and bags collected from gîtes d’étape in the morning and transported to your evening’s destination. Limited space is also available to transport any walkers who are unable (or unwilling!) to undertake that day’s stage. Prices are in the region of €10 per bag or per person.
The company offers this service from mid-June to mid-September. All the standard locations on the route are covered, with the exception of the excursions across the border into Italy. Contact details and current prices are prominently displayed in most gîtes d’étape, refuges and hotels, and staff will usually arrange the service on your behalf. Transports Petit Mathieu is based in Ville-Vieille and also provides a local bus and taxi service (see Appendix 3 for contact details).
Accommodation
Unlike in most mountainous areas of the UK, there is plentiful good, reasonably priced and varied accommodation targeted at walkers and climbers in the Queyras region. The main forms of accommodation are gîtes d’étape and refuges, with hotels available in some locations. The ready availability of accommodation along the route reduces the need for and attractiveness of backpacking and camping on this Tour. Indeed, the lack of shops on the route means that campers either have to carry large quantities of non-perishable food (dehydrated food suitable for backpacking is not readily available locally), or eat in gîtes d’étape or refuges.
Booking accommodation along the Tour from the UK these days is relatively easy, thanks to the internet and e-mail. Many of the gîtes d’étape, refuges and hotels along the route now have websites and/or e-mail addresses to facilitate enquiries and bookings. Alternatively, the main tourist office in the Queyras (see Appendix 3) will also send out lists of accommodation on request. Up-to-date information on gîtes d’étape and refuges is best sourced from www.gites-refuges.com.
The Tour du Queyras is now a popular walk in France, and during the main summer season many of the establishments along the way may be fully booked, so if intending to walk the trail during July and August walkers are strongly advised to make reservations. At the early (mid-June to early July) and late (end of August into September) periods of the season, booking accommodation in advance may not be necessary, but it is always advisable, if possible, to phone for a booking one or two days ahead. If speaking French over the telephone is a problem for you, then either ask the proprietor of your current accommodation to phone ahead for you, or request the staff of a tourist office to do so.
The gîte d’étape (7 Degrés Est) at l’Echalp (Alternative to Stage 5 and Stage 6)
Gîtes d’étape
There are several thousand gîtes d’étape all over France, particularly along the GR trails. These usually privately owned establishments provide inexpensive accommodation for the outdoor enthusiast, especially the walker. It is not necessary to be a member of any organisation to stay the night, and generally no discounts are offered to members of any clubs.
Many gîtes d’étape are sympathetically restored traditional buildings. The typical establishment will accommodate between 10 and 30 people, in a range of small dormitories and sometimes in rooms for two. There are washrooms, showers and toilets, and usually a kitchen where food can be prepared. The dining/sitting room is the social hub of the gîte. These days virtually all gîtes d’étape provide meals of restaurant quality, and local food and regional dishes are often a speciality. The gîte d’étape generally provides very good value for money.
Most gîtes d’étape along the Tour du Queyras are only open for the main summer season, from June until September. A few are open all year and some open for the main winter skiing season.
Refuges
Walking and climbing in the European Alps is facilitated by a network of mountain huts (refuge in French, rifugio in Italian). The term ‘Alpine hut’ is hardly apt for these refuges, some of which are very elaborate buildings. Most of the mountain huts in the Alps are owned and operated by the Alpine Club of the country in which the hut is situated. In France this is the Club Alpin Français (CAF) and in Italy it is the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI). A few of the refuges in the Queyras (for example Furfande and Agnel) are privately owned, and several are members of an umbrella organisation, the GTA (Grande Traversée des Alpes), to which some gîtes d’étape also belong.
Whereas gîtes d’étape tend to be located in villages or small towns, mountain refuges are usually (but not always) situated in isolated areas of the mountains, well away from metalled roads. They are often built to serve a particular need, such as to provide a base for climbing a particular group of mountains, or to service the needs of hill walkers on long-distance trails. The locations of Alpine refuges are marked on IGN maps.
Discounts are available in CAF and CAI refuges to members of the various European Alpine Clubs. Probably the easiest club for British walkers to join is the Austrian Alpine Club – UK Section; membership gives reciprocal rights in all CAF and CAI huts and includes mountain rescue insurance.
Walkers relaxing in the Refuge de Furfande (Stage 11)
Refuges are generally substantial buildings of stone and wood with unisex dormitories, a dining room/sitting room, toilets, washroom facilities, and most these days provide hot showers. Private rooms are increasingly becoming available. All the refuges on this Tour have a resident guardian during the summer months, and it is important that a bed space is booked, immediately on arrival, with the warden.
When the main refuge is closed (commonly from mid-September onwards), there will usually be a small unstaffed annex or ‘winter room’ (refuge d’hiver) left open permanently to provide shelter and overnight accommodation. The facilities available here will be fairly basic, and your own food and cooking equipment will be required. Some refuges re-open with full facilities in the winter months during the main skiing season.
General Information on gîtes and refuges
Most of these establishments offer demi-pension rates – bed, breakfast and dinner – which tends to be better value than paying for these items separately. Packed lunches are often available, usually to be booked the night before departure. Both gîtes and refuges generally provide snack, meal and bar facilities throughout the day during the main summer season.
Walkers entering Ristolas (Stage 7 – low level)
Blankets or duvets are nearly always provided in gîtes d’étape and in refuges. Clean sheets/duvet covers will not necessarily available, however, so some walkers may prefer to carry their own sheet sleeping bags (silk ones are the lightest).
Most gîtes d’étape and refuges have a hut or gîte book (livre d’or) in which it is customary to record comments about one’s stay. Entries range from a simple ‘we wos here’ to elaborate pen-and-ink drawings and poetry. Spare a few minutes to look back through these entries, which are often very entertaining. (Note how many British walkers have visited recently!)
Hotels
Hotel rooms are available at these locations:
Near to Montdauphin-Guillestre railway station
Montdauphin
Guillestre
Saint-Crépin
