This has probably been discussed before but when you search for "tour" and "France" it brings up half of the posts in the forum. We're considering a trip in July to the Pyrenees and want to catch a couple of mountain stages. I would love to watch the peloton climbing a hors categorie but it is probably easier to watch the finish of a stage although there are always big crowds. Can someone who has done this give some advice? Should we make hotel reservations or can we find something in the area (probably not in the start or finish towns). I've been told you have to climb a mountain the day before and camp in order to get a place on the roadside. Should we try to see a start or a finish or both? I don't want to wait beside the road for hours and see the peloton go by in seconds, that's why I would prefer a mountain stage when the group is broken up. How do I find the exact route of the tour? I know they publish a book for the teams but is it available to fans?
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Carey - not a whole lot of advice has been posted here but there was one recent discussion. Enter your search with quotation marks: "tour de france". You might try the same on Lonely Planet and Tripadvisor because this advice is pretty specialized.
The 2008 route has been announced. Go to www.letour.fr and click on the British flag for English translation. You have to play around with the stage descriptions a little bit and they are probably still adding details. You should be able to get each day's route with road numbers so you can pinpoint where you can see it.
Just the little more I know is that people begin camping out on the HC climbs several days in advance. Obviously, many people find their way to watch so there should be some tricks to it. Good luck!