Spectator Final Week

Welcome to France! We will be meeting at our 4-star hotel in the center of Chambery. Our hotel is ideally located within walking distance of the train station and the start of tomorrow’s stage.

The group will have the opportunity to take a walking tour around the mountain town of Chambery, a key gateway to Savoie’s valleys. Chambery has regularly seen the Tour peloton pass through and also a stage finish in 2017.

Tonight we’ll enjoy a welcome dinner in a local restaurant. In addition to meeting our fellow travel guests at dinner, we’ll go over the itinerary for our trip. Each guest will receive a gift from Custom Getaways.

Good morning. Let’s head to today’s stage start, conveniently located in Chambery! You will love the energy of the Tour as you’ll have access to the VIP Start Village with coffee, snacks, tour officials and merchandise tents. You will also be able to see the riders interviewed at the sign-in stage before they begin their ride.

Another great feature of the start village is that you will have access to the team bus paddock. You can walk around the team busses and cars before the race begins. However, you need to be careful as the racers will ride around you to get to the sign-in stage and to the starting line…a really cool experience!

Once the racers depart, you’ll have time to have lunch before we transfer to our next hotel, which is located on the backside of Alpe d’Huez in a small village called Vaujany. The views are beautiful and we will have a group dinner at the hotel.

Our hotel also has chalets apartments. Guests will be in both the hotel and the chalets. There is a short walk from the chalets to the main hotel where breakfasts and dinners will be served. Because we’re in the Alps, the town is on a mountain, hence a walk down to the hotel and up to the chalets.

According to le Tour director, Christian Prudhomme, “The final podium places won’t necessarily have been decided at this stage of the race. However, the climbers who’ve dropped out of overall contention will be very apparent, and some of them will still be in great form. This is a chance for them to chase the victory that’s eluded them so far, or perhaps even to bag a second success. Consequently, the climb to Orcières-Merlette should be the setting for a battle between the peloton’s mountain goats”.  

Today the group will enjoy the Relais Etape. This VIP venue is located along the course and serves an excellent 4-course meal for lunch. It also offers snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and water. Once the race finishes, champagne will be served to toast the stage winner. Another nice feature of this venue is that it has TV’s to watch the race until the racers pass right in front of us.

We’ll watch live as the caravan parade passes in front of our venue prior to the racers passing. The caravan pumps up the crowds with colorful floats and the tossing of small prizes. Each Relais Etape guest will receive a gift from le Tour.

We’ll head back to Vaujany for another group dinner in the cozy hotel dining room. After a long day in the bus, we’ll be ready for bed as we gear up for another busy day tomorrow….Alpe d’Huez.

Good morning. You will have a little free time this morning before boarding the chairlifts and trams that will take you over to the resort village of Alpe d’Huez. The views will not disappoint.

Le Tour’s climb to Alpe d’Huez will be revealing its two sides for the first time, making it very possible that the deck could be reshuffled over these two days. We will be there on both of these two days!

We’ll have the honor of walking across the finish line of today’s stage and standing on the official podium. We’ll have pictures taken individually and as a group. After the podium, you will be free to find a place for lunch and a place to view the race in the crowds on Alpe d’Huez. You can stay near the finish line or hike down the mountain and find a place to set up on one of the 21 bends.

Following the race, we’ll head back to our hotel on the chairlifts and trams where a BBQ dinner awaits us.

Good morning and deja vu. Today we get to witness the Tour’s biggest mountain stage, featuring a cumulative vertical gain of 5,600 meters. We will have a little free time this morning before boarding the chairlifts and trams that will again take us over to the resort village of Alpe d’Huez. You’ll have time to shop and eat lunch before we enter today’s VIP.

Today’s stage viewing will be in the Izoard VIP venue. TV’s are located within the Izoard venue where we will watch the racers before they pass us as they head towards the finish line. This venue is a great way to see the race with snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, water, TVs and private restrooms. Champagne will be served to toast the well-deserved stage winner.

Following the race, we’ll transfer to Lyon on our bus where we’ll stay the night before heading to Paris tomorrow. The drive to Lyon will take about 3 hours and we will stop along the way for comfort breaks and to eat dinner.

We’ll get an early start as we will train from Lyon to Paris. Once in Paris, we’ll bypass the traffic and closed roads and will take the Metro to our hotel. Your luggage will have already been delivered to your rooms and so you’ll have time to freshen up before the group walks together to our VIP venue on the Champs Elysees. Rive Gauche is the best VIP venue from which to view the finish of the Tour. Table seating, a terrace and space at the rail to watch the racers pass 7 times in front of us and 7 times on the other side of the street!

This venue is located before and after the finish line and has the best location you can have to see the race. They serve excellent French food throughout the afternoon, open bar, TV’s, private restrooms and each guest will receive a gift from the Tour de France…it is a great way to see the race and end our trip!

After the race ends, you can take your time to walk back to the hotel via the Champs Elysees and stop for a drink or a bite in one of the many cafes along famous, tree-lined avenue.