South of France

[Not Ideal]

Hi all - am in St Tropez for a week in mid-July.

I have a couple of spare days at the end of the trip and I really want to do some mountain-biking / hiking.

How far away is Chamonix from St Tropez..?? I'm flying back to London from Nice Airport so don't want it to be too far to drive there and back.

Isola 2000 has been mentioned as being near - what it like..??

Thanks for all your help.

[grayr]

Don't really know the answer to your question but I do know that its a very busy area, July is quieter than august though, but I guess that drive will take some time. Of course travelling up the Alps is never very quick at the best of times.

[rsv gone!]

Make your way along the coast to Grasse and take advantage of the N85 (Route Napoleon) while you are there.

Just hit it early.

[JONSCZ]

Hi.
As you're in that neck of the woods, then this place is a must - http://www.francethisway.com/places/gorgesduverdon...
It's a fantastic place - often refered to as the Grand Canyon of Europe. I've been hiking there a couple of times and it's superb. Stay in Castellane - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Tourism-g677532-Caste... - and enjoy the drive there on one of the best Pistonheads roads -the Route Napoleon (http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webchapter.it%2Fviaggi%2Froute_napoleon.shtm) - translated page. If you are there with your other half, then visit Grasse on the way out of Cannes where you can get a free tour of any number of perfume factories - actually quite interesting!
Just a few ideas.
Cheers, Jon

Edited to add - damn, must type faster as others have beaten me to it - still quite reassuring that others like that area!

Edited by JONSCZ on Tuesday 5th April 21:02

[Kermit power]

Not Ideal said:

Isola 2000 has been mentioned as being near - what it like..??

Thanks for all your help.

We used to do Nice to Isola in about 2 hours in a Pug 305 back in the 80s, but that included stopping to fit snow tyres part way up!

I'd imagine it would be a great place to go biking, but it's going to be bloody hard work at that sort of altitude if they don't have the lifts running in the summer!

[grayr]

Yes, instead of the alps you could hike around the gorge of verdun, closer to you and absolutely stunning.

[Not Ideal]

Lads thanks very much for all those suggestions - much appreciated.

Will spend at least the first couple of hours at work tomorrow googling holidays then :-)

[rsv gone!]

That South-Eastern corner of France is definitely the most interesting. Route Napoleon is legendary in the biking community. A fantastic piece of road. As said above, Castellaine is beautiful, as is the surrounding countryside.