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Route des Cretes

The ridge road along the high Vosges, past the Col de la Schlucht, Le Markstein and the Grand Ballon, then down near the Hartmannswillerkopf memorial to Cernay.

Distance
37 miles (60 km)
Type
Point to point
Where
Vosges

100% on the official route

Click a dot for details. White dots are the stops, each with a bed search. Yellow dots are places to see.

Main roads

D61D417D430D731D431D505D351D483

From the map

Longest gap between fuel
37 miles
Fuel stations near the line
0
Curvature
322 ° a mile
Campsites within 2 km
9

Measured on the route line from OpenStreetMap data, which can be missing or out of date. Curvature is degrees of turning a mile, measured every 100 metres. On our routes they run from 6 on the E19 to 701 on the SP638.

Before you go

  • Parts of the ridge close to traffic in winter. Check before you go.
  • Busy with walkers and cyclists on summer weekends.

On the way

  1. Col de la Schlucht
  2. Le Markstein
  3. Grand Ballon
  4. Cernay
Ready to ride it?

Book this trip

Plan it with dates in the tour planner

1Getting there

Most riders cross to Calais by Le Shuttle or a Dover ferry, or take a longer ferry nearer the route.

Compare every crossing

2Places to stay

Search beds in Col de la Schlucht

3Cover

Check your bike insurance covers riding abroad, get travel insurance that covers motorcycling at your engine size, and breakdown cover that recovers a motorcycle in every country on the route.

What to check before you buy cover

The country on this route

What GOV.UK says riders need for it, checked 05/11/2026. Rules change, so read the official page before you go.

France

Money
Euro
Ride on the
Right
  • Riding into central Paris, Lyon, Grenoble or another low emission zone? You need a Crit'Air sticker. Buy it only from the official site (official site)
  • Some mountain areas require winter tyres or chains from 1 November to 31 March: check which vehicles and areas it covers (official site)
  • The drink-drive limit is a third lower than in England and Wales, with regular roadside checks

On every trip abroad: your licence, insurance that covers riding abroad, the V5C and travel insurance with medical cover. The tour planner turns all of this into a checklist each rider in your group can tick off.

Places to see on the way

Castles, passes, viewpoints and more within easy reach of the line, in the order you reach them. Yellow dots on the map.

Cascade du Rudlin
Waterfall · 1 km off the route

Cascade du Rudlin

Wasserfall in Frankreich.

Photo: Sapin88, CC BY-SA 4.0
Charlemagne waterfall
Waterfall · 1 km off the route

Charlemagne waterfall

Waterfall in the Vosges Mountains of France.

Photo: Florian Grossir, CC BY-SA 3.0
Waterfall · 1 km off the route

cascade du Ballon

Chute d'eau du massif des Vosges.

Remparts de Cernay
Fort · On the route

Remparts de Cernay

Fortification à Cernay (Haut-Rhin).

Photo: Rauenstein, CC BY-SA 3.0

Place details from Wikidata. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each card.