Hotel Day 1: Hotel Les Sapins, La Clusaz

For this next post about hotels on the Alps Challenge trip, I thought it would make sense to share details of the very first hotel. We are lucky to be flying to Geneva - the airport with the best access to the French Alps. Of all the trips that I have done, this is the airport that is the closest to the mountains. Due to the popularity of the area for skiing, there are plenty of Alpine hotels. Some of them more welcoming to large groups of cyclists than others. In Hotel Les Sapins, we think we have found the most friendly for miles around.

We arrive nice and early, landing at 09:55. After collecting bags and changing into kit, we’ll meet the van drivers in the airport car park and set off towards the first hotel. Even though we’ll have plenty of time, Day 1 is a relatively short ride. The planned route is 84 kilometres, but there is a more direct route which is 61 kilometres, avoiding the main climb. We’ll all have had an early start, so a shorter day will allow us to ease into the week.

Hotel Les Sapins is in the village of La Clusaz, known primarily for skiing. It has a hundred and thirty kilometres of lift-accessible piste on the five mountains above the village. More interesting for us cyclists though, is that it lies between the first Col of the trip, the Col de la Colombière, and the Col des Aravis.

Les Sapins has been owned by the same family for at least thirty years, they are used to catering for hikers and cyclists in the summer months, and have 4.4 on google reviews for food, location and friendly staff. We have definitely felt that the staff are very friendly, communication with them has been very easy and we look forward to our stay in 16 weeks time.

You can view more pictures of the hotel on their instagram.