Col de Novel (FRA) – Legendary Mountain Passes
St-Gingolph
3/8°
The climb from St-Gingolph to Novel is stunning and allows you to discover the edge of the canton of Valais facing Lake Geneva. This climb is situated on the border with France in this little-known part of the Valais.
Difficulty
IntermediateLength
5.66 kmDuration
1:30 h
Description
The village of St-Gingolph is situated at the very end of the canton of Valais on the shores of Lake Geneva at the Swiss-French border. The climb to the Col de Novel is just over five kilometres long, but the road is steep, making this ascent quite demanding despite its reduced distance. All along the route you are taken through the Novel pastures where you can take advantage of a superb view over Lake Geneva and the coastline around Montreux. Novel is undoubtedly a small pass that is worth the effort to discover!
Turn-by-turn directions
The Col de Novel from St-Gingolph offers the unique opportunity to visit an environment between lake and mountains. You pedal upward for several kilometres above Lake Geneva, the biggest lake in western Europe. At every moment, the climb gives you an extraordinary view over the terraced vineyards of Lavaux – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and the Riviera Vaudoise. At the summit of the pass, crossing a small bridge will bring you back down on the French side to St-Gingolph, giving you another view all along the descent.
Start
St-Gingolph (395m)
Destination
Col de Novel (FRA) (878m)
Technical information
Altitude
914m
395m
Ascent
+520m
Descent
-36m
Technique
Stamina
Experience
Landscape
Best time of the year
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Tags
Public transport
Approach
Parking
Source
This activity is brought to you by Valais/Wallis Promotion