Two days on the legendary Route Napoléon down to Lake Serre-Ponçon: La Mure, Corps, Col du Festre, Gap and the lake's turquoise waters; then a loop back via the Col de la Croix Haute and the Trièves — never the same road twice.
Base map © IGN · Géoplateforme. Indicative route — check that the passes are open before you set off.
Eleven stops scouted along the 360 km, between Napoleonic history and turquoise water.
The N85 you follow from Grenoble to Corps is the Isère section of the road taken by Napoleon in March 1815, after he landed at Golfe-Juan. It was here, at Laffrey, that the founding episode played out: on 7 March 1815, in the Prairie de la Rencontre, the battalion sent by Louis XVIII to stop him went over to the Emperor. An equestrian statue still marks the spot, at the roadside.
The Matheysine plateau unrolls its lakes and lines of bends as far as La Mure, whose tourist railway, back in service in 2021 after eleven years out of use, runs to the Grand Balcon above Lake Monteynard. Further on, the road skirts Lake Sautet and its turquoise reservoir wedged between two gorges.
After Corps the route leaves the main road for the Dévoluy, a limestone massif with the feel of a high-altitude desert, and crosses the Col du Festre at 1,441 m before dropping down to Gap. It is the most flowing and least busy part of the two days.
Filled in 1961, Lake Serre-Ponçon holds 1.27 billion cubic metres of water across nearly 3,000 hectares: the largest artificial lake in France and one of the largest in Europe. The road runs round it through Chorges and Savines-le-Lac, a village entirely rebuilt when the valley was flooded, with turquoise viewpoints all the way. The return climbs back through Aspres-sur-Buëch, the Col de la Croix Haute (1,176 m) and the Trièves.
It is the route taken by Napoleon in March 1815 between Golfe-Juan and Grenoble, named Route Napoléon in 1932. It runs 314 km and today corresponds to the N85 and several departmental roads. Our loop follows its Isère section, the most historic part, as far as Corps.
An equestrian statue marks the meadow where, on 7 March 1815, the soldiers sent to arrest Napoleon rallied to him instead. The site is at the roadside a few kilometres south of Vizille and is freely accessible.
It is the largest artificial lake in France and among the largest in Europe, holding 1.27 billion cubic metres since it was filled in 1961. Its earth dam remains one of the most imposing on the continent.
It is possible but not recommended: 360 km and more than 8 h of riding in one day leaves little room for stops. The two-day format with a night by the lake is far more enjoyable.
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