The Raid Alpine
A true alpine epic, this 5-day tour takes you from the snowy peaks near Geneva to the warm Mediterranean in Nice. Over five days you’ll climb some of the Alps’ most iconic passes, ride dramatic valleys, and experience breathtaking high-altitude scenery combined with charming alpine villages.
Itinerary
Day 1
Arrive to Geneva Airport and transfer to Megeve
Touch down at Geneva Airport, where the Echelon team is waiting. We’ll skip the city traffic and whisk you away to the chic mountain air of Megève. Tonight is about "The Ritual": building bikes, a cold local beer, and a communal dinner looking out at the peaks. Rest your legs—tomorrow, the gravity starts working against you.
Day 1
Megève → Bourg-Saint-Maurice
We roll out through the rolling meadows of the Beaufortain. The air smells like pine and Gruyère. The highlight? The Cormet de Roselend. It’s not just a climb; it’s a masterpiece. You’ll pedal past the shimmering turquoise waters of the Roselend Dam and find yourself surrounded by jagged peaks before a high-speed, technical descent into the Tarentaise valley.
Day 1
Bourg-Saint-Maurice → Valloire
Eat a big breakfast—you’re going to need it. Today we tackle the Col de l’Iseran, the highest paved pass in the Alps. It’s a long, meditative grind into a lunar landscape where the snow often lingers into July. After the summit, it’s a massive descent through the Haute-Maurienne valley to the foot of the Col du Télégraphe, our final hurdle before dropping into the cyclist’s sanctuary of Valloire.
Day 1
Valloire → Briançon
Short in distance, massive in legend. We wake up and go straight into the Col du Galibier. This is the heart of the Tour de France. The last kilometer is a wall of rock and history. Stand at the 2,642m marker, take the photo, and look south—you can almost smell the sea from here. A 35km descent follows, sweeping you all the way down into the UNESCO-fortified streets of Briançon.
Day 1
Briançon → Barcelonnette
Farewell to the Northern Alps. We enter the Queyras and climb the Col d’Izoard. The Casse Déserte at the top is unlike anything else on earth—a desert of scree and monoliths. After descending through the narrow gorges of the Guil, we face the Col de Vars, the gateway to the sun-drenched Ubaye Valley. We finish in Barcelonnette, where the architecture starts to feel a little more Mediterranean.
Day 1
Barcelonnette → Entrevaux
The final push is a journey through "The Secret Alps." We climb the wild Col de la Cayolle, a 2,326m giant in the heart of the Mercantour National Park. The grand finale is the Gorges de Daluis, the "Colorado of France," where the road is carved into blood-red rock above vertiginous drops. We roll across the ancient drawbridge into the medieval fortress of Entrevaux and 1 hour transfer to Nice
Road map
Tour Highlights
What's included
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Accommodation in twin/single rooms in high-quality hotels
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Breakfasts and dinners
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Support vehicle
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Professional guides
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Mechanical support
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Sport nutrition
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Photos from event
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Guide-to-client ratio of 1:5
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Rental bikes available at discounted rate
What's not included
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Flights
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Insurance
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Single room supplement (Price on request)
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Rental bikes available
Cancelation policy
Payment & Cancellation Policy
A 50% deposit is required at the time of booking to secure your place on the tour.
90 days or more before departure:
Your deposit is fully refundable.
Between 90 and 45 days before departure:
50% of the deposit will be issued as a future tour credit.
Less than 45 days before departure:
All payments are non-refundable.
Any future tour credit issued is valid for 24 months from the date of issue.
We reserve the right to cancel a tour if the minimum group size is not reached. Minimum and maximum group sizes are always clearly stated for each tour. In the event that we cancel a tour due to insufficient participant numbers, all payments made will be refunded in full via bank transfer.
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