Travel Advice

Travel to Le Loop

You need to arrange and pay for your own travel to and from your first and last hotel unless a transfer is included in the Loop.

Please arrive at your hotel no later than 7pm on arrival day – 5pm for Nice.
For train travel to and within France: eurostar.com and sncf-connect.com
** Note that train tickets won’t be released until 3-4 months before travel. If researching options, choose the same weekday in a different month for likely journeys.
We’ve put together guidance notes to help make taking the train as easy as possible. We encourage riders to take the train where possible in order to reduce our environmental impact and will be happy to help if needed.
To find other riders travelling on the same dates, please use the Strava Club page and create a thread, using the travel destination name for your title for outbound transfers, and the departure town for any return transfers (don’t use the Loop name, because several Loops arrive/depart on the same days). It’s worth doing outbound and return as 2 separate threads.

Grand Loop

To Barcelona. Sat 27^th June

Train: From London, it’s under 10hrs by train to Barcelona with a quick change in Paris. Worth considering if you enjoy more leisurely travel.

Plane: Alternatively, there are flights from most UK airports to Barcelona.

Long haul: Barcelona is well served by international flights. We offer extra nights at the Barcelona hotel in case you want to arrive a day or two early and recover from jetlag

Back from Paris: Mon 20^th July

Train: Trains to London and beyond are easy with the Eurostar. Tickets go on sale three months before and you can sign up for alerts when the date you want is released.

Flight: It’s worth checking Orly airport as well as CDG as it has improved connections each year and is just as easy to get to.

Barcelona Start

To Barcelona. Sat 27^th June

Train: From London, it’s under 10hrs by train to Barcelona with a quick change in Paris. Worth considering if you enjoy more leisurely travel.

Plane: Alternatively, there are flights from most UK airports to Barcelona.

Long haul: Barcelona is well served by international flights. We offer extra nights at the Barcelona hotel in case you want to arrive a day or two early and recover from jetlag

Back from Carcassonne: Tue 30^th June

Flight: Carcassonne airport has direct flights to London Stansted and Manchester on Tuesday 30th. For other destinations, you can take a train (1hr) to Toulouse where the airport has more international links.

Train: With a quick change in Paris (Montparnasse station to the Gare du Nord), you can get to London by train in under 9hrs.

First Half

To Barcelona. Sat 27^th June

Train: From London, it’s under 10hrs by train to Barcelona with a quick change in Paris. Worth considering if you enjoy more leisurely travel.

Plane: Alternatively, there are flights from most UK airports to Barcelona.

Long haul: Barcelona is well served by international flights. We offer extra nights at the Barcelona hotel in case you want to arrive a day or two early and recover from jetlag

Back from Ussel. Mon 6^th July

You will sleep in Ussel at the end of stage 9 (Grand Loopers will eat with you in Ussel but then drive to Aurillac for their rest day) and we have organised a transfer for Monday morning at 9am to take First Half and Middle Mountains cyclists to Clermont Ferrand train station (by 10.30) or onwards to Lyon St Exupery (airport and TGV) by 13.00. (Note that Lyon has two train station; Part Dieu is in town and St Exupery TGV is next to the airport).

Second Half

To Vichy. Tue 7^th July

We have included a transfer for this Loop. It will leave Lyon Airport / St Exupery TGV station at 14.30 to arrive at our Vichy hotel by 5.00/5.30.

Train: It’s 3-4hrs by train from Paris to Vichy.

Plane: Lyon airport is well served from many UK and European cities.

Back from Paris: Mon 20^th July

Train: Trains to London and beyond are easy with the Eurostar. Tickets go on sale three months before and you can sign up for alerts when the date you want is released.

Flight: It’s worth checking Orly airport as well as CDG as it has improved connections each year and is just as easy to get to.

Alps / Alps Lite

To Chambery: Mon 13th July

Train: London to Chambery can be done in well under 7hrs including time to change from the Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon in Paris.

Flight: Alternatively, both Lyon and Geneva airports are under 2hrs by train or bus.

From Alpe d’Huez. Sat 18th July

We have included a transfer from Alpe d’Huez at 7.30am to Geneva airport (which has a train station). The journey should take under 3hrs so flights from 12.30 onwards are possible.

Mountains Week

Chalon sur Saone. Thu 9^th July

Train: Chalon is under 2.5hrs from Paris (with a change in Dijon) or under 5hrs all the way from London (change in Paris & Dijon).

Plane: The closest airport is Lyon. You have to take a shuttle into town to catch a train but then it’s only 1hr 15 to Chalon.

From Alpe d’Huez. Sat 18th July

We have included a transfer from Alpe d’Huez at 7.30am to Geneva airport (which also has a train station). The journey should take under 3hrs so flights from 12.30 onwards are possible.

If you decide to ride the Time Trial with us, you will depart from Thonon-les-Bains by your own arrangements (approx 1 hour by taxi). We anticipate completing the Time Trial by 1pm.

Middle Mountains

To Perigueux: Fri 3rd July

Train: London to Perigueux can be done in as little as 7hrs including time to change in Bordeaux and Paris.

Flight: From Bordeaux airport it’s a total of about 3hrs (shuttle to town and train to Perigueux) to our hotel

Alternatively, if you’re lucky enough to find flights to Limoges, Bergerac or Brive/Souillac airports, it’s a 1h30 bus/ train

Back from Ussel. Mon 6^th July

Double (and Double Double)

To Vichy. Tue 7^th July

We have included a transfer for this Loop. It will leave Lyon Airport / St Exupery TGV station at 14.30 to arrive at our Vichy hotel by 5.00/5.30.

Train: It’s only 5hrs by train from Paris to Lyon.

Plane: Lyon airport is well served from many UK and European cities.

Double: From Chalon sur Saone. Fri 10^th July

Train: Chalon is under 2.5hrs from Paris (with a change in Dijon) or under 5hrs all the way to London (change in Dijon & Paris).

Plane: The closest airport is Lyon. You have to take a train (1hr 15) to Lyon Part Dieu (town centre) and a shuttle out to the airport.

Double Double: From Belfort. Sun 12^th July

Train: Belfort has an out of town train station called “Belfort Montbeliard” where super fast TGV trains whisk you to Paris in 2.5hrs. This means that London is under 6hrs by train including the train station transfer in Paris.

Plane: Basel airport (very well served by Easyjet amongst other airlines) is under an hour by car or 2hrs by public transport from our hotel.

Pyrenees/Pyrenees Lite

To Carcassonne. Mon 29^th June

Train: It’s just over 5hrs by train (on the fast trains) from Paris to Carcassonne and less than 9hrs all the way from London.

Plane: Carcassonne airport is only 1km from our hotel and Ryanair fly from Stansted on the 29th at 11:45 or East Midlands at 14.25.

From other regional airports, it may be easier to fly to Toulouse and travel onwards to Carcassonne by train.

From Gavarnie. Fri 3^rd July

We have included a transfer at the end of the Pyrenees Loop to take you to Lourdes/Tarbes airport or Tarbes train station. It will leave the Gavarnie hotel at 7am to arrive at the airport by 8.30am for flights later in the day and Tarbes train station by 9.00 for onward trains.

Plane: Currently Ryanair has well timed flights for Stansted and Manchester.

Public transport to Toulouse airport from Tarbes station takes 2hrs 15 and from Toulouse airport there are plenty more regional flight options.

Train: The fastest trains reach Paris from Tarbes in little over 5hrs, so London is a mere 8.5hrs including the change in Paris.