European Tours | Derbyshire Motorbike School

DMS Grand Tour 19th to 30th July 2026 - The Route des Grande Alpes Plus! - The Jura Mountains, Nîmes (including Pont du Gard and the Amphitheatre of Nîmes), Tarn Gorges and the Auvergne Volcano National Park.

Pricing

Solo rider sharing a twin room £2950
Solo rider own room £3350
Rider plus pillion sharing a double room £3600

Join us from Sunday 19th July to Thursday 30th July on a truly spectacular 11 night 12 day fully guided tour of the magnificent French Alps. and much much more!

The Route des Grande Alpes (RDGA) is from Thonon Les Baines on the banks of beautiful lake Geneva to the French Riviera town of Menton on the Mediterranean coast.

Our first day sees us taking a short trip from Calais along the peage to Reims and from there though the beautiful Champagne region to our first stop and our hotel in the heart of the stunning city of Troyes. Troyes is a medieval city much like Stratford upon Avon with half timbered buildings and wonderful bars/restaurants. We head off the next morning for Thonon les Bains. Another shortish trip along the peage to the Jura region and the Jura mountains. It's a breathtaking ride and the view of Lake Geneva from the high elevation of the Jura is incredible. The ride around the lake to our hotel in Thonon is quite busy but this gives you time to see one of Europes best known cities and one of the highest fountains you'll ever see! The next morning it's the main event - The Route Des Grande Alpes. Taking 3 days to cover 433 miles the RDGA has 17 of the most incredible mountain passes, world famous ski resorts (including Les Gets, Cluses and Val d’Isère), beautiful French Cities & towns such as the walled city of Briançon, beautiful Guilestre and Borg Saint Maurice. You will ride over Europes highest mountain pass (Col de I’iseran 2770 m or 9090 ft) and Europes highest paved road the (Cime de la Bonette 2802 m or 9193 ft) the RDGA really is a bucket list road for all motorcyclists. You’ll find the full list of passes and tour itinerary with mileage at the bottom of the page.

Menton is a beautiful town on the French Riviera where we will take a well earned day off the bikes. You can either explore the town with its fantastic restaurants & bars, hit the beach or take the short bus ride into Monaco & Monte Carlo and visit the beautiful harbour with its billion dollar yachts, excellent eateries, the Monte Carlo casino and of course the famous F1 racing circuit.

Saying goodbye to the Alps we head onto the next leg of this wonderful tour which takes us to Nîmes where you can marvel at the most intact Amphitheatre outside of Rome and the incredible Pont du Gard viaduct.

We will stay for a night in the beautiful city of Nîmes and no doubt sample some of the wonderful bars and restaurants the city has to offer. The next morning sees us riding along more stunning roads with beautiful scenery to the world heritage site of the Gorges du Tarn. In the afternoon and after some lunch, you will be riding through the Gorges du Tarn, a truly memorable ride with spectacular roads and scenery. The next morning we leave the Gorges du Tarn and head through the incredible Auvergne Volcano National Park (Don't worry the Volcanos are all extinct!), ending up at our hotel for the night in the charming town of Montluçon. The next morning we head through some stunning french D roads to the home of French motorsport Le Mans. We really are heading towards home the next morning with a ride to Abbeville through some more stunning french scenery. The last day is the short run to Calais and waving goodbye to the group with new friends made for life.

Total mileage is around 1970 miles in mainland Europe.

We only take a maximum group of 10 riders on tour (not including pillion passengers). We find this to be the perfect sized group. Booking early is highly recommended, this tour always sells out incredibly quickly. A comprehensive packing guide will be provided including what documents you need to take and all legal requirements for riding in France. GPX routes for your sat nav will also be provided if required.

As we specialise in taking new and returning riders on European tours included in the price is a free advanced training day with Mark the lead tour guide. Mark is a qualified DVSA ERS and RoSPA tutor. This course is the value of £220. Please note there is no reduction in tour price if the advanced training day isn't taken.

N.B Days 1,2 & 7 will require us at times to take a very short stint on the peage which is a fast toll road/motorway, however unlike our motorways it's rarely busy.

Route des Grande Alpes passes

Col des Gets (1163 m)
Col de la Colombière (1613 m)
Col des Aravis (1487 m)
Col des Saisies (1650 m)
Cormet de Roselend (1967 m)
Col de l’Iseran (2764 m)
Col du Télégraphe (1566 m)
Col du Galibier (2645 m)
Col du Lautaret (2058 m)
Col d’Izoard (2360 m)
Col de Vars (2109 m)
Col (Cime) de la Bonette (2816 m)
Col de Valberg (1673 m)
Col de la Couillole (1678 m)
Col Saint-Martin (1500 m)
Col de Turini (1607 m)
Col de Castillon (706 m)

Itinerary

Day 1 Calais to Troyes 254 miles (Some Peage)
Day 2 Troyes to Thonon Les Bains via the Jura National park and Geneva 267 miles (some morning peage to Jura)
Day 3 RDGA Thonon to Bourg Saint Maurice 117 miles
Day 4 Bourg Saint Maurice to Guillestre 171 miles
Day 5 Guillestre to Menton 145 miles RDGA end.
Day 6 Day off in Menton/Monaco
Day 7 Menton to Nîmes 195 miles (some peage)
Day 8 To the Gorges du Tarn (Morning). Riding around the Gorge (Afternoon) 145 Miles
Day 9 The Auvergne Volcano National Park to Montluçon 208 miles
Day 10 Montluçon to Le Mans 197 miles
Day 11 Le Mans to Abbeville 196 Miles
Day 12 Abbeville to Calais 75 miles