Walking Tour of the Queyras - GR58 and GR541 in the French Alps

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

Walking in the Alps by Kev Reynolds. Cicerone Press (2005). This comprehensive guide to the European Alps includes a section of the Queyras.

Walking in France. Lonely Planet. Updated every few years. The book includes an eight-page section on the Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras in which three day-walks are described.

100 Hut Walks in the Alps by Kev Reynolds. Cicerone Press (2006). Includes one walk in the Queyras.

Walking the French Alps: GR5 by Martin Collins. Cicerone Press (2004). The second edition of the guidebook to the Grande Traversée des Alpes, a complete north-to-south traverse of the Alps, which passes through the Queyras.

Tour of the Oisans: GR54 by Andrew Harper. Cicerone Press (1986). A circular walk around the Dauphine Alps in the Parc National des Écrins, to the northwest of the Queyras. The GR541, described in this Tour of the Queyras guidebook, links the Queyras with the Écrins.

Tour du Queyras, GR58. Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre. The French Topo guide to the trail.

Green Guides: General tourist information (updated regularly – buy the latest edition): The Green Guide: The French Alps. In English Le Guide Vert: Alpes du Sud. In French.

Hannibal’s Footsteps by Bernard Levin. Jonathan Cape (1985). The story of a modern-day walk made by the author (with a film crew of six others) along one of the possible routes taken by Hannibal and his elephants in their journey across Europe in 218bc. A trail was followed across France from the Camargue, via the Rhône valley and across the Alps into Italy. The final stages of the trek were in the Queyras. A night was spent in Refuge Agnel before crossing over into Italy via the Col Agnel. The text is of the high quality characteristic of this renowned late author and journalist. The book has long been out-of-print, but a search of second-hand bookshops and libraries will no doubt prove worthwhile.

Les Plus Belles Randonnées du Queyras by Richard Wacongne. Glénat (2000). A coffee-table-style book containing a good collection of walks in the Queyras. In French.

La Vie de la Montagne by Bernard Fischesser. Éditions de la Martinière, Paris (1998). The ultimate coffee-table book of the mountains of the world, although there is a strong bias towards the French Alps, including the Queyras, and the Pyrenees. Beautifully presented and lavishly illustrated with both photographs and drawings, the book covers all aspects of the mountain environment, from orogeny, geology and meteorology, to the flora, fauna and biodiversity of the mountains, and the impact of man on the fragile upland environment. This very attractive, large-format, hardback book is, alas, only available in French.