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The GR5 Trail

Through the French Alps from Lake Geneva to Nice

ISBN

9781852848286

Availability

Published

7 Jan 2016

Reprinted

15 Jul 2024

Edition

Third

Pages

320

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.80cm

Weight

370g

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An essential guidebook for walking the GR5 trail, 660km from Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) to Nice or Menton, through the French Alps. Includes all the main variant routes as it passes Mont Blanc, then through the Vanoise, the Queyras and the Mercantour National Parks. Includes accommodation, profiles and maps. Suitable for fairly experienced hikers.

Seasons

The GR5 is primarily a summer trek: starting too early or late in the season may lead to problems with snow, and mountain huts may be closed. The French summer holiday runs from mid-July to mid-August: this coincides with the best weather, but accommodation will be busy.

Centres

Geneva; Chamonix; Modane; Briançon; Nice

Difficulty

Despite its length, and despite crossing the Alps, the GR5 is no more than a long mountain walk, paths are well-graded and the route can be varied from 645-725km (400-450 miles)

Must See

One of Europe's best Alpine treks crossing the Alps from Lac Leman to Nice. Includes variant routes such as the GR55 through the Vanoise National Park, and the GR52 through Mercantour National Park

ISBN

9781852848286

Availability

Published

7 Jan 2016

Reprinted

15 Jul 2024

Edition

Third

Pages

320

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.80cm

Weight

370g

Overview

A guidebook to trekking the southern section of the GR5 trail between Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and either Nice or Menton. Covering 674km (420 miles), this long-distance trek through the French Alps can be walked in 1 month and is suitable for moderately experienced hikers.

The route is described from north to south in 32 stages, each between 11 and 31km (7–19 miles) in length. Variant routes such as the GR55 through the Vanoise National Park and the GR52 through the Mercantour National Park finishing at Menton are also detailed.

1:100,000 maps included for each stage
Detailed information about accommodation, facilities and public transport along the route
A south–north route summary table is also provided for those wanting to walk in the opposite direction
Part of a 3-volume set, accompanying Cicerone guidebooks The GR5 Trail - Vosges and Jura and The GR5 Trail - Benelux and Lorraine are also available

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Map Key

Overview Map

Introduction

Walking the GR5

Alpine Traverses

Who Walks the GR5?

Route Outline

North–South/South–North

Timings

Waymarking

GR5 Geology

Alpine Flowers

Alpine Wildlife

Alpine Farming

Pastous

Language

Travel to the Alps

Travel Around the Alps

Services on the GR5

Accommodation

Food and Drink

Telephones

Path Conditions

Alpine Weather

When to Walk the GR5

Kit Check

Maps

Currency and Costs

Emergencies

Key Points

STAGE 1 La Léman to Les Houches

Day 1 St Gingolph to La Chapelle d’Abondance (direct route)

Day 1 Thonon-les-Bains to Chevenoz (alternative Day 1)

Day 2 Chevenoz to La Chapelle d’Abondance (alternative Day 2)

Day 3 La Chapelle d’Abondance to Chésery

Day 4 Chésery to Samoëns

Day 5 Samoëns to Refuge de Moëde Anterne

Day 6 Refuge de Moëde Anterne to Les Houches

STAGE 2 Les Houches to Landry

Day 7 Les Houches to Les Contamines

Day 7a Les Houches to Les Contamines (high-level route)

Day 8 Les Contamines to Plan de la Lai

Day 9 Plan de la Lai to Landry

STAGE 3 Landry to Modane

GR5 Route

Day 10 Landry to Refuge d’Entre-le-Lac

Day 11 Refuge d’Entre-le-Lac to Val d’Isère

Day 12 Val d’Isère to Bessans

Day 13 Bessans to Refuge du Plan du Lac

Day 14 Refuge du Plan du Lac to Le Montana

Day 15 Le Montana to Modane/Fourneaux

GR55 High-level route (Refuge d’Entre-le-Lac to Modane)

Day 11 Refuge d’Entre-le-Lac to Refuge d’Entre Deux Eaux

Day 12 Refuge d’Entre Deux Eaux to Roc de la Pêche

Day 13 Roc de la Pêche to Modane/Fourneaux

GR5E Low-level route (Bonneval-sur-Arc to Modane)

Day 13 Bonneval-sur-Arc to Lanslevillard

Day 14 Lanslevillard to Bramans

Day 15 Bramans to Modane/Fourneaux

STAGE 4 Modane to Ceillac

Day 16 Modane/Fourneaux to Refuge du Thabor

Day 17 Refuge du Thabor to Plampinet

Day 17a La Vallée Étroite to Plampinet (GR5B alternative)

Day 18 Plampinet to Briançon

Day 18a Névache to Briançon (GR5C alternative)

Day 19 Briançon to Brunissard

Day 20 Brunissard to Ceillac

STAGE 5 Ceillac to Auron

Day 21 Ceillac to La Barge/Maljasset

Day 22 La Barge/Maljasset to Larche

Day 23 Larche to Bousieyas

Day 24 Bousieyas to Auron

STAGE 6 Auron to Nice – GR5

Day 25 Auron to Refuge de Longon

Day 26 Refuge de Longon to St Dalmas

Day 27 St Dalmas to Utelle

Day 28 Utelle to Aspremont

Day 29 Aspremont to Nice

STAGE 7 St Dalmas to Garavan/Menton – GR52

Day 27 St Dalmas to Le Boréon

Day 28 Le Boréon to Refuge de Nice

Day 29 Refuge de Nice to Refuge des Merveilles

Day 30 Refuge des Merveilles to Camp d’Argent

Day 31 Camp d’Argent to Sospel

Day 32 Sospel to Garavan/Menton

Appendix 1 Route Summary – North to South

Appendix 2 Route Summary – South to North

Appendix 3 Accommodation List

Appendix 4 Basic French for the GR5

Updates

February 2020

2020 reprint route updates

828 2020 reprint updates (8.466 MB)

October 2019

Updates

Day 9 and Day 10

The GR5 no longer goes through Montorlin. After leaving Valezan, be sure to stick to the signposted and waymarked route to Landry. Signposts and markers now indicate a route from Landry to Peisey-Nancroix, climbing a wooded slope and intersecting over and over again with a road, to reach Le Martorey. A high-level traverse across the valley side leads to Le Villaret and Peisey-Nancroix."

Aug 2019

Day 1 - Thonon les Bains to La Chapelle d'Abondance
The Chalet de Bise has been completely renovated and now trades as the Refuge de Bise, offering food, drink and accommodation. For reservations, tel 06 70 95 17 06, or in summer tel 09 88 28 78 73. These telephone numbers replace the one listed in Appendix 3.

Appendix 3 - Accommodation List

The following changes should be made.
Day 1 - Hotel Le Clozet, tel 04 50 70 67 62 and 06 42 10 84 91.

Reviews

One of the world's best long-distance walking trails

As springtime inches closer, it is time to start thinking about getting back out in the fresh air and if you really want to challenge yourself this year why not take on a trekking challenge? One of the world's best long-distance walking trails, the GRS covers 1423 miles from the North Sea, down through the length of eastern France to the Mediterranean with varied landscapes and cultural experiences along the way. Cicerone, a guidebook publisher that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, has detailed guidebooks that cover the GR5 trail over three titles. The northernmost section from the North Sea coast in Hoek van Holland, Netherlands to the Vosges mountains in France is covered in The GRS Trail - Benelux and Lorraine, then, the GRS Trail - Vosges and Jura covers wooded hills and river gorges, and The GRS Trail - Through the French Alps from Lake Geneva to Nice covers the southern stretch. The books have clear route descriptions, maps, information on landscapes and points of interest as well as practical advice.

Living France

An ideal companion for an alpine trek on the GR5.

The author of Cicerone's Trekking the GR5 Trail is none other than Paddy Dillon, a prolific writer of guidebooks, who has written 30 books for Cicerone. Obviously writing walking guides means that Paddy is also an experienced walker and indeed he has walked all of Britain's National Trails at some point; so you know you're in safe hands with his guidance.

Paddy begins the book by reassuring the readers that "every summer thousands of walkers embark on this trek ... and complete the journey without any problems" and "that the route .. is one that can be completed by averagely fit, experienced hill walkers." He goes on to amusingly describe the different type of characters and family groups that you may come across on walking the GR5, clearly remembering his own experiences. He makes more reassurances with regard to attempting the GR5 Trail: "on a clear day .. a half hour flight between Geneva and Nice reveals the whole route, with its long valleys and convenient passes between high mountains" and describes how the route can be broken up into stages.

The introduction has all the useful information you would expect from a Cicerone guidebook, including geology, flora and fauna, kit and what to do in an emergency. There's some useful jogs to your memory of things you may not know or not thought of in terms of trip preparations. The Trail is broken up into up to 32 day stages with various alternative routes. The guidebook describes some scenic variant routes, including the stunning GR55 through the Vanoise National Park and the delightful GR52 that crosses the Mercantour National Park.

If you are accustomed to the Cicerone style of layout you'll be pleased to see that this is no different. Each day has the distance, ascent, descent, time, map required, nature of terrain, food and drink and accommodation at the beginning as well as a separate walk summary followed by the walk description. As usual the additional details or descriptions of views are added in the margin leaving the walking description uncluttered by its addition. Each day's walk is also further broken down with timings, very useful as a check to where you are or should be by a certain time, although as Paddy points out, the timings are to some extent meaningless as there will be walkers who go faster than others, but "use them as a guide while assessing your progress."

There are many photographs in the book, in fact on nearly every other page, along with snippets of maps which include all the place names mentioned in the descriptions, so there is plenty of reference information to check your location and progress. The appendix has a route summary, useful for planning especially with a south to north route as well as the north to south. Plus also there's an accommodation list and some basic French.

If you are ever buying a walking guidebook, it is usually preferable to purchase an up to date version in case of route changes. Cicerone's website will also have updates when changes are known to them. This is a 2016 edition which has been fully updated. In this guidebook, Paddy Dilllon follows the usual successful Cicerone template and in his walking guide gives a lightness of touch which gives just enough opinion and personal description where it matters combined with those all important factual pointers to keep you on track.

High Mountain Holidays, March 2016

How lucky is Paddy Dillon? Not only does he get to write guidebooks about his travels but he gets to revisit and update those guides. In this third edition, which I'm guessing is Paddy's third traverse of the GR5, he gets to refine his already excellent guide. The style of the guidebook has remained the same; if it's not broken, why fix it?

Irish Mountain Log, Spring 2016

By Paddy Dillon

Paddy Dillon is a prolific walker and guidebook writer, with over 100 guidebooks to his name and contributions to 40 other titles. He has written for several outdoor magazines and other publications and has appeared on radio and television.Paddy uses a tablet computer to write as he walks. His descriptions are therefore precise, having been written at the very point at which the reader uses them.Paddy is an indefatigable long-distance walker who has walked all of Britain's National Trails and several European trails. He has also walked in Nepal, Tibet, Korea and the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the US.

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