranean", the GTA devised the very concept of the ramblers' lodge and the first great Alpine walking trail, which still bears its name (see opposite).

Today, it is a tool for developing tourism, serving all the regional authorities of the Alpine massif (regions, departments and local councils). Its inter-regional remit and programmes make it a unique organisation in terms of tourism development policy.

Our team is made up of twelve experts (10 in Grenoble, 2 in Gap) who specialise in developing hiking and touring holidays in the mountains.

What do we do?

Today, the GTA's principal objective is to ensure that touring is "a new opportunity for the mountains".

By developing a programme of major trails (see opposite) and classified accommodation, and enabling customers to travel right across the French Alpine massif from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean, exploring the region at their own pace, the Association is actively aiding the expansion of local areas and economies and responding to the new demands of mountain tourism: diversification into an all-year-round service, the implementation of a gentle, lasting form of tourism, and support for mountain areas which are facing the first effects of global warming.

Our partners ...

n order to develop, deliver and implement its programmes, the GTA is working with a network of 700 members and partners, both public and private : local and regional authorities, protected areas, associations of enthusiasts, organisations involved in tourism, the environment, training and research, experts working in the accommodation industry and mountain activities, and service providers. All these partners are intimately involved in the association, as members of its steering committees or within the framework of specific agreements; and all possess exceptional skills potential in the development of Alpine tourism.

Five major trails

At the present time, the GTA is the driving force behind five great Alpine trails ...

- The Route des Grandes Alpes (Great Alps Trail) : This is the legendary route from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean, originally devised by the Touring Club of France, and the inaugural journey along it took place in July 1911. Nowadays, by following the main trail or its variants, you can explore 730 kms by bike, motorbike or car, crossing 18 prestigious passes and discovering the most beautiful panoramic views of the French Alps.

- The Chemins du Soleil (Sun Trail) : from Grenoble (38) or Valence (26) to Digne and Castellane (04), this provides nearly 800 kilometres of prepared and way-marked paths for lovers of mountain biking. The trail extends from the plateaux of Vercors to the lavender fields, from the Rhône valley to the Southern Alps. And between now and 2010, it will run from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean.

- The Via Alpina :a chance to make the great crossing of Europe’s Alps on foot, using almost 5,000 kilometres of marked paths (and 5 trails), from Trieste (Italy) to Monaco, passing through the eight countries of the Alpine Arc. The Via Alpina invites travellers to explore beyond national frontiers. In France alone, there are between 16 and 32 stages, according to the trail chosen.

- The Grande Traversée des Alpes (Great Alpine Crossing) : suitable for travelling on foot, all along the GR5, from St-Gingolph (74) to Nice (06), this is the GTA’s original, emblematic itinerary … whose name it obviously bears. This is a 400-kilometre mountain route, with an average altitude of 1,800 metres, and there are 35 stages to travel in one – or several! – seasons.

- The Routes de la Lavande (Lavender Trail): from Vercors to the Lubéron, from the Provençal Drôme to the Verdon, 7 different routes offer travellers a chance to explore freely, meeting 150 people involved in lavender production, and learning from them about its history, memories, skills and its associated economy ... as well as discovering the fabulous landscapes upon which this world-famous mountain plant has forever left its stamp.

- Elsewhere, the Grande Traversée des Alpes is currently keen to develop its trails by linking them to the "discovery trips" and "regional tours" which are offered in each area the tourist passes through. Also, by the year 2010, it will launch a new major project, a trail linking the regional nature-reserves of the pre-Alps, and the Association is currently studying all the possibilities for cross-border collaboration in the field of touring and hiking holidays.

... and a network of classified accommodation

- 300 recommended tourist accommodation listings - hotels, ramblers' lodges, bed and breakfast, camp-sites - all situated along the trails or close by, constitute a unique regional resource for exploring the French Alps, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean.

- "Double quality assurance" : every place to stay has been given both a national rating and a technical specification adapted to each mode of travel (hiking on foot, cycling, mountain-biking, car, or motorbike). So, at each stage, travellers have the benefit of "double quality assurance": the comfort and facilities of classified accommodation, but also a welcome and facilities adapted to their mode of travel (bicycle repair workshop, locked garage for cars, meals adapted to the needs of hikers, etc). Each year, the GTA pays regular visits to those offering accommodation, enabling the accommodation on offer to be continually improved.

- A specialist label, Rando Accueil (hikers welcome): is among those used by the Grande Traversée des Alpes. Rando Accueil is a national network of accommodation specialising in touring/hiking holidays and the countryside. There are more than 300 establishments in France which, in addition to their expertise in providing accommodation, open up their areas to tourists, showing them a thousand and one new ways to explore, according to the region and the time of year. In 2008, Rando Acceuil obtained the extremely coveted Quality Tourism ^TM mark, awarded by the Secretary of State for Tourism.