OK, A pal of mine and myself are planning a trip to the Alps (to ride the big cols) and we were thinking of either driving down in the car then camp, rent a campervan , or fly and then rent a car there and stay in hotels.

Has anyone done this before? share their experance, pit falls, and good ideas.

Cheers

I always drive down (it doesn't take long, about 10 hours door to door for me to Briancon) and then I can drive all around and get the biggies in. croix de fer, A d' H etc. You can spend a great week in that area.

Normally drive to Alp d'Huez and stay there for a week, although having to ride up the mountain after every ride, to get back to the Chalet, is a bide tedious esp if you've already ridden a few 100k and 5000m of climbing that day…

I went down there in 99 and stayed at the top too, I know how you felt after 100k.

We are wanting to travel around do A D H, Col Gal, Croix de fer etc but we don't want to spend loads but also want to get in as many climbs in as we can.

I think to be fair we will drive down and just book in at hotels on a day to day basic.

Why not do the Marmotte route? Glandon, Telegraphe, Galibier and ADH. Stay in the village at the bottom of ADH…

Last year we stayed in Valloire. Turn right – Galibier, turn left Telegraph. Over a week rode all the Marmotte climbs and descents before doing the full thing. If you ride Ad'H then carry on at the top and do the Col de Sarenne before dropping down to the lake and descending to Bourg d'Oisans. This year we did a little tour starting in Geneva and riding out to Annecy and then over to the Colombier, Joux-plane and then back. As we flew we took cx bikes as they're more sturdy for flying with. We went with Cyclomundo who booked some pretty good hotels and transported our luggage between them.

i got a lift with these guys as I flunked out of the Marmotte this year (I had a broken rib, what can i say ) just at the top of the Galibier, really nice guy, may be able to point you in the right direction,
King of the Mountains

nice guy Guy,think he's got a new nickname 😀

Drive to A d H and make it your base. Tons of resturants and shops etc up there, sleep in the car or a tent. Galibier, Telegraph and lots others just down the road. Beautiful scenery – in fact you won't get fed up looking across the mountains from the top for A d H in any hurry. There is also a little known part dirt "back" road to the top of the Alpe – comes out behind the airport. Access is from the D90. Oh and check out the runway up there too while you have a coffee.

450 meters of runway, a 13% slope

(photo from Airliners.Net)