Bike racing’s biggest event is a rite of passage. Bucket list stuff. Every cycling fan should go see the Tour de France in person at least once. Is this your year?
This story is all about how to be a tourist at the 2025 Tour de France. I’m your concierge. My name is Caley Fretz and I’ve covered 14 Tours as a journalist, visited something like 200 French towns and cities, and lived for two years on the edge of the Alps. I have a deep love and also a healthy disdain for France and the French.
Just as I did last year, I’ll break down when to go, how to get around, how to plan a day, what to bring, and generally how to make sure you have a good time. It’s the Tour, and hotels around stage starts and finishes tend to book up very early so it’s best to start planning and making reservations now if you want to go.
Most of these tips and tricks apply to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, except getting around will be a bit easier because of the slightly smaller crowds. My early suggestion would be to pick the Grand Depart in Brest or the Alps and skip the bit in between.
Let’s get to it.
When to go: Pick your week
If you’re particularly into oysters, stripey shirts, and being damp, then the first week may appeal to you. If that’s the case, we can open the conversation in the comments section about how to put a trip together. But for most, it’s a choice between the second week and the third.
Nothing against Lille – it does have French fries, beer, and knows how to party, as one local official reminded everyone at the Tour’s route presentation – but the real decision here is between the Alps and the Pyrenees. The major climbs of this year’s Tour are packed into 10 stages, nine of which come after the first rest day.
These two vastly different mountain ranges offer up starkly different Tour viewing experiences. The Pyrenees are more raw, rural, spectacular, and – this year – further out from the actual finish of the race. The Alps are more clean-cut, developed, and will be home to the final showdown between the GC favorites.
In between the two lies a summit finish on the moonscape of Mont Ventoux. This simply cannot be missed, so whether you pick the Pyrenees or the Alps, the itineraries below include this stage.
Can’t miss.
My two cents? I’d go Pyrenees this year. The race will still be tight after 10 days of flats and hills, Pogačar and Vingegaard will be itching to test each other, and the riding (if you’re bringing a bike) is better. There are dozens of great ways to put a Tour trip together; consider the options below as a starting place.
Itinerary 1: Pyrenees to Ventoux
Dates: Arrive Tuesday, July 15, depart July 23
Fly into: Toulouse
Fly out of: Marseille, Montpellier, or Toulouse
There are three important stages in this Pyrenean option: the Hautacam, the Peyragudes time trial, and Ventoux. From a bike race perspective, these are the marquee moments of the week, but we’re actually only recommending you visit two in person.
You have two options in terms of lodging. The first is to place yourself somewhere relatively central, like Pau or Tarbes – or a mountain town like Arreau or Loudenvielle – and drive to each stage. The second is to move each day with the race. If you’re riding, I would place yourself in a single mountain town the whole time and do rides from there.
Arrive: Tuesday, July 15
Rest day! Get in, find your accommodation, and get the lay of the land. Toulouse is a big city and there’s plenty to explore. If you’re lucky, you’ll come across a team stopped at a café on their rest day ride – these usually begin around 11 AM and go for a few hours. Team hotels will be spread across the city, mostly on the outskirts.
Wednesday, July 16
This stage starts and finishes in Toulouse, making logistics easy. Grab a hotel in town. Timetables haven’t been released but most stages these days start around noon or 1 PM with the intention of finishing a bit after 5 PM. Do not try to drive (this is a good general rule anywhere near a Tour start or finish). Public transport is your friend, or better yet hop on a bike.
A stage start is a great place to soak up the vibe of the Tour and catch up on all the latest news.
The best time to see riders and get autographs is at the start, when they’re slightly less haggard and more likely to stop for a chat or a photo. There is always a team bus paddock somewhere in the vicinity of the start denoted with big yellow Equipe signs (on all Tour organization signs yellow is the color of teams; blue/green is press; gold is VIPs). Sometimes that paddock is fenced off with access restricted to those with Tour credentials, sometimes it’s not and is open to all. Nobody ever knows why.
Riders have to sign on each morning, quite literally. They ride from their busses at an allotted time and hobble up onto the stage in their cleats to physically sign a big board with a Sharpie while announcers do short interviews in a mix of French and English, often against a backdrop of thumping techno. Organizers create a passageway of fencing from the team busses to the sign-on area each morning, and getting yourself onto that fence is a great way to see every rider cruise past.
This stage is a lumpy one, with a pile of Cat 4 climbs. If you have a bike, pedalling out to view one of these climbs is a great bet.
Thursday, July 17
Into the Pyrenees! You’ll hop in the car today and drive south, but you’ll skip the actual stage. Today is about setting yourself up for the following two days.
Check into accommodation in one of the small towns near Loudenvielle, which will host the time trial on Friday. Arreau is a great option, or Loudenvielle itself. The idea is to be centrally located for the TT and the following stage, from Pau to Luchon-Superbagnères.
Stay somewhere in the circle if possible.
Go for a ride, but plan to be home by 3 PM or so so you can flip on the TV and watch the end of the day’s stage to Hautacam. It’ll be brutal.
Friday, July 18
Time trial day! This stage is one of the primary arguments for hitting the Pyrenees instead of the Alps. Time trials may be terrible TV but they are great for in-person spectating.
Why? Because a normal Tour de France roadside viewing experience for a mass-start stage lasts anywhere from 15 seconds (flat stage) to perhaps 20 minutes, between the front group and the grupetto on a mountain stage. Time trial stages go on for hours. You’ll have a new rider to cheer for every two minutes for most of the afternoon.
Wake up nice and early, get on your bike, and head up the climb to Peyragudes. Precisely when climbs close depends on local authorities, but it’s safe to assume you won’t be able to drive up on the day of the race. As the race gets closer you won’t even be allowed to ride a bike up. So get going early and ride on up.
Peyragudes is exposed and you’re in the mountains. It could be baking hot, with minimal shade, or freezing cold. Or both within the same hour. Bring an umbrella and clothing for a wide range of temperatures. Wear sunscreen. Don’t stand around in a chamois all day. Pack snacks, maybe a bottle of wine. Enjoy the party.
Rule No. 1 for any roadside Tour-watching: bring snacks.
At the end of the day, you’ll need to descend with the masses. It will take a long time to get off the mountain, and a longer time to get out of the valley by car if you’re not staying directly at the bottom. Either plan to ride all the way from your accommodation or plan to get home after 9 PM.
There are a couple of restaurants at the top of the climb but not enough to handle the thousands of fans heading up. Don’t assume you’ll be able to eat at any of them, and restaurants near your hotel may be closed by the time you get back. Bring enough food for the whole day.
Saturday, July 19
If you found accommodation somewhere near Loudenvielle, you will be able to ride to this stage as well. It runs from Pau out in the foothills over the Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde, and finally up to the finish at Luchon-Superbagnères. It goes through Arreau and is within spitting distance of Loudenvielle. Here’s the route (not 100% precise out of Pau because I just made some guesses, but will be pretty accurate in the mountains).
The route (roughly) of stage 14.
Any of the day’s climbs will offer great spectating. The Tourmalet is a monster, and the Peyresourde is beautiful. The finish climb will be the most crowded and – unless you are staying in Bagnères-de-Luchon – will require a big climb over the Peyresourde to get there.
Keep in mind that these climbs will close to riders mid-day. The finish climb may close even earlier. Once again, get on the mountain early, bring a lunch (see below for a suggested roadside packing list), and be ready for a big day out.
Sunday, July 20
After three tough days, the race drops out of the Pyrenees and heads northeast. You’ll wake up a bit sore, possibly slightly hungover depending on the mountainside wine situation, but luckily there’s plenty of time to get where you need to go: Carcassonne.
Skip the start in Muret. All starts look roughly the same, and you already saw one in Toulouse. Head straight to Carcassonne, a beautiful city with an old walled bit. Inside those walls are lots of touristy shops and some genuinely good food. You must eat cassoulet even though it will be one million degrees outside and double that in the dish. You can walk from the main town to the walled town in about 15 minutes.
To do so, you’ll cross a big (Roman era? Somebody ask Dane Cash) pedestrian bridge. It has become an annual tradition for the Escape Collective crew to make a podcast beneath this bridge while dangling our toesies in the water. If you walk over that bridge in the hours after the race (probably around 7 PM) there is a near 100% chance you will see us podcasting on the bank below. Come by and say hi.
Spend the night in Carcassonne. It’s great. The drive out of the mountains will take a few hours but the stage doesn’t finish until after 5 PM. Watch the finish then come watch an accidental live podcast.
Monday, July 21
Rest day. Most of the teams will be staying in Montpellier, which is the start of Tuesday’s stage. Nothing against Montpellier but I prefer the knockoff version that is the state capital of Vermont.
So instead of spending the day in Montpellier, use this rest day to get to Mont Ventoux. The drive from Carcassonne to Ventoux is roughly three hours. The race is going up from the Bédoin side, as it usually does. There is a maze of small towns and roads down that side of the mountain where you should try to find accommodation.
Find a good spot, get there mid-day, and go ride the climb. It’s a beautiful part of France.
If you really want to go for it, head up Ventoux and look for a spot to camp for the night. If you’re driving up, there will be limited spots to park the day before, so don’t count on finding anything. Riding up with camping gear is a much safer bet. But again, keep in mind that altitude and weather are a bad mix – if you try this, go prepared.
Tuesday, July 22
This is your final day on the race, so make it a good one. If you didn’t camp overnight (and I wouldn’t blame you) then get up early and head towards Mont Ventoux. Ride from your hotel or park as close as you can, then get on your bike.
As with all previous climbs, follow the same basic rules: Get on the mountain early, bring everything you need for a whole day and a variety of weather, and don’t assume you’ll get down quickly. Given the finish is at the top of Ventoux, the road will be closed extra early and anybody heading up after mid-morning is likely to find themselves walking in their cycling shoes.
Ventoux is massive. It takes the average amateur two to four hours to get up. But you need to keep going. You can’t head to Ventoux and stop to watch the race while the climb is still down in the trees. The moonscape at the top is what makes Ventoux iconic and you need to get there.
That’s it! You’ve done it. Tour de France vacation, check.
Optional add-on
If you have a few more days, head straight to Grenoble after Ventoux. Grenoble is the start town for stage 18, but that’s not why you should go there. You should go there with your gravel bike and explore. Take a close look at Strava’s heat maps and get out there – this part of the Alps has some of the best gravel riding anywhere on the planet. Just make sure you have low gears; it’s all up.
Itinerary 2: The Alps and Paris
If you want a chance to see a Tour-winning attack in person, the Alps are for you this year. The hardest stages of the 2025 Tour are found in these few days. Plus the Alps have great riding, generally better (and higher-end) accommodation, and are a bit easier to get around.
Dates: Arrive Wednesday, July 23, depart Monday, July 28
Fly into: Lyon, Geneva or Paris
Fly out of: Paris
Wednesday, July 23
Flying into Lyon, Geneva or Paris are all options here. Paris will require an extra TGV down to the Alps (there’s a line that runs directly to Lyon), adding complexity, but a roundtrip from Paris may be a significantly cheaper flight option.
Either way, you’ll end up in a car rental line in either Geneva or Lyon. Pick up your car and head straight to Grenoble, where you’ll be based for the next few days.
Why Grenoble? It’s not perfectly located but it’s close enough and offers more hotel options than anything further into the mountains. Albertville, for example, is already heavily booked. Finding a room there will be almost impossible soon. The riding around Grenoble is fantastic and it’s a worthwhile visit on its own. The other edge-of-Alps option is Annecy.
The stage on Tuesday finishes in Valence, in preparation for the Tour’s trip into the Alps. Settle in, find a good little bar, and watch the finish there.
Thursday, July 24
The actual start of this stage is just south of Grenoble in a small town called Vif. You can ride there easily and it will be much nicer than trying to drive.
Head to the start and ask one of the many information people (notable for their jaunty hats and yellow shorts with no pockets) where the Village or bus paddock are. From there you’ll be able to hear the sounds of sign-on and work your way toward the racers.
About 30 minutes before the start, it’s time to head out. Get back to your car as quickly as possible, you’re going to chase the race.
The course stays east of the main valley that runs between Grenoble and Albertville, leaving a nice corridor for you to jump ahead and find a place to watch. Here’s the route (roughly, same caveat as above):
The goal is to get as close to Moûtiers as you can. That’s likely where you’ll be stopped by a closed road and/or angry French policeman. You’ll need to park, hop on your bike and do the rest on human power.
If you time it right, you’ll get on your bike just as the race is starting to climb the Col du Glandon. That’s plenty of time. Work your way up through the valley and then up toward Courchevel. Ride as high as you want, or as far as the authorities will let you. This is one of the hardest Tour stages in recent history and you’ll get to watch it unfold.
Friday, July 25
Similar goals today. The start is in Albertville, which you could go to and still likely make it to the finish. But I would skip it, get on the mountain a bit earlier, and find a good spot.
Head out from Grenoble and ditch the car at the base of La Plagne, somewhere in the town of Aime most likely. Then kit up and head up. It’s a 3,500-foot (1,060 m) climb at an average of 7%. Once again, you’ll need to get on it early if you want to avoid the local police telling you to get off and walk.
Saturday, July 26
Off to Paris! After two big days watching the race, it’s time to get ahead of the Tour and to its endpoint, the Champs Elysées.
This section of the journey should be completed by train. Check out of your hotel in Grenoble and head to Lyon, drop your car, get on a TGV, and in about three hours you’ll be in Paris. Make sure you confirm you can take your bike on the train. Sometimes you’ll have to pay extra.
Where should you stay in Paris? That’s tough to say. Many prefer somewhere like Montmartre or the ritzier bits down by the Champs itself. I like the 11th arrondissement, which has a less touristy vibe. It’s difficult to truly go wrong, to be honest.
The best way to get around once you’re there is by Lime bikeshare. Download the app before you go if you don’t already use it, and utilize their Lime Pass option, which ends up being way cheaper than paying by the minute. Paris has transformed in recent years and is now quite bike-friendly (nothing on places like Amsterdam, but a massive improvement). The Metro is the second-best option; it’s cheap and trains come frequently, but it can be crowded and there’s always the risk of a transit strike. Whatever you do, don’t get in a car.
Sunday, July 27: The Champs
The Tour de France is back in Paris, as is good and right and proper. Nice was fun, but this is how it should be.
The Paris sprint stage is one of the few places where a VIP ticket may be worth the cost. The various grandstands that line the Champs Élysées have a superb view of the sprint action and you get to see the riders go by a bunch of times before the final dash.
If you’re not going to splurge for VIP, the best place to watch, I think, is somewhere near the Place de la Concorde. This is also where the team busses park and after the races finishes lots of riders will be toodling around looking for their families and maybe a free pizza.
Once it’s all wrapped up, jump back on a Lime bike or the Metro and go find some dinner. Cheers to a holiday well done.
How to get to the Tour
Most of our audience does not live in continental Europe, so it’s going to have to be a plane. Whether this trip is worth the carbon footprint is an existential question that lies squarely on your shoulders.
What to pack for a day on the side of a mountain
Temperatures can swing from burning hot to freezing cold in mere minutes. You’ll be out there all day, often with minimal cover. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail, etc.
So here’s a basic packing list for a day on the side of a large French mountain. I’ll assume you’re getting there by bike and are packing a backpack or large frame bag.
Water. Though a large quantity is actually not that important as there are spigots (and sometimes bars) all over the place.
Baguette (1-2)
Big block of cheese (for eating on baguette)
Bottle of wine, plastic cups
Snacks
A sandwich (it’s very likely you’ll be up there through lunch and dinner)
Umbrella, small
Raincoat, hefty
Down jacket or similar
Hat
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Dry shirt to change into
Shorts/underwear to change into
Light but comfy sandals
Charging block if you’re going to try to watch the race on a phone
How to get around the Tour
While tackling the Tour without a rental car is doable, it would significantly reshape the experience compared to what I’ve outlined. Train travel adds another layer of adventure – and while I respect anyone willing to take that challenge, it does make logistics more intricate.
Here’s what I’d suggest: Rent a car and pack your bike along. Invest in a quality frame bag that fits in your bike’s main triangle – perfect for stashing lunch, that extra bottle of wine, a warm jacket, and other essentials. Use the car for hopping between your home bases, then switch to two wheels for reaching the race itself and exploring the fantastic local rides. Keep in mind that without official Tour credentials on your vehicle, getting anywhere near the race route by car will be tricky or impossible. Be prepared to hear “Is not possible” often.
You can track road closures through local government announcements, and Google Maps does a solid job flagging inaccessible routes. But here’s the golden rule: whenever possible, ditch the car and pedal to the race.
Want to simplify things further? Consider a camper van. It eliminates hotel hunting and even sorts out dinner if you bring a small stove. Just bring your bikes, find a prime camping spot, and you’ve got yourself a perfect mobile headquarters.
Tips and Tricks
I canvassed both my fellow Tour reporters as well as a few friends and colleagues who have done leisure trips to the Tour in recent years. Here’s what we came up with:
Download maps to your cycling computer before you leave.
Book restaurants in advance. This is best done by calling. French restaurants love this practice in general, and if you are on the edge of making it before the kitchen closes (often as early as 8 PM in more rural areas), they will sometimes wait for you. Not always, but sometimes. Plus these are often small towns with a huge influx of people for one night; restaurants fill quickly.
If you are in a reasonably sized town/city, there’s always a Vietnamese restaurant that will be open late, not very busy, and with good food.
Plan some ride routes before you leave. Have some big ones and some small ones ready. Get them loaded up on your cycling computer ahead of time.
Do some non-iconic climbs … two of our most scenic outings were on unknown or never-raced climbs.
If you have the opportunity to ride back to somewhere at the end of a stage, do it … riding with all the spectators and the caravan is a hoot. That said, be careful: people are often drunk and ride like idiots.
Definitely take a jumper/jacket up the mountain with you no matter how sunny it is.
Don’t waste time trying to find good coffee, it all tastes kind of bad and you’ve just got to suck it up.
Roads generally close 3-4 hours before the race comes through, earlier for mountaintop finishes.
It’s much more interesting and you’ll get a lot more out of standing by the buses at the starts and finishes than being anywhere near the podium.
Know the stage timetable. This is available on the Tour de France web site for each stage, and usually shows up a few weeks out. It includes arrival times in each town based on a few different average speeds – assume the fastest. It also includes when the caravan is going by, which is good fun.
Don’t try to move with the Tour every day. You’ll spend half your life in a rental car. Skip stages, go for rides, and try to catch a few key moments.
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