| Europe
France | | Duration : 2 Days / Driving Time : 5 hours
Total Distance : 359 km |
The route described in this article is a short 2 day circuit around 2 of the closest mountain ranges from Lyon : the Chartreuse and the Vercors. The first day will be a drive with 2 walks in the nicests places of the Chartreuse, aligning with the south band of summits of the Chartreuse whereas the second day will take you to another mountain range to the south west, focusing on one very specific valley full of history known as the "Royans". The complete route can be found on the map below
HERE.
Be aware that this route is feasible mainly in spring / summer / autumn seasons as some cols and even some of the walks may not be open in winter depending on the amount of snow.
Day #1: Route through the Chartreuse
Route milestones :
Drive from Lyon Airport to Saint Même : 1 hour and 25 minutes
Walk around Cirque de Saint Meme : 3 hours
Drive from Cirque de Saint Meme to Charmant Som : 45 minutes
Walk to the summit of Charmant Som : 1 hour and 30 minutes
Drive to Grenoble : 45 minutes
The first part of the day is located in the Cirque de Saint Même. This place is usually known in Waze and most GPS devices. If not, you can always target Saint Meme d'en Haut or Saint Pierre d'Entremont which is the largest village nearby. If all this fails, you can use
this google maps position to identify the start point of the walk, where you can park your car.
The Cirque de Saint Même is a place of incredible beauty at all times of the year. Be aware though that in high season (June to August), there is a 3€ fee to be able to get to the car park. This pays for the people in charge of keeping the place nice and tidy. The path to follow is highlighted in red below and the car park is marked with a little blue car icon :
From the car park, you will walk across a wide open meadow which is traversed by the Guiers Vif river. At the end of that meadow is a damp forest in which is hidden the first waterfall known as "La Pisse du Guiers" and is reachable in less than 10 minutes of walk.
When coming back from the waterfall towards the car, you have a path on the left side of the meadow, opposite from the little hotel and which climbs up the mountain and takes you to the other waterfalls.
Above the main waterfall which is preceded by a beautiful wooden bridge crossing the river (photo above), you will have a path climbing to the left. It then splits and if you take the steep path to the right and its first exit right, you will reach the highest waterfall of the Cirque de Saint Meme. You can even climb beyond it, with a set of metal chains and bars but this path is very exposed and dangerous, potentially leathal if you fall (this last section should not be done if you aren't absolutely sure of your capabilities). It will lead you to the spring of the Guiers Vif above which you can climb in a cave to reach a higher cave.
The route back to the car park is pretty obvious and you then have to start looking into getting to the second part of the visit, which is one of the easiest summits from the Chartreuse mountain range. From the car, it is a 45 minutes going through the ski station of Saint Pierre de Chartreuse, leading to a very easy access summit of Chartreuse, the Charmant Som.
Drive the car right to the highest parking place, at the
Chalet du Charmant Som which serves dinner & drinks during summer season.
 | Access to the summit of the Charmant Som is quite fast since it is only 30 minutes walk. There are 2 ways to the summit and the West path is easier than the East one which requires to cross very rough rock surfaces. |
From the summit of the Charmant Som, you have a 360 degree view on the Chartreuse with famous summits such Chamechaude, the Dent de Crolles, the Grand Som and the Grande Sure, with the Belledonne mountain range in the background.
For the evening, you have multiple options but AirBnB is quite scarce so you have to either look for Bed & Breakfast or hotels. Here are a few options :
Day #2: North Side of the Vercors and Valley of Royans
The next day is located around the Vercors mountain range. There are several short hikes and beautiful things to see, all located around a valley named the Royans.
Step 1 : The Green & White Waterfalls (Cascade Blanche et Cascade Blanche)
These 2 waterfalls are located very close from one another. In drought seasons, when water is very low in the river, you can walk from one to the other, even though some parts are exposed and very slippery. As such, I will present here the hike in 2 split parts, allowing you to see both areas independently. In order to get there, you have to head up the Goulets road, opened to circulation in 1854 for wood transportation from the Vercors mountain range to the valleys below. Even though the waterfalls are in the lower part of the valley, it is worth driving up the amazing road to see what humans are capable to achieve.
Let's start with the White Waterfall : take the D518 road up to the Petits Goulets and Grands Goulets and just before the exit of Sainte Eulalie en Royans village, turn left and park along an industrial building which has a field opposite. From there, the road is very simple, with a path heading downwards just after the factory and walking up the river to the waterfall :
Just above this, you will find the Green Waterfall, which you see on the map below, and on which you also see the White Waterfall. Access to the waterfall is pretty simple : after Sainte Eulalie en Royans, you will cross a first set of tunnels, after which you will have a road going down towards the river. When you reach the river, you can park just after a birdge on the right. The path to the waterfall is easy to find, on the opposite site of the river, going downstream.
As you will see below, the Green Waterfall is what is called in french a "tuffiere", a rock formation created by dissolved particles in the water on which the waterfall runs :
Step 2 : Pont en Royans village and the caves of Choranche
A few miles away from the waterfalls and the Vernaison river we saw just before, there is a village built around the water, which in fact contains a Water Museum, describing how this natural feature was leveraged decades ago to help humans in their day to day life. Pont en Royans is a fantastic town overlooking the river, with very ancien constructions that almost levitate above the water. It is refreshing in sumer and there is a small but beautiful walk to do along the river, with a park and benches to each. Morover, some water structures has been built to provide small pools with a little waterfall that kids will enjoy (the waterfall hides an easter egg since you can walk behind it and find a secret chamber).
Pont en Royans and its houses clinging to the rocks is a classified village since 1946. It marks the starting point of the Gorges de la Bourne, carved out by the river of the same name, which is famous for its viewpoints. From the village of Choranche, you can either frop the car off in the village center and talk a walk up a path on the left of the village that drives to the cliffs or take the easy way round by car and park directly at the "Grottes de Choranche" car park.
From there, you can talk a short walk to with nice view points on the valley and see the "Gournier" waterfall but also the
caves of Choranche which organize a visit every half hour between 10h30 and 16h00 for approximatively 11€ per adult. The cave has beautiful formations and is suitable for famillies. However, be aware that a show is presented at the end of the cave visit and sometimes the noise and animations can be a bit frightening for small children
