Tour of the Écrins (GR54) Overview & Planning

In August and September 2022, we visited the Écrins National Park, in the French Alps, for a 12-day hike, staying at refuges and in villages. We also enjoyed a few days in Lyon (an unexpected delight!) and a short stop in Grenoble.

In the years since, I’ve often described this trip as “the most fun I’ve had in the Alps and maybe the most fun I’ve had in the mountains.” We saw stunning, varied scenery, poked around interesting geology, and ate some amazing food.

After our 2021 Tour of the Bernina, we were eager to return to Europe for another two week hut-to-hut hike. Based our experience in the Bernina with smaller crowds and lovely late summer weather, we again decided on a late-August/early-September trip. Then came the difficult part: deciding where to go. We considered several options: the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, the Pyrenees, two routes in Gran Paradiso, the Via Alpina 1 (Switzerland), and the Alta Via 1 or Alta Via 2 in the Dolomites.

Ultimately, the Écrins won out. They looked challenging, wild, and distinct from past hut-to-hut routes we had done. Our research indicated they received only about 800,000 visitors per year, and we were excited about a quieter shoulder season visit. September also typically offers stable, good hiking weather.

To help us consider options, we had already made notes about areas we wanted to see, transport logistics, and promising refuges to at which to stay. There was still a lot of planning to do, though.

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Route and start / end point

To sketch a plan, we started with the GR54, as described in Kev Reynolds’s Tour of the Oisans: GR54. The GR54 makes a large loop around the Écrins, typically taking 10-12 days and passing through the towns of Le Bourg-d’Oisans, La Grave, Vallouise, La Chapelle en Valgaudemar, and Le Monêtier-les-Bains. Our experiences on the Tour du Mont Blanc and Tour of the Bernina, however, convinced us of the value of studying an area and adjusting the route to our preferences.

We made two important deviations from the standard GR54 route. As we looked at photos and various online trip reports, we decided that we wanted to prioritize some extra time in the Cirque Glacier du Gioberney, and so we added a beautiful excursion to Refuge du Pigeonnier. With limited extra days, that meant having to trim somewhere else. After consideration, we decided the section that made the most sense for us to cut was the northwest corner of the GR54, including the town of Le Bourg d’Oisans. That meant we would hike directly from Refuge de la Muzelle to Mizoën.

Because Le Bourg d’Oisans was one of the towns with more frequent transportation links and a choice of hotels, our decision to omit it had implications for our start and end point. Le Monêtier-les-Bains was a good alternative, with a promising hotel and reasonable transportation options.

Morning view from Hotel Restaurant Le Monêtier

Celebratory end of trip beer at Hotel Restaurant Le Monêtier

Getting to and from the Écrins

With a tentative start and end point, we then had to work out where we would flying into and how we’d get to Le Monêtier-les-Bains. We considered Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Milan, and Geneva.

Paris would require a long distance train (with one or two daily frequencies) to Modane (TGV), Grenoble (multiple connections), or Briançon (overnight) followed by a bus. While this looked workable, it seemed risky with respect to flight delays or schedule changes. Note that for both Paris and Modane, I believe the stop has since moved from Modane to Oulx, and the bus line renumbered to Zou line 76.
Milan was similar to Paris, as Modane is on the TGV line between Paris and Milan. The schedules were much more workable from Paris, though, so we quickly ruled Milan out.
From Marseilles, we could take a 4-hour train to Briançon and then a short bus ride to Le Monêtier-les-Bains. The combination of schedules and airfare ultimately made this less appealing then the alternatives.
From Lyon, we could take an hour-and-a-half-train to Grenoble, followed by a 2-hour bus to Le Monêtier-les-Bains (Zou LER 35, reservations available). Overall, schedules and frequency looked pretty good.
From Geneva, the schedule was pretty similar as that from Lyon, except it required an extra train to Lyon or a BlaBlaCar bus from the airport to Grenoble.

We decided that Lyon worked best for us. This was based on a combination of airfare and flight schedules and transit schedules and frequency to Le Monêtier-les-Bains. Additionally, as we looked more into Lyon, we got excited about spending time there.

Our Écrins Itinerary

Our itinerary worked out to be 17 days. It started as 16 days, but a flight schedule change resulted in us deciding to fly to Lyon a day early (which turned out great!). We had a day and a half in Lyon before heading to Le Monêtier-les-Bains, 12 days on the trail, and one day to return to Lyon (including a stop in Grenoble) before flying home.

Our 12-stage itinerary worked out to a total of 141 miles and 43,867′ of elevation gain. We had three hotel nights in Lyon and two hotel nights in Le Monêtier-les-Bains. On the trail, we stayed at three gîtes, six refuges, and two hotels.

Views on the way to Col des Grangettes

view near Col de l’Aup Martin, with rock folds in the mountains behind

view near Col de l’Aup Martin – note the folds and layers in the mountains

Balcony trail after Refuge de Chabourneou

Lac Bleu

Côte Belle organs

Morning views leaving Refuge de la Muzelle

La Meije above Lac Noir

Le Petit Tobuc

Where we stayed: Refuges, Gîtes d’etape, and Hotels

We stayed in three kinds of accommodation: hotels in towns, half-board refuges in the mountains, and gîtes d’etape. I was unfamiliar with gîtes d’etape before this trip, but I found it easiest to think of them as refuges in towns. They offer similar accommodations–often a mix of dorms and small rooms–and many offer half board. There are also other gîtes that are more like self-catering vacation rentals.

Hôtel Mercure Lyon Centre – Gare Part Dieu (Booking.com). Two nights on arrival and one night before flying home. A perfectly fine hotel in a convenient location. The room was reasonably spacious and I enjoyed having a view of the trains and station.
Hotel Restaurant Le Monêtier (Le Monêtier-les-Bains) (Booking.com). One night, each, at the start and end of our hike. Beautiful hotel with a great breakfast. They were happy to store our luggage–clothes and shoes for travel days, bags to protect our backpacks–while we were on the trail.
Gite L’Aigliere (Vallouise). Nice gîte in a cute town. An organized group was staying while we were there; I appreciated that the gîte organized rooms and dining tables to give us a bit of space from the group.
Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette (FFCAM). Our first refuge of the trip, set in a valley beneath peaks with impressively folded rock layers.
Refuge de Vallonpierre. Small refuge next to a small, beautiful lake. Excellent views. There were just around eight guests total our night, and we had a delicious, cozy dinner.
Refuge du Pigeonnier (FFCAM). This was one of our detours from the GR54, and it was well worth it. We were the only guests at this refuge overlooking a glacial cirque, and we had a wonderful dinner.
Mont Olan Hotel (La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar). Cute hotel in town with simple but good food.
Refuge des Souffles (FFCAM). Delightful refuge decorated with many quirky gnomes and offering an excellent range of teas and infusions, as well as good food.
Gîte le Béranger (Valsenestre). A large gîte with many practical amenities for hikers on the GR54 or other long distance route. Excellent communication to help with planning a good trip. Dinner was fine but a little underwhelming.
Refuge de la Muzelle. Refuge in a lovely lakeside setting and good food. Consider a visit to the arch above the lake.
Logis Hôtel le Panoramique (Mizoën) (Booking.com). Despite a policy of multi-night bookings at this time of year, they accepted our one-night reservation once we explained we were hiking the GR54. We’re very happy they did – the room was cozy, the terrace was nice, and the food was outstanding and filling.
RestAuberge La Reine Meije (Les Terrasses) (Booking.com). A simple, welcoming spot above the clouds in Les Terrasses with an excellent dinner. Staying in Les Terrasses meant stunning sunrise and sunset views of the mountains, but at the tradeoff of fewer businesses or dining options than La Grave.
Refuge de l’Alpe de Villar d’Arène (FFCAM). Comfortable refuge in a beautiful spot between two stages with excellent scenery. We recommend exploring up the valleys to the west of the refuge.