Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a region in southeast-central France, created by the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes.

The main prefecture and largest city is Marseille, France’s third largest city.

It is bordered by five other administrative regions: Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to the north, Centre-Val de Loire to the northwest, Nouvelle-Aquitaine to the west, Occitanie to the southwest, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur to the southeast.

It is also bordered by the Italian regions of Aosta Valley and Piedmont to the east and the Swiss cantons of Geneva, Valais, and Vaud to the northeast.

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has twelve départements: Ain, Allier, Ardèche, Cantal, Drôme, Haute-Loire, Haute-Savoie, Isère, Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône, and Savoie.

By far the most cols I have cycled are in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

My total for France¹ is 114 cols, 4 of which are in the Vosges and about 18 in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, cycled during my Tours of 2014 and 2017.

And I added 25 cols in the Pyrénées to the list during my Tour of 2023.

Meaning the total for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is almost 70…

Below a map with the (more) famous cols – there are more detailed maps of the following departments:

• Isère and sub
  • Grésivaudan Valley
• Savoie and subs
  • Grésivaudan Valley
  • Maurienne Valley
  • Tarentaise Valley
  • Beaufortain Valley
• Haute-Savoie

¹ From the Col Collector’s list, listing only those above 1,000 meters.