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Overview of the La Vélodyssée route

La Vélodyssée cycling route is:

picto velodyssee

The longest equipped cycling route in France, from north to south. Work out all your stress while cycling the west coast of France, discovering all of treasures of France’s Atlantic regions.

1,300 km of equipped cycling route, marked in both directions
A journey by the sea through three regions and nine departments, cycling on the Atlantic coast of France
76% of the route on greenways or cycle paths

10 ans

The spirit of La Vélodyssée is:

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A new kind of holiday, with a more sustainable, slow tourism experience

No more hurrying from place to place. Really take the time to explore a location using ‘slow’ (non-polluting) modes of transport with destinations close to you.

Whether you’re travelling with family, as a couple, or with friends, discover France’s west coast at your own pace, with all of its treasures along a safe route marked from north to south and south to north. Route guidebooks, GPS tracks, and our website will make it easy for you to plan your holidays and will guide you along the way.

💬 Place meeting and exchange at the center of your trip

Share a moment with family or friends, the ideal opportunity to talk and connect with each other as you roll along France’s west coast.
Meet men and women who are the heart and soul of the regions traversed by La Vélodyssée: visit an oyster farmer in Charente-Maritime, a winemaker in Landes, a chocolatier in Basque Country, a lock keeper in Brittany, and more. Try out a session of surfing, land sailing, canoeing, boating, or another fun activity with a local professional. Go bird watching, guided by a specialist from the Vendée.
All along the cycling route, meet fellow travellers on La Vélodyssée: families, couples, groups, or single riders, young people and less-young people, riders going ‘down’ towards the south and those going ‘up’ towards the north. You’ll meet people going on day trips or just a weekend and others going long-distance, not even stopping at the end of La Vélodyssée and instead continuing along the rest of the EuroVelo 1 cycling route.

🤩 Enjoy remarkable views

From Brittany, the land of legends, to the Loire Estuary, from marshes in the Vendée to beaches in Aquitaine, from north to south on this French cycling route, you’re guaranteed to find a huge variety of magical, natural landscapes: canals, moorlands, marshes, dunes, beaches, pine forests, wooded countryside, pools, and more.

So many choices! You’ll fall head over heels for quintessential French cities like Nantes, La Rochelle, Rochefort, Royan, Bayonne, Biarritz, and more.

You will be stunned by emblematic tourist sites like the Nantes-Brest Canal, the Poitevin Marsh, Fort Boyard, Arcachon Bay, Dune du Pilat, and the Landes forest. And let’s not forget about those stops along the way to taste local farm products you don’t want to miss.