Cycling in Courmayeur

The side valleys offer variants for every level: those looking for a more relaxed ride can stay at lower altitudes, enjoying the valley floor and the alpine villages along the way. Those who want to push on to the great passes will find challenges worthy of the most celebrated gran fondos in Europe.
One detail that experienced cyclists particularly appreciate: setting off early in the morning, when the air is still cool and the roads are almost empty, transforms a demanding climb into something almost meditative. The silence, the breathing, the sound of tyres on tarmac — and in the distance, always, the outline of Mont Blanc.

Land of Champions: the Giro, the Tour and Cycling History
The roads that climb from Courmayeur towards the great alpine passes are not ordinary roads.
They are roads that have seen the world’s best cyclists pass through. The Giro d’Italia has crossed the Aosta Valley multiple times, turning its climbs into legendary stages — those moments when cycling stops being a sport and becomes something closer to epic. The Tour de France has also touched these lands, crossing passes that connect the Italian and French sides of the Alps with the same glacial indifference with which they treat the legs of anyone who attempts them.
Riding these roads means sharing — if only for a day, if only for a few kilometres — the same tarmac on which the history of professional cycling has been written. It’s a feeling difficult to explain to those who don’t cycle, but immediately understood by anyone who knows what it means to face a climb knowing that the greats faced it before you.

Courmayeur as a Training Camp Base
For this reason, Courmayeur is not just a destination for occasional cycle tourism. It is an ideal base for those who want to organise a proper training camp — whether individually or as a group.
The conditions are close to perfect: long, steady climbs for threshold work, shorter and steeper variants for intervals, gravel routes for recovery rides or technical sessions. A complete week of training can be built without ever repeating the same route, without ever getting bored, without ever losing sight of Mont Blanc.
Courmayeur’s altitude — over 1,200 metres — adds an extra dimension: the air is thin enough to stimulate physiological adaptation, but not so extreme as to make recovery difficult. It’s the right altitude to train well and recover even better.
At Hotel Berthod, cyclists on training camp find a property that genuinely understands their needs: energising breakfasts calibrated to the day’s efforts, secure bike storage, laundry facilities for technical kit, a spa for daily recovery and — perhaps the most underrated element — a quiet environment in which to sleep deeply after hours in the saddle. Because in a training camp, recovery is training just as much as the kilometres ridden.
Whether you’re preparing for a gran fondo, a competitive season, or simply want to dedicate a week to cycling in one of the most beautiful settings in the Alps — Courmayeur has everything you need. And Hotel Berthod is ready to welcome you.

Gravel: Where the Road Ends, the Best Begins
If road cycling teaches discipline, gravel teaches curiosity.
Courmayeur and its surroundings are ideal terrain for those who ride on dirt. Forest tracks, mule paths connecting the alpine pastures, routes that climb through larch forests up to high-altitude meadows — all of this becomes accessible on a gravel bike, opening up a parallel world that is often surprising.
Gravel allows you to reach corners of the Aosta Valley that are never seen from the road: isolated mountain dairies, alpine lakes, ridges from which the eye ranges across multiple valleys at once. It’s a type of cycling that requires a certain spirit of adventure — and returns it multiplied.
The gravel routes around Courmayeur vary in difficulty and length, making them suitable for both experienced off-road riders and those approaching this discipline for the first time. The important things are the right bike, a little more water than you think you’ll need, and a willingness to get slightly lost — in the best possible sense.
Elevation gain is almost always part of the equation: this is the Aosta Valley, and the mountain never lets you forget it. But that is precisely what makes every gravel descent something difficult to forget — the gravel beneath the tyres, the wind in your face, the satisfaction of someone who has earned every metre.

The Hotel as the Perfect Base for Cyclists
Returning to Hotel Berthod after a day on the bike has a particular feeling.
The legs have something to say, the back makes itself known, the hands remember every vibration of the gravel. But there is also that quiet satisfaction — physical, concrete — of someone who has done something real with their body.
For cyclists staying with us, we have thought of everything that is truly needed. Secure equipment storage where bikes can be left safely under cover — because a quality road bike or gravel bike deserves the same respect as any other travel companion. Space to clean bikes after rides on dirt. And the possibility of recharging batteries — in the literal sense, for those using cycle computers and lights, but also in the more human sense of the term.
After the efforts of the saddle, the “Les Crottes” spa does the rest. The hot tub loosens muscles tightened by the climbs, the sauna completes the recovery, and the relaxation area invites you to do absolutely nothing for an hour — which, for those accustomed to counting watts and kilometres, is often the most difficult and most necessary thing of all.
Breakfast is designed with early starters in mind: substantial, varied, with the right combination of carbohydrates and protein to face hours of riding. Because a good day on the bike begins the evening before — with recovery — and continues the following morning, with the right fuel in the tank.

Cycling in Courmayeur: When to Come
The cycling season in Courmayeur opens roughly between May and June, when the main roads are clear of snow and temperatures allow for enjoyable riding even at higher altitudes. The best period extends through to late September — with July and August offering long days, generous light and the chance to reach the highest passes before the midday heat makes south-facing exposures less pleasant.
More experienced cyclists tend to favour June and September: fewer people on the roads, ideal temperatures, and that quality of light — low, golden, almost horizontal — that makes every panorama even more cinematic.
For gravel, the window extends slightly further: some routes at lower altitudes are rideable from April and remain accessible through to October, offering rides in a silence and solitude that are harder to find at the height of summer.

A Mountain to Experience on Two Wheels
Courmayeur is famous for Mont Blanc, for the Tour du Mont Blanc, for its ski slopes. But those who discover it by bike — on road or gravel, climbing or descending, alone or in a group — realise it has yet another face. More physical, more intimate, more direct.
The bike closes the distance between the rider and the landscape. There is no glass, no engine, nothing between the legs and the road. Only the rhythm, the breathing and the mountain passing alongside.
If you are looking for a base from which to cycle in the Aosta Valley, at Hotel Berthod you will find not just a place to sleep — but a family that lives in the mountains every day, and knows how to recognise the look on the face of someone returning from a great ride.
That mix of tiredness and satisfaction. We know it well.
See you in the saddle — and then in the spa.