Azur Cycle Tours

We offer these single-centre holidays year-round…you choose dates which work best for you, and we’ll get it booked in.

Combine guided rides with accommodation in Beaulieu-sur-mer between Nice and Monaco, or in Nice. With so much variety on the doorstep, there is no need to move from one place to the next each day; here you can ride every day for a month on different roads!

We organise everything for you: airport transfers, cyclist-friendly B&B accommodation in Beaulieu-sur-mer or Nice, “in the know” itineraries combining classic climbs with little-known gems, an experienced guide to lead you along the quietest and most beautiful roads, pointing out the places offering the best coffee and pastries and where to top up your water, all wrapped up with seamless logistics so you can relax and focus on getting the most out of your trip.

Settle in, relax, and enjoy the cycling!

We will create a completely exclusive, private and bespoke experience with an itinerary specific to the objectives and ability of your group.

All our trips are designed to enable your group to make the most of your time here:
Take an early flight from any airport in Europe and you can be in Nice before Midday. With a short 30-minute transfer, we can get a full afternoon ride in on the first day.
Take an evening flight from Nice on your departure day and you can enjoy a full day’s ride.
You choose which days and what time to arrive and depart, so you can ensure your trip fits in with work or family plans, or take advantage of the cheapest flights.

This is a short tour to experience the amazing Gorges du Verdon and surrounding countryside. The Gorges du Verdon lies a couple of hours north-west of Nice and is Europe’s largest and deepest canyon, second in the world only to the Grand Canyon in the US. It is an astonishing natural phenomenon and draws cyclists from all over the world. One minute you are close to the bottom of the gorge looking up at sheer cliffs towering above you, the next you are climbing to stunning vantage points high above the river, looking down at the vivid blue-green water snaking through the gorge.

The entire circuit is 115km long, starting and finishing in Castellane and with a few kms extra tacked on to reach Moustiers for lunch at the western end, but this can be easily shortened by missing out the 20km Route des Cretes loop (the loop includes one of the most challenging climbs of the day too), and where we have van support, it’s possible to ride just one side of the gorge to Moustiers, then take the van back to Castellane.

The Ligurian Mountains on the border with France offer a similar terrain not surprisingly to the neighbouring Alpes Maritimes, but with a distinct Italian vibe.

This exploration of mountains north of San Remo includes the short Poggio climb in San Remo itself, famous as the final climb in the Milan-San Remo classic, as well as a selection of significantly more challenging climbs from Monte Ceppo, Colle Langan, Passo Ghimbegna, Passo Gouta and Passo di Teglia amongst others.

For something a little different, we can cycle the 20km cycle path from Ospedaletti just west of San Remo all the way to San Lorenzo del Mare including a section of old railway tunnel which celebrates the history of Milan-San Remo.

You can extend your stay by tacking on extra days if you wish, so you can experience the fantastic terrain accessible from Nice: the Col d’Eze, the Col de la Madone, the Col de Braus, the Col du Turini, and location for the summit finish of Paris-Nice in 2016 the fabulous plateau of La Madone d’Utelle.

At 2802m, the Cime de la Bonette is Europe’s highest road pass, and as such, has to be on every serious cyclist’s bucket list. If we’re being pedantic, the actual Col de la Bonette is the natural pass over the mountain, and peaks at 2715m, but some enterprising soul decided to build a steep 2km loop from the Col de la Bonette around the Cime de la Bonette to reach 2802m, thus superceding the Col de l’Iseran (2770m) and the Stelvio Pass (2757m) and hence the “highest road pass” claim.

Not for the faint-hearted, this tour tackles the Col de la Bonette which featured as recently as 2008 in the Tour de France, as well as some of it’s neighbours, all over 2000m elevation: the Col de Cayolle, Col d’Allos, Col des Champs, Col de la Lombarde, as well as other notable climbs including the beautiful Couillole, Valberg, Auron, and St.Martin. Here we are in the heart of the Mercantour mountains – big vistas, stunning views as far as the eye can see.

Mont Ventoux is a 3-hour drive from Nice, but its legendary status makes this a worthwhile and unforgettable trip.

Day 1 is arrival into Nice, with the possibility of a ride from Nice.
We depart Nice early on day 2 for one of the towns at the foot of Ventoux, from where we embark on our first day’s ride, including the stunning Gorges de la Nesque, with an overnight stay near Ventoux.

Day 3 is Mont Ventoux itself. We climb from Bedoin, the classic route up through the forest and past Chalet Reynard. Those who want to can do a second ascent from Malaucene (100m less climbing than from Bedoin, but with some longer steep sections), and the most hardcore of all can do the third ascent from Sault. We reconvene at the end of the day for the return to Nice.

We depart day 4 with the option of a ride for those with later flights.

You can extend your stay by tacking on extra days if you wish, so you can experience the fantastic terrain accessible from Nice: the Col d’Eze, the Col de la Madone, the Col de Braus, the Col du Turini, and location for the summit finish of Paris-Nice in 2016 the fabulous plateau of La Madone d’Utelle.

Come and join us on this amazing 8-day tour which offers the very best and most challenging cycling that Provence in the south-east of France has to offer.

Tour highlights:
The highest – at 2800m (9200ft) elevation, we will cycle over the highest road pass in France, the Col de la Bonette
The toughest – the “Giant of Provence” Mont Ventoux (1912m, 6270ft) is rightly known as one of the toughest climbs around. You have the choice of climbing it once, twice, or becoming one of less than 7500 people world-wide who have been crazy enough to climb all three roads to the summit in a single day and, in so doing, have joined the hallowed ranks of the Club des Cinglés du Mont Ventoux (which translates roughly as the Brotherhood of the Crazy People of the Windy Mountain!)
The deepest – the Gorges du Verdon is Europe’s deepest canyon, second in the world only to the Grand Canyon
The largest – the Lac du Serre-Ponçon, famous for its vivid green / blue colour, is Europe’s largest artificial lake, created by the damming of the Durance river
The strangest – the Col d’Izoard features the famous “Casse Déserte” – an awe-inspiring alien and barren landscape
The most infamous – the Col de la Madone is notorious as being the 925m climb on which Lance Armstrong used to test his EPO-fuelled form ahead of winning the Tour de France seven consecutive years
The most glamourous – cycle the Formula 1 circuit in Monaco, home to supercars, superyachts, supermodels, and let’s not forget the supercyclists: Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas and many of Team Sky, and Team Astana.
 
Enjoy all of this and more in the stunning landscape of the sunny south-east corner of France, as we experience 5 of the major regions of Provence: the Var, the Vaucluse, the Alpes de Haute Provence, the Haute Alpes and finishing with the Alpes Maritimes.
Our reward at the end of each day is the rich and satisfying flavours of Provençal cuisine, the Mediterranean diet rightly famous for promoting healthy living and long life. Provençal food is very distinctive from the rest of French cuisine: the Mediterranean influence results in recipes with spices, and of course seafood features strongly. Garlic, olive oil and olives are the leitmotif, with an abundance of “Herbes de Provence”. Because of the mountainous country, without the rich farmlands and herds of dairy cattle, Provençal cooking uses very little milk, and where cheese does feature, it tends to be goat’s cheese which predominates.
Each day offers a very distinct cycling flavour too, from the mountain peaks of the Hautes-Alpes region in the north to the the glitz and glamour of the Côte d’Azur in the south, from the precipitous ravines and gorges of the Var in the east, to the vast open landscapes of the Vaucluse to the west.
The mediaeval capital of Provence, Aix-en-Provence, provides the inspiration for the name of our tour – “Aches in Provence” – although we don’t actually cycle in Aix itself…it was just too relevant a pun to resist.