Belley / St-Genix-sur-Guiers / Groslée

This ViaRhôna stage meanders through the beautiful Bugey area, between the majestic Rhône and the Lavours Marshes, below the imposing Grand Colombier Mountain. To the south, enjoy the Haut-Rhône plain, the mountains and the vineyards, arriving at the Pays de Lhuis and Izieu through magnificently varied countryside. On this stage, you follow greenways and laid-out roads, except when going through La Balme’s tunnels, where the road is narrow and very busy .

The route

Greenways and signposted routes along the Rhône. The Virignin footbridge is now in service. It allows you to cross from the Ain to the Savoie and vice versa over the Rhône in complete safety!

Beautiful greenways from Belley to Virignin and from La Balme to Groslée, ideal for family cycling.

Links

to Genix-sur-Guiers, signposted and adapted for ViaRhôna users from the Barrage de Brégnier-Cordon, a dam (Gélignieux)

SNCF (railway station):

Be careful : no trains directly in the path of this step.

The nearest train station : Culoz

• TER line 35 Chambéry > Culoz > Ambérieu-en-Bugey > Lyon
• TER Line 03 : Saint-Gervais > Evian > Genève > Bellegarde > Lyon

Pont de Beauvoisin station : TER line 54 Chambéry- Aiguebelette – Pont de Beauvoisin – Bourgoin Jallieu – Lyon

Tourist Information Centres :

• Belley Tourist Office Ph. 04 79 81 29 06
• Yenne Tourist Office Ph. 04 79 36 71 54
• Pays de Lhuis and Izieu Tourist Office Ph. 04 74 39 80 92
• Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers Tourist Office Ph. 04 76 31 63 16

Don't miss :

Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers: beautifully located in the Guiers Valley, at the confluence of Guiers and Rhône. Discover the hide-out of a famous bandit, Mandrin, his connection with the cave system here brought out on a dramatic son-et-lumière tour.

Murs-sur-Gélignieux: for its outdoor sports and recreation centre

Izieu: for its heart-rending Musée Mémorial des Enfants Juifs, telling of Jewish children hidden here in the Second World War

Brégnier-Cordon: Musée Escale Haut Rhône, offering an interactive tour of the natural and manmade riches of the Rhône between Geneva and Lyon, with models of traditional boats that plied the river, plus the dugout unearthed in alluvial deposits at Cordon - Also, along ViaRhôna, look out for old boats caught in the sands, contemporary art installations and the remnants of a chain ferry.

La Balme-les-Grottes: impressive natural caverns you can visit, the play of water and light enhancing the tour.

Glandieu: for its waterfall

Markets :

Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers : wednesday morning

Belley : saturday morning