Mercantour High Roads
A 460 km loop
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Why this ride
Leave the city behind and spend the day on roads with texture. 460 km round from Ospedaletti - plan on about 8 h 22 of riding. The stops in between: Cuneo, near Sambuco, near Draguignan and Cagnes-sur-Mer. The climb of the day is Antibes. It tops out at about 2,100 m. It crosses from Italy into France - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Roadbook
- Ospedaletti
fuel
Palms, pastel houses and a bay that faces due south: Ospedaletti is the Riviera dei Fiori at its most relaxed, a small Ligurian town tucked between Sanremo and Bordighera with its feet in the sea and terraced hills behind it. The old coast railway has been moved inland into a tunnel, and its former line along the shore is now a cycle and walking path, so the seafront is quieter than you might expect on such a crowded coast.
The name comes from a hospice, an ospedaletto, that the Knights of Rhodes are said to have founded here for pilgrims and travellers in the Middle Ages, and the town later became a winter resort for wealthy northern Europeans who came for the mild climate. For anyone with petrol in the blood, though, Ospedaletti means racing. In the years after the Second World War, the streets of the town formed a road circuit that hosted car Grands Prix and motorcycle races, a fast, dangerous loop through the villas and along the corniche above the sea. Ride the Corso Regina Margherita and you are on part of the old course.
The Via Aurelia, the old Roman road along the coast, runs through the town and is the main way in, slow and often congested in summer, with buses, scooters and cyclists. The more interesting riding lies in the hills: narrow roads climb steeply through olive groves and greenhouses to villages like Seborga, a tiny hilltop village that half-jokingly calls itself an independent principality, and Vallebona, with its flower terraces. These lanes are tight, sometimes broken, and very steep in places, with superb views back over the sea.
The rides from here head west and north into France, toward the Mercantour and the Col de Turini, through Ventimiglia and up the Roya valley or over to Sospel. It is a quick change of scene: within an hour the palms and flowers give way to gorges, chestnut woods and hairpins climbing toward the high Alps. Plan the crossing for early morning, before the coast traffic builds up.
Ospedaletti has cafes, bars and seafront restaurants, and Ligurian food is a pleasure: focaccia, farinata made from chickpea flour, pesto and local olive oil from the Taggiasca olives grown in the hills. The beach is pebbly and the water clear, so a swim at the end of the ride is easy in summer. For fuel and a wider choice of shops, Bordighera and Sanremo are each a few minutes along the coast.
- Near Cuneo, on the way back
swim
Cuneo announces itself from a distance: a long, wedge-shaped town perched on a terrace where two Alpine rivers, the Stura di Demonte and the Gesso, cut deep beds on either side before joining just to the north. The name comes from that shape, cuneo meaning wedge. This stop lies just south-west of the town, on the open plain between Castelletto Stura and Beinette, with the Maritime Alps standing up as a wall along the southern horizon.
You come here on the way back from the high French roads, and the change is striking. After the Mercantour the plain feels almost absurdly flat, straight roads between maize and poplars, with the mountains receding in the mirrors. The riverbanks have been made into a large river park, with tracks and quiet places by the water. The rivers themselves are cold, fast and stony; a dip is possible in places in high summer, but treat it as a bracing paddle rather than a swim, and stay clear of the main current after rain.
Cuneo is a pleasant town to wander. Via Roma runs under long arcades, and Piazza Galimberti is one of those enormous Piedmontese squares that seem designed for a whole army to parade in. The local sweet is the cuneese al rum, a rum-filled chocolate praline sold in the old cafés. Chestnuts from the valleys turn up in everything in autumn.
From here the roads fan out. Valle Stura leads up to the Colle della Maddalena and France, a long gradual climb with a good surface and heavy trucks at times. Valle Vermenagna heads for the Tenda; check its status before relying on it, as the crossing has had long closures in recent years. Valle Gesso goes into the Alpi Marittime park and simply stops among the peaks.
You will not struggle for fuel, a meal or an espresso anywhere around Cuneo. Ride in at aperitivo hour and you will understand why people here are in no hurry.
- Food stop near Sambuco
food
Sambuco is a tiny village in the Valle Stura, one of the Occitan valleys of Piedmont, on the road that climbs from Cuneo to the Colle della Maddalena, known to the French as the Col de Larche, and on into the Ubaye valley in France. It is a place of stone houses, wooden balconies and steep meadows, surrounded by mountains, where life has always been tied to pastures and flocks. The village has given its name to a local breed of sheep, the Sambucana, whose lamb is a prized speciality of the valley.
The road up the Valle Stura is a fine ride, following the river through a narrowing valley with forests, villages and rock walls. Below Sambuco stands the enormous Forte Albertino at Vinadio, a nineteenth-century fortress built by the Savoy kings to guard the valley against France, now open to visitors. Above Sambuco, the road climbs through Pietraporzio and Argentera to the pass at nearly two thousand metres, with wide hairpins and a landscape that becomes increasingly wild and alpine.
The road is popular with motorcyclists and is generally in good condition, but heavy goods traffic can be a nuisance, as it is a through route between Italy and France. The pass can be closed by snow in winter, and weather in the mountains can change quickly. Watch for cattle and sheep on the road in summer.
Sambuco has limited services, but the valley has fuel in the larger villages lower down, such as Demonte, and Cuneo has everything. Local trattorias serve hearty Piedmontese and Occitan food, including polenta, cheeses and lamb. Onward, the way crosses into France and continues towards the Mercantour, with its high passes and remote valleys.
- Photo stop near Draguignan
photo
Draguignan is a market town in the heart of the Var, set in a basin among wooded hills about thirty kilometres inland from the coast. It is a working town rather than a tourist resort, home to France's artillery school and a large military camp at Canjuers on the plateau to the north. The old town has narrow lanes, plane-shaded squares and a distinctive clock tower, and the Saturday market is one of the best in Provence.
Just outside town stands the Pierre de la Fée, a huge prehistoric dolmen, and the surrounding hills are dotted with perched villages like Flayosc, Tourtour and Lorgues. To the north, the land rises towards the Canjuers plateau and the Gorges du Verdon, one of the most spectacular canyons in Europe. Draguignan is a natural gateway to the gorges, and the roads that lead there are among the finest in France.
The riding from Draguignan is superb. Roads climb north through the hills and villages, with tight bends, steep gradients and views over the Var. The route towards Comps-sur-Artuby and the Verdon is a classic, and the corniche roads around the gorges are unforgettable. Surfaces are generally good, but the roads can be narrow, and summer traffic around the Verdon is heavy. Military vehicles are sometimes seen near Canjuers.
Draguignan has full services, including fuel, food and coffee. For a photo, the perched villages in the hills or the views from the roads north of town are rewarding. Summer heat can be intense, so start early and carry water.
- Near Cagnes-sur-Mer
finish
Love them or hate them, they are one of the landmarks of this coast, and they make an unmistakable meeting point for rides heading into the mountains.
The towns nearby have strong artistic and culinary connections. In Cagnes, Pierre-Auguste Renoir spent the last years of his life at Les Collettes, a house surrounded by olive trees, where he painted with brushes strapped to his arthritic hands; the house is now a museum. Above the modern town, Haut-de-Cagnes is a medieval hilltop village around a Grimaldi castle. Villeneuve-Loubet was the birthplace of Auguste Escoffier, the chef who codified modern French cuisine, and his family home is now a museum of culinary art.
The rides that start here head north into the Alps, to the Mercantour and the Col de Turini. Within half an hour, you can be climbing out of the coastal sprawl into a different world of gorges, perched villages and pine forests. The Var valley leads north towards the mountains, and roads branch off into narrow gorges like the Vésubie and the Tinée. The Col de Turini, at around 1,600 metres, is famous as a stage of the Monte Carlo Rally, with dozens of hairpins on each side, and the Mercantour roads climb even higher, to the Cime de la Bonette.
The coast itself is busy, with heavy traffic, especially in summer, and many roundabouts and traffic lights. Leave early, ideally at dawn, to avoid the worst of it. There are plenty of fuel stations, bakeries and cafés in the area, so you can stock up before heading into the mountains, where services are scarcer. In summer, the coast is hot and crowded; in spring and autumn, the light is clear and the mountain roads are quieter. Some high passes are closed by snow from late autumn to late spring.
- Théoule-sur-Mer
scenic
Théoule-sur-Mer is a little town squeezed between the red rocks of the Esterel and the sea, and it looks like a painting from the early days of the French Riviera. The houses are pink and ochre, the harbour is small and crowded with boats, and the hills behind are covered with pines and cork oaks. A fortified château with round towers, dating from the fourteenth century and now used as the town hall, stands near the shore, and the old fishing quarter has narrow streets and small terraces. The population is only about thirteen hundred, though it swells in summer.
Just along the coast lies La Napoule, with a castle that was a ruin until 1918, when an American sculptor, Henry Clews, and his wife bought it and rebuilt it as a home and studio, filling it with his strange, brooding sculptures. It is now an arts foundation and open to visitors. Inland, the hills of the Tanneron are covered in mimosa trees, which flower bright yellow in January and February, and there is a mimosa route that runs through the forest in the depths of winter when the rest of Europe is grey.
At the end of the Corniche d'Or, the road changes character, passing from the wild Esterel into the busier coast of Cannes and Mandelieu. The final stretch is a sequence of bends and viewpoints, with small bays below where the water is clear enough to see the rocks on the bottom. Riders should be wary of tourists stepping out between parked cars, and the occasional scooter overtaking on the inside. Parking in summer is very difficult, so arrive early.
Théoule itself has a few shops, bakeries and cafés, but for fuel and larger stores, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, about four kilometres away, is the better bet. The beaches are small, rocky and lovely, and the sea is warm from July to September. The Esterel can burn in dry summers, so respect fire warnings and closures. The best time to be here is May or late September, when the weather is warm, the crowds are thin and the light on the red rocks is at its best. Order grilled sea bream, and watch the sun go down behind the headland.
- Antibes
pass
Old ramparts rise straight from the sea at Antibes, and behind them a tight knot of lanes, markets and ochre houses climbs toward a castle on the shore. The town sits between Nice and Cannes on the bay of the same name, facing the snowy line of the Alps on clear winter days, with the long wooded peninsula of Cap d'Antibes to the south and the jazz town of Juan-les-Pins on its western flank.
The Greeks founded a trading post here called Antipolis, and for centuries Antibes was a frontier fortress facing Nice, which belonged to Savoy until 1860. The star-shaped Fort Carré, reworked by Vauban, still guards the entrance to Port Vauban, one of the largest yacht harbours in the Mediterranean, where superyachts line the outer quay. In 1946 Picasso was given rooms in the Château Grimaldi on the seafront to use as a studio, and the works he produced there in a burst of energy now form the heart of the Picasso Museum. The Marché Provençal in the old town is busy every morning with flowers, olives, cheese and socca, the chickpea pancake of the coast.
The ride around Cap d'Antibes is short and lovely, a narrow road past villas, pines and rocky coves, though the traffic in summer can be dreadful. For serious riding you head inland. The Mercantour and Col de Turini rides go northeast, up the Var valley or through Nice and into the mountains, where the hairpins of the Turini are famous from the Monte Carlo Rally. The Verdon ride goes northwest via Grasse, the perfume town, and the Route Napoléon to Castellane and the Gorges du Verdon, where the road follows the rim of a canyon several hundred metres deep before descending to the turquoise Lac de Sainte-Croix for a swim.
Riding out of Antibes takes patience. The coast is densely built up, the roads are congested for much of the year, and speed cameras are common. Leave early in the morning, especially in July and August, and you will reach the hills before the heat and the crowds.
Fuel, food and services are everywhere in and around Antibes, and the old town is a fine place for an evening meal when you return. Parking for bikes is easier than for cars, but keep valuables with you. A walk along the ramparts at sunset, with the Alps turning pink across the bay, is the right way to end a day.
- Back to Ospedaletti
finish
Back at Mercantour. That is the ride.