France · Savoie · Premium route guide
Chamonix → Cormet de Roselend → Col de la Madeleine
193 km, two great Savoie cols and the turquoise Lac de Roselend for company. Full route on the map, a GPX for your GPS, and the motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted at either end.
- Distance
- 193 km
- Peak elevation
- 1,994 m
- Elevation gain
- 4,575 m
- Best months
- Jun–Oct
The route
From Chamonix down the Arve to Les Houches, then south into the Beaufortain over the Cormet de Roselend (1,968 m). Past the turquoise Lac de Roselend, down to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, then up the Col de la Madeleine (1,993 m) and into the Maurienne to finish at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
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Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route — how to load this into your GPS
What you're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zūmo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner → new trip from track) if you want turn-by-turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive — it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it doesn't re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour — Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these don't read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX-capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line — pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~426 m at the base to 1994 m at the top — 4,575 m of total climbing across the route.
This is the ride most people wish they'd done instead of the motorway between Chamonix and the Maurienne. Two proper cols in a day, one turquoise lake stop that everyone photographs, and a run down the Belleville valley to a soft landing in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. It's about six hours moving, so plan for the whole day and a stop at Roselend for a coffee.
The road, honestly
The Beaufortain is the quiet corner of the French Alps — the cols cyclists know but tour buses rarely bother with. The Cormet de Roselend is the highlight: 20 km of sweeping hairpins climbing out of Beaufort, an alpine plateau at the top, then the drop past Lac de Roselend which is basically a screensaver. The Madeleine finishes the day with 25 km of stacked switchbacks on the north side and a slower, wooded descent into La Chambre.
Both cols are proper high-altitude roads — pack a warm layer. Traffic is light on weekdays. Weekends in July and August bring cyclists, so give them space on the climbs.
Where to base yourself
Chamonix is the obvious end — a rider town with plenty of accommodation, though not cheap. Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at the other end is smaller and quieter, and sets you up for the Galibier or Iseran the following morning. Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the middle is a good pivot if you want to split the ride over two half-days.
Weather and closures
Both passes are seasonal — realistically open late May through October. The Cormet de Roselend usually opens in early June; the Madeleine follows a week or two later. Check bison-fute.gouv.fr for current status if you're riding either side of those windows.
Fuel: Beaufort, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, La Chambre and Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne all have stations. Nothing on the passes themselves.
What to see along the way
- Les Saisies — Ski-station col on the D218b before Beaufort. Nice sweeping approach and coffee stop.
- Cormet de Roselend (1,968 m) — The pass itself. Small parking and a café; keep moving another 3 km down to the lake shore for the photograph.
- Lac de Roselend — The turquoise reservoir. Stone chapel on the peninsula. Every rider stops here.
- Col de la Madeleine (1,993 m) — Ski-lift-adjacent summit with a big flat parking and a view down both valleys. Sausage van in season.
- Musée Opinel (Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne) — Free museum in the town centre dedicated to the classic French pocket knife. Worth 30 minutes at the end of the day.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Chamonix → Cormet de Roselend → Col de la Madeleine
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Chamonix / Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
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Rider-verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route — no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
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