Explore the Massif Central with a Cicerone guidebook

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

Mountain Biking – This guidebook divides the Grand Traverse of the Massif Central (GTMC) into 17 stages, each of which the average mountain biker should accomplish in a day. Those who wish to sample only a section of the GTMC can do so by making use of the railway stations en route.

Road Cycling – A traverse of the Massif Central, following the line of the GTMC very approximately, can also be made by road cyclists. This visits all the major places through which the GTMC passes, but keeps to roads – for the most part relatively quiet ones. Such a road route would probably take the average cyclist somewhere between 8 and 12 days.

Walking – The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central not only makes an excellent off-road mountain bike trail, but as such a high percentage of it is off-road, and much of that along numerous GR Trails, it also provides a first-rate long-distance walking route across the region.

The walking is generally straightforward, suitable for most reasonably fit people. A traverse of the full route on foot would typically take from 27 to 32 days. Alternatively, the railway network easily allows one-, two- or three-week walking holidays to be planned.