The Tour du Queyras, waymarked GR58, circles a high and unspoilt valley of the Hautes-Alpes, in the heart of the Queyras regional nature park, against the Italian border. Passes above 2,500 meters, larch woods, villages of wood and stone like Saint-Véran, one of the highest in Europe: it is a demanding mountain loop with no technical passage, walked in a short week to ten days.
This post answers the practical questions with OnTrace data read along the whole route, starting from Ceillac: where to find water, where to sleep, how to split the days and how to come by train.
The Tour du Queyras at a glance#
- A loop of just over 100 km for the route above, which starts from Ceillac. It can begin from any village on the way.
- Plenty of climbing: almost every day crosses a pass. The exact figures are in the sheet, worked out from the altitude of the ground.
- Seven to ten days depending on pace and variants.
- The season runs from late June to late September, when the passes are clear of snow and the huts open. In early summer, snow can linger on north-facing slopes.
Good to know
Summer storms often break in the afternoon in the mountains: start early to cross the passes in the morning, and head down if the sky builds up.
Water#
Villages and huts let you fill your bottles, and streams are plentiful. But between two valleys, the climb to a pass often has no spring. The sheet gives the longest stretch without a known water point, to the kilometer. Treat stream water: the high pastures are grazed all summer.
Where to sleep#
Huts, gîtes, village inns and campsites line the loop. In July and August, book your nights ahead: mountain lodgings are few and fill up fast.
Splitting the days#
Here is a split worked out on these same places, with days of 10 to 18 km: each evening near somewhere to sleep, the hilliest days kept shorter. In the mountains, count in hours as much as in kilometers.
Camping and protected areas#
The loop lies within the Queyras regional nature park, and brushes protected areas where camping may be regulated. Ask the park and the communes before pitching a tent. The sheet lists the known zones the route crosses or passes near. Where nothing is drawn, nobody knows: it does not mean anything goes.
Coming by train#
No station lies within 5 km of the loop: Montdauphin-Guillestre station, on the line climbing to Briançon, is the gateway to the Queyras. The villages on the route are then reached by road, by coach in season.
Plan your own version#
Open the trace in OnTrace, then choose Duplicate this trace to get your own copy: change the starting village, add your nights and variants without touching the original. You can also download the GPX of the sheet for your watch.
Route: © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the ODbL. Altitudes: IGN. Places: OpenStreetMap, refuges.info and walkers’ reports on OnTrace.