Col de la Bonette

By taking the Col de la Bonette road from Jausiers in the Ubaye valley, prepare to climb more than 1500 meters of altitude difference following the Tour de France riders!
By bike, motorbike, car, or campervan... you'll feel the slope and quickly reach the high mountains. Keep your eyes peeled; traveling this route is an invitation to countless discoveries and breathtaking landscapes. Starting from the village of Jausiers, in the Ubaye Valley, you're off on a 24 km route with a 6,7% gradient to the summit of La Bonette. If you head back down towards La Tinée, you'll reach Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée in 25 km.

AD04-Adrien Noat

Unexpected encounters in the Col de la Bonette

Starting from Jausiers, after a few bends, you enter landscapes of green pastures and torrents. Around a bend, a cascade surprises us with its height and its dull noise.

Further on, it is a sheepfold planted in the middle of an alpine pasture, surrounded by a flock of sheepHigher up, a lake invites us to the photo break.

Many marmots run across mountain lawns. They don't need a "marmot crossing" to cross the road! 

La Bonette, in the heart of the Mercantour National Park

Our ears are not left out, because in the midst of this soothing calm, they are largely solicited! Between bleat sheep, whistling of marmots, roar of torrents, the vent he also tells us mountain stories with his rustling in the larches... 

Gradually, the scenery changes... it's as if we were going to the moon ! The vegetation fades and gives way to a almost unreal landscape of blocks of stones and grayish pebbles.
Former barracks and military buildings belonging to the line Maginot of the Alps, or other more recent works recall the past tensions between France and Italy. Breathe, you are in the Mercantour National Park !

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Cime de la Bonette at 2802 m

There you are, you are at the pass, but the adventure is not over yet ! Another small effort largely rewarded, take the road leading to the Cime de la Bonette at 2802 m, the highest paved road in Europe.

After Photo souvenir In front of the monument at the summit, a footpath takes you to 2 meters where the 360° panorama is exceptionalThe orientation table shows you the Face, Mont Pelat, Tinée, Italy...

Remember that a good part of the road is in the protected area of the Mercantour National Park. The flora and fauna are particularly rich. Looking up, you will probably see the bearded vulture, a vulture like no other.
A thought for theoratory of Our Lady of the Most High, patron saint of the pass and here you go again for a sacred descent !

A cyclist's paradise

In 2024, the 19th stage of the Tour de France took place in the Col de la Bonette ! It was during the Embrun > Isola 2000 stage, on Friday July 19, 2024.
The cyclists crossed part of Ubaye with the ascent of the Col de Vars and the Col de la Bonette before ending their day at Isola 2000.

This pass is part of the patent for the 7 passes of Ubaye by bikeThis certificate rewards the ascent of the 7 passes in the Ubaye Valley. Are you interested?

AD04-Adrien Noat

A well-deserved break

To recover from all these emotions, don't hesitate to try a traditional kitchen au mountain restaurant Halte 2, in authentic alpine hut.
For a cool break in summer, it's the perfect place. We're in the high mountains and it's naturally cool. 

The road to the Col de la Bonette

La Bonette Pass road (2 meters above sea level) connects the Ubaye Valley in the Alpes de Haute Provence to that of Tinée in the Alpes-Maritimes.

On the Ubaye side, it starts from the village of Jausiers to reach Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée, on the side of the Tinée valley.

Opening of the Bonette Pass

To take it and climb to the summit, you have to wait for the snow to melt because the road and the pass are closed in winter.

It snows an average of 2 meters in winter. It therefore takes some time and snow removal operations to reopen it to traffic.

The road is generally open between May and June until October.

Answers to your questions