Day 74/75 Friday/Saturday 17/18 July 2026
Today, Friday, we spent most of the day on the road. We ended up doing 256km, leaving at 8am from Chateau Joux arriving in Flaine around 3pm in the French Alps. We took the roads less travelled avoiding tolls, Geneva and Annency, but also encountered a deviation due to a road closure aswell. It was a beautiful drive through the Jura mountains and countryside.
We did have a few stops.. Shopping at St.Laurent, filling up with gas and using the services in St.Claude and having a quick lunch break in Cruseilles.
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| A diversion took us on some narrow and windy roads |
Just after Cluses we turned off from the valley @550m alt and zigzagged our way up 20km along the road through Araches la Frasse and ending up at the lookout at the Col de Pierre Carree 1844m alt.
The next morning we drove down into the bowl and took the Grandes Platières gondola, €20pp return up to the summit 2500m alt. The journey took about 15mins.
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| A ‘speaker’ to listen the audio explaining the geology of the area |
Once at the top we were welcomed by a breath-taking 360° panoramic views. The view encompasses many of France’s iconic Alpine peaks - the majestic Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, standing proudly at 4,810 metres. This snowy and icy giant is one of the highlights of this spectacular view along with the Aravis, Belledonne and Jura peaks also in sight. It was so beautiful…
even though there was a bit of cloud .. it came and went revealing the gorgeous landscape. We walked around for a few hours taking it all in.
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| 48km |
