There’s a guidebook for your pannier, (almost) no matter where you’d like to cycle in France.
(I'm currently updating this page so please bear with me if it looks a little messy).
Here's a wrap of the guidebooks for cycling in France. Do let me know if you've used any others you'd recommend. I'm at lyn@freewheelingfrance.com
Entre deux Mers bike route - Canal de Garonne and Canal di Midi Bordeaux to te Med
Cycling the Canal du Midi by Declan Lyons is one of the most detailed guides in English to what is arguably the most famous/popular canal route in France. It's another Cicerone title. An another option is Biking the Canal du Midi, the English translation of the original French title by Phillippe Calas.
There is also a companion guidebook for the Canal de Garonne - Bordeaux to Toulouse by te same author and the same publisher.
Cycling in the Alps
In Cycling in the French Alps: Selected Cycle Tours (UK, US) by Freewheeling France contributor Paul Henderson suggests 9 routes, including a Grand Traverse of the Alps from Geneva to Nice. The rides are generally broken down into stages of 50-80km per day.
Chamonix Mountain Adventures (UK, US) by Hilary Sharp includes some great bike routes in the region; likeiwise Mountain Adventures in the Maurienne (UK, US) by Andy Hodges.
Rhine River route
Still on water routes, The Rhine Cycle Guide (UK, US) by Mike Wells includes the stretch through Alsace that crosses into France. You can read more form Mike here. Cycling Along Europe's Rivers by Michael Lyon covers other river routes, including the Loire. There is a review of the book here.
Guidebooks with varied or routes
Cycling Southern France: Loire to Mediterranean (UK, US) by Richard Peace features long-distance routes as well as local area rides. It includes the Atlantic Coast route, as well as the Garonne valley and its link through to the Canal du Midi, as well as the EuroVélo 6 from the west coast near St-Nazaire through to the Swiss border. Richard has written for us on Poitou-Charentes and Toulouse.
There is also a companion guide for northern Fance, the equally useful Cycling Northern France (UK, US).
Cicerone's Cycle Touring in France (UK, US), a pannier-size guide by Freewheeling France contributor Stephen Fox. It's getting a bit old now and may be out of date in terms of local restaurants and hotels but the core eight routes the book covers are great for planning and the book is still a useful resource for maps and planning. The routes use te following cities as bases or entry points: Paris, Strasbourg, Geneva, Arles, Brest and Toulouse, and the suggested routes include the Brittany coast, Gorges du Tarn, Tour de France routes, the Dordogne, Alsace wine routes and the lavender fields of Provence. Each route is broken down into between four and six stages, again meaning they can be tackled as a whole, or joined at any stage en route.
Tim Hughes' Cycling in France is an oldie but a goodie, and one that Graham Robb, author of The Discovery of France, describes it as “still one of the best practical books on cycling in France”.
Cycling to Compostela
The Way of St James: Le Puy to Santiago – A Cyclist's Guide (UK, US) is another pilgrim's guide by John Higginson and Cicerone. While walking the route is both popular and well-documented, this guide is (to my knowledge) the only dedicated cyclist's guide to the most famous pilgrimage route in the world. John Higginson has written about the the Way of St James from France to Santiago de Compostela for us.
Cycling the Massif Central
The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central: By Mountain Bike, Road Bike or on Foot, by Cicerone, details the 700km mountain bike route from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne to Montpellier in Languedoc-Roussillon. The route takes in each of the regions crossed by the Central Massif, as well as the Cévennes. The book, by Alan Castle, offers road and walking alternatives to the main MTB route, which is split into 17 stages.
Cycling the Loire
The Complete Loire à Vélo Trail from Nevers to the Atlantic by Michel Bonduelle is available in French as well as in English. It's indispensable for any cyclist looking at this route, and has the backing of local tourist boards. Cycling the River Loire: The Way of St Martin, meanwhile, is another Cicerone title, this time by Freewheeling France contributor, John Higginson. It details a 23-stage journey along the Loire that combines the highlights of the river with the history of St Martin.
Cycling in Brittany
There can be no more pleasant way to explore Brittany than by using its network of green ways. Local publisher Red Dog Books has released Brittany's Green Ways: A Guide to Re-Used Railway Tracks and Canal Towpaths (UK, US), a guide for cyclists and walkers. It's a comprehensive overview of the old railway tracks and canal towpaths that combine to make Brittany such a cycling friendly region. For a taste of what's in the guide, its author G.H Randall wrote this overview of Brittany's green ways for Freewheeling France.
Cycling the Nantes-Brest Canal
The Nantes-Brest Canal (UK, US) is another Red Dog guide for cyclists and walkers. It follows the entire route of the canal, and includes detailed maps, as well as accommodation and tourist highlights. Profiles of major cities en route are featured. The guide also includes an excellent historical overview of the canal and its importance to the development of the region is cuts through. We have more on cycling the Nantes-Brest Canal here.
Following the Tour de France
Graham Watson's Tour de France Travel Guide: The Complete Insider's Guide to Following the World's Greatest Race (UK, US) covers off all the cols and towns that feature regularly on the Tour, and it offers excellent practical advice that will be of value to anyone wanting to follows the great race.
A&C Black has published Ride a Stage of the Tour de France by Kristian Bauer, which is a guidebook suitable for anyone wanting to independently tackle the Tour themselves.
Please drop me a line via lyn@freewheelingfrance.com or leave a note below if you have used another guidebook that you can recommend to cyclists.