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Overview
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An essential guidebook for walking the GR5, one of the world's most spectacular long-distance trails. The GR5 makes its way through the Alps from the shores of Lac Léman at Geneva to the Mediterranean at Nice. A route of 674km (420 miles), it can be trekked in a month, or split over a series of summer trips. The GR5 is well within the reach of fit and moderately experienced walkers and backpackers. There is good signposting and waymarking, and accommodation, food and drink are all available at regular intervals. The paths and tracks are generally well graded, while steep climbs are tackled on zigzag paths, so the overall gradient is not so severe. Every summer, thousands of walkers embark on this trek.
This guidebook also describes some scenic variant routes, including the stunning GR55 through the Vanoise National Park and the delightful GR52 that crosses the Mercantour National Park. Full descriptions and maps are provided for these alternatives. The book includes daily stages, timings, ascents and descents, full-colour mapping and gradient profiles, alongside information about facilities and services along the route. The result is an ideal companion to planning and completing your trek.
Two further Cicerone guidebooks cover the remaining sections of the GR5; 'The GR5 Trail - Vosges and Jura', and 'The GR5 Trail - Benelux and Lorraine' which together cover the route from Lac Léman to the Hoek Van Holland.
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Table of Contents
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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
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Maps
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Maps
There are a few walkers, mainly French, who are happy to walk the whole of the GR5 without maps, relying entirely on the red/white route markers and signposts. Many French walkers rely on maps in the FFRP Topoguide series (www.ffrandonnee.fr) that are printed at a scale of 1:50,000, but this means carrying four guidebooks to cover the whole route.
The best maps are the IGN 1:25,000 Serie Bleu, and 21 of these cover the route, numbers 3528 ET, 3428 ET, 3530 ET, 3531 ET, 3531 OT, 3532 OT, 3633 ET, 3534 OT, 3532 ET, 3634 OT, 3535 OT, 3536 OT, 3537 ET, 3637 OT, 3538 ET, 3639 OT, 3640 OT, 3641 ET, 3741 ET, 3742 OT, 3741 OT. These are available along the route, where they can be purchased one at a time, used as required, then posted home at intervals. Alternatively, they can be ordered in advance, either direct from the IGN in France (www.ign.fr) or from British suppliers such as: Stanfords (12–14 Long Acre, London WC2E 9BR, tel 0207 836 1321, www.stanfords.co.uk), The Map Shop (15 High Street, Upton-upon-Severn WR8 0HJ, tel 01684 593146, www.themapshop.co.uk) or Cordee www.cordee.co.uk).
Those who prefer to customise maps on their computers can get IGN 1:25,000 maps of the French Alps on DVD from Memory Map, www.memory-map.co.uk. IGN mapping at various scales can be viewed online at www.geoportail.gouv.fr or by downloading the Géoportail app on a mobile device.
The 1:50,000 Rando Éditions maps of the Tour du Mont Blanc and Vanoise are useful on the earlier stages of the route. Maps at a scale of 1:60,000 are published by Libris (www.libris.fr) but these omit the southern stages around Nice and Menton. Beyond these alternatives, the IGN publish a 1:100,000 series that shows the GR5 on four sheets, and with care these could be used for navigation, but they are more useful to gain an overview of the route.
Look out for the moulded plastic relief maps of various parts of the Alps, produced by the IGN (at the risk of worrying yourself sick!). These are found on walls at refuges, gîtes, hotels, bars and tourist information centres. While tracing the course of the GR5 on these relief maps, bear in mind that the vertical gradient is hugely exaggerated, and the ascents and descents are nowhere near as steep as they appear!
Many walkers, particularly French, manage fine along the GR5 without maps, relying on signs and markers (Col du Vallonet, Day 22)
There are three types of diagrammatic maps in this guidebook, as follows.
A general map sets the GR5 in its Alpine context, showing the whole route at a glance (see overview map).
Each of the seven main stages along the route has its own introductory map, so that towns and potential transport links off-route can be seen.
The daily route maps are at a scale of 1:100,000 and are in the form of a continuous strip running from page to page, covering the entire GR5 and all the variant and alternative routes. While walking north to south, you read these maps from top to bottom. Certain placenames in the daily route descriptions have been highlighted in bold and are usually to be found on the maps. An indication of altitude is provided by colour-tinted contours (see map key). The darker the tint, the greater the altitude, and spot heights are also given. Places offering accommodation along the route are highlighted in yellow, so that it is easy to see at a glance what is available throughout each day.
Route profiles are provided at the rate of one per day, labelled with selected features, so that all the ascents and descents can also be seen at a glance.
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Updates
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February 2020
2020 reprint route updates
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.
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Reviews
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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
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