Adventure
La Grande Traversée du Massif Central
France's longest off-road crossing: the Auvergne volcanoes, the Aubrac, the Tarn gorges and the Cévennes, down to the Mediterranean lagoons.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes → Occitanie
Where to sleep on La Grande Traversée du Massif Central
Halta lists 230 places to sleep within 5 km of the route: 148 campsites, 20 mountain huts, 30 bivouac spots, 32 hotels. For each one, the app shows the real detour from your stage — and it is that distance, not the straight line, that decides how a day ends.
- Campsites
- Mountain huts
- Bivouac spots
- Hotels
Alongside the campsites, mountain huts and bivouac spots drawn from open data, there are the hosts of the Halta community: travellers who welcome others into their homes, usually for free. You write to them before you come; you do not book a slot.
The 9 stages of La Grande Traversée du Massif Central
An indicative split, drawn on real roads: distances and elevation come from route calculation, not from an estimate. In the app every stage can be adjusted — stretched, cut short, or pushed back a day.
| # | Stage | Distance | Elevation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clermont-Ferrand → Le Mont-Dore | 38 km | 1 419 m |
| 2 | Le Mont-Dore → Bort-les-Orgues | 42 km | 944 m |
| 3 | Bort-les-Orgues → Aurillac | 75 km | 2 617 m |
| 4 | Aurillac → Chaudes-Aigues | 72 km | 2 241 m |
| 5 | Chaudes-Aigues → Marvejols | 53 km | 1 487 m |
| 6 | Marvejols → Florac | 49 km | 1 151 m |
| 7 | Florac → Le Vigan | 56 km | 1 673 m |
| 8 | Le Vigan → Ganges | 18 km | 930 m |
| 9 | Ganges → Sète | 73 km | 726 m |
Frequently asked questions about La Grande Traversée du Massif Central
How many days does La Grande Traversée du Massif Central take?
La Grande Traversée du Massif Central takes about 12 days, split into 9 stages over 476 km — an average of 40 km a day. The split is indicative: stages stretch or shorten depending on your form and the weather.
Where can you sleep on La Grande Traversée du Massif Central?
Halta lists 230 places to sleep within 5 km of La Grande Traversée du Massif Central: 148 campsites, 20 mountain huts, 30 bivouac spots, 32 hotels. On top of those are the hosts of the Halta community, travellers who welcome others into their homes, usually for free.
How hard is La Grande Traversée du Massif Central?
La Grande Traversée du Massif Central is rated hard, with 13 188 m of cumulative elevation gain over 476 km. Per stage, that works out at roughly 1465 m of climbing a day.
Where does La Grande Traversée du Massif Central go?
La Grande Traversée du Massif Central runs from Clermont-Ferrand to Sète, by way of Aurillac, Marvejols, Le Vigan, across Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes → Occitanie. It is travelled by bike and totals 476 km split into 9 stages.
Figures established on 17 September 2026, from Halta’s own data. How they are calculated.
More routes by bike
Étapes indicatives d'après la Grande Traversée du Massif Central (GTMC). Tracé reconstitué par routage (ODbL, openrouteservice.org). Halta 2026-07. Places to sleep: OpenStreetMap, refuges.info and DATAtourisme (ODbL). Photo : Wikimedia Commons (CC).