Difficulty - Easy International Tours 2025 07 18 - French Connection - Pyrenees 2025

We kick off our Tour in the beautiful French city of Toulouse. We greet our tourists at the Toulouse Matabaiu Railway Station. After a quick load up of bikes, bags and our tourists, we hit the road and head for the Pyrenees. We have a 2hr transfer to our base in Bagneres-de-Luchon the Pyrenees, so take the time to meet and greet the rest of the tourists and trade stories. As we approach the Luchon Valley, the scale of our mountains begins to build and give context to where we are going to ride. This is where the excitement begins to build.

We arrive in Bagneres-de-Luchon at our accommodation, just out of town. We will be staying in a traditional French Gite (B&B) with a lovely family we have been staying with for a decade. Elodie & Thierry are great hosts and provide the authentic Pyrenean experience with the accommodation and cuisine. Let us unpack our bikes, afterwards go for a ride to get the legs moving after a few days off the bike. Tonight we will eat in with our wonderful French hosts.

Today we have a great day in store as we tackle a couple of Tour de France classic climbs and visit the site that changed professional cycling forever. After a great French breakfast, we roll out through the Luchon Valley for a beautiful little town of St.Beat, before we turn off and tackle the Col de Mente. The Col de Mente is not the type of mountain that wins the Tour de France, but it’s a great mountain for a breakaway to form due to the ability to get out of site as the road snakes up the hill.

Our next destination is our feature of the day on the Col de Porter d’Aspet. Fabio Casertelli, was a Professional Italian road cyclist, who won the 1992 Olympic Gold medal for the Road Race. On 18th July 1995, in a breakaway in the Tour de France, Casertelli was involved in a crash, and lost his life on the way to hospital. The result of this was the introduction of mandatory helmets in the professional ranks. A very sad story, but a stark reminder of the importance of safety.

We now head for our final climb of the day, Col des Ares. This is a gentle climb of only 4-5% and beautifully shaded on the climb to the top. If its race day, you will get the crowd cheering you on from the road side. Grab a cold drink at the top before we descend and loop back to the valley road before heading back to Luchon. Afterwards dinner in Artigues.

Today we have what we think is a real treat. Today we climb the Col du Peyresourde. The Peyresourde was one of the group of mountain passes introduced in 1910 Le Tour edition. The Peyresourde is not the biggest elevation, longest or highest climb, but it is a beautiful satisfying climb. We will do a short warm up before this 13km climb. We will climb directly out of Luchon. We will pass through a series of beautiful little town, with great little floral displays, before we reach the upper valleys.

Here we get a view of the switchbacks and you can visualise them, packed with Tour crowds on race day. Today they will be cheering you on the summit, and at the summit awaits your prize as our stop will be at the top to eat the local crepes. For those that have had enough we return to Luchon and on to our accommodation.

For those looking for a little extra, we will give the option to drop over the other side of the Peyresourde for the 18km at ave 4.8% climb back before a return to our accommodation

Today is one our favourite days of the year, let alone this tour. Today we will visit another country. Yes we will ride across the border into Spain, where we will have a tapas lunch. Not many people get the opportunity to ride in two countries on the same day. We will ride out through Luchon and head for the Col du Portillon.  The Col du Portillon is a 12km climb with the French-Spanish border at the summit. A Lovely climb that climbs up through the woods at a consistent gradient. There are a couple of steep ramps, but nothing to stop you.

We descend into Spain and the town of Bossost. We have an opportunity to try something new and have a nice tapas lunch and maybe a sangria (but not too much we still need to get home). We continue on our ride with a loop through Spain and returning to France, through the valley road that brings us back to the Luchon Valley via St.Beat.

Today’s ride includes our first HC climb on Tour. After yet another great breakfast with our hosts, we will roll out of the valley under sunny skies. Our ride today will take us up the Luchon Valley to the town of Siradan, where we turn away from the valley road. Our next destination is the town of Mauléon-Barousse. Here is a great spot to step off, grab a snack and take a photo of this pretty little town. It's here that the road starts our 19km climb of the day, Port de Balès.

We have some beautiful quite forest roads to follow before the gradient starts to climb. Once the climb really commences the gradients can exceed 10% but don’t worry it's not for too long before you get some respite. We wind our way through forest before opening up to some Pyrenean fields with cattle grazing. Sometimes you might find a cow on the road. We will regroup at the summit, before descending back to Luchon to grab a cold drink and something to eat.

Today is a big day, including two great climbs to feature in the Tour de France. We have a drive today to the town of Argelès-Gazost at the mouth of one valley that heads to the Col du Tourmalet. However, we will keep our legs for a fresher day for Tourmalet. We will head over the Cat 1, Col du Soulor, first to reach the Col d’Aubisque, and when combined these are considered a HC Climb. The Soulor is a lovely 19.5km climb, through cattle farming communities averaging a little over 5%. Take the opportunity to grab something to eat and top up your water bottles at the summit of the Soulor, before we tackle the Col d’Aubisque.

The Col d’Aubisque is one of the climbs from the legendary ‘Circle of Death’ stage from the 1910 Tour de France. The road from the Soulor, descends for a couple of kilometres, then runs along cliffs in the Cirque du Litor, where there are two short, narrow tunnels. Be prepared to not only experience a couple of tunnels, but some amazing views of the surrounding mountains. Once we reach the top stop for something to eat, before we return on one of those rollicking descents back to our starting town. Being a long day, we will eat in at our accommodation tonight.

How good was yesterday! Today’s ride will be a nice easy valley ride. Let’s freshen up the legs after yesterday’s big day. We have another big day tomorrow. Keep it an easy ride, your body will thank you later.
When we return it is a great opportunity to explore our host town. Wander the lovely boulevard through town, there may even be a local market active today.

A great chance to head to the Thermes local thermal spa baths in town. It is a real experience to be remembered.
For those that want another sneaky ride with a little more climbing there are a couple of other options to explore. Check out the climb up to the Hospice du France. There had been a hospice for weary travellers on the site since the 1200s up here, aimed at looking after pilgrims and travellers especially during winter.

Another option for today is a very tough climb up to the town of Artigues. This is a short 6km climb, but it averages some 10%. There is a lookout at the town of Artigue above that provides some great views of Luchon below. Let's eat well and get an early night. Tomorrow we Tourmalet.

We have a drive today as we head for the town of Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

This will be where we start our ride today, but we have a bit of a warm up before we climb the legendary Col du Tourmalet. Tourmalet has featured in the Tour de France on more than 80 occasions. We have about 45 mins ride to warm up, passing through several towns, including the town of Campan. Campan is world famous, for a series of life-size dolls the locals have created that are placed around the town. Keep your eye out, sometimes a local might be standing amongst them.

Our climb of the day is a little further up the road, starting in the town of St.Marie de Campan. This town is often on the Tour de France route.  In town there is a monument to Eugène Christophe, who repaired the front forks of his bicycle there after they broke during the descent of the Tourmalet in the 1913 race. The rules of the race prevented him from obtaining assistance and he had to walk 15 km to do the repairs himself.

Enough history, it is time to climb. The climb itself meanders for the first 6-7kms as we head up the Campan valley. The road then takes a decided increase in gradient. We are headed toward the ski village of La Mongie, passing through snow tunnels and herds of local livestock. La Mongie provides an opportunity to stretch the back, grab a coffee or cold drink before the final 4 kilometres snakes it's way to the summit.

What an achievement to reach the top. We have seen grown men in tears on ticking this off the bucket list. It means that much to some people. It’s a great opportunity for a photo to show your friends you conquered this tough Pyrenean climb. It is a rollicking descent, so please take it easy. There is livestock about that may wander on to the road.  We regroup at the base and ride back to our base in Bagneres-de-Bigorre. Time for a chat or a snooze on our drive back to Luchon, where we will have dinner at our accommodation tonight.

We ride out the front door of our accommodation, heading for the ski station of Superbagneres. During our stay you may see hang gliders and paragliders above, many of which will have launched from the ski station above. This is such a nice ride. It's another HC climb, being 20kms long. We commence the climb immediately as we leave town. The reward at the summit is the best views of the Luchon Valley.
The initial parts of our climb get us away from the outskirts of town and out into some beautifully forested roadsides. There is an air of tranquillity about you. After approximately 10kms, our landscape opens up to fields of green with some pretty amazing views of surrounding mountain ranges, some of which carry snow all year around.
With plenty of climbing in your legs so far, ease it off a little and enjoy the rest of the ride to the ski station. Once we reach the summit, it’s a great spot to have a bite to eat, grab a drink and check out the amazing view of the valley. After our break we will roll back down to town. Unfortunately, we will need to pack our bikes today in preparation for our return to Toulouse tomorrow. Tonight, will be our final dinner and we promise it will be a great night of food and stories.

Unfortunately, all wonderful experiences must come to an end. We will have our final breakfast in Luchon, before we pack our bikes and luggage into the vans and make the transfer back to Toulouse.

We know you will have had an amazing time in the Pyrenees and will carry with you memories for the rest of your life.