Gran Paradiso - Summary

In 2014 we decided to visit the Gran Paradiso National Park in North West of Italy. It sits on the French-Italian border and is continuous with the Vanoise National Park in France, making the largest area of National Park in France and Italy. The Gran Paradiso National Park contains the only 4000m peak, Gran Paradiso at 4061m, that is entirely within the Italian border, (whereas Mont blanc is straddles the French Italian border).

Cicerone have published a useful guide to the National Park called, Gran Paradiso, by Gillian Price

Map showing our route. I have added a separate post with a full size version of this map so that you can see it more easily.

The park is a stronghold for the ibex that are a protected species having dropped to very low numbers in the early 19th century. Number have now increased to approximately 4000 and you are very likely to see them on your walks in the park. There are many refuges and campsites so route planning is relatively easy.

From	To	Via	Mode of Travel	Ascent/m	Accomodation
Home	Paris	London	Train	N/A	Hotel In Paris
Paris	Ceresole Reale	Turin, Riverolo, Pont Canavese	Trains and Busses	N/A	Camping
Ceresole Reale	Rifugio Savoia	Rif. Muzio, Col de Nivolet	Bus and foot	1155	Rif. Savoia
Rifugio Savoia	Pont	Punta Violetta o Nivole	Foot	609	Camping
Pont	Rif. Vittoria Emmanuel	Rif. Tetras Lyre	Foot	773	Rif. Vittoria Emmanuel
Rif. Vittoria Emmanuel	Rif. Chabod	Slopes of La Tresenta, Rif. Vittoria Emmanuel, Rif Chabod	Foot	808	Rif. Chabod
Rif. Chabod	Pont		Foot	170	Camping
Pont	Rif. C. Chivasso	Gran Collette	Foot	1140	Rif. C. Chivasso
Rif. C. Chivasso	Rif. Benevolo	Col Rossett	Foot	780	Rif. Benevolo
Rif. Benevolo	Rif. Mario Buzzi	Col Bassac Dere	Foot	1007	Rif. Mario Buzzi
Rif. Mario Buzzi	Rhemes Notre Dame	Col Fenetre	Foot	500	Hotel
Rhemes Notre Dame	Bien	Col di Entrelor	Foot	1352	Camping
Bien	Rif. Vittoria Sella	Col Lauson	Foot	1700	Rif. Vittoria Sella
Rif. Vittoria Sella	Valnontey	Herbetet traverse, Biv Leonessa	Foot	780	Camping
Valnontey	Aosta	Gimillan, Col Tsa-Setze	Bus, Foot, Chairlift	1250	Camping
Valnontey	Valnontey	Lilaz	Bus and bicycle	N/A	Camping
Valnontey	Turin	Aosta	Bus and trains	N/A	Hotel in Turin
Turin	Home	Paris, London	Trains	N/A	Home

Gran Paradiso - Aosta and Turin

Roman Arch of Augustus 

Aosta is well worth visiting. We were on our way to Turin and spent the morning and early afternoon here before catching the train to Turin.

We caught the free bus from Valnontey to Cogne and then the service bus to Aosta.

Aosta is the principal city of the Aosta Valley.


The City has some fantastic Roman remains right in the heart of the town, so you can walk from the main streets into the historic parts in minutes.

Roman bridge, Pont d'Ael

Just beyond the end of the main street there is an Arch built to celebrate the return of Augustus after a victorious conquest.





Over the road there is an old bridge that once spanned the river, but it is now dry as the river has changed it's course.





















The main streets are largely pedestrianised and are lined with beautiful balconied buildings with flowers everywhere.








Archways lead to courtyards that you just have to explore.


On the Sunday 24th we caught the TGV back to Paris, then the Eurostar to London and the train to my sister-in-laws house to pick up the dogs.

They looked very happy.

The East gate to the walled city.

Gran Paradiso - Sentiero del Re

The campsite at the eastern end of lagi di Ceresole Reale (Cassa Bianca) has a new chalet style cafe with the showers and toilets below. It all appears to be new. It is very smart and clean with hot showers. We were pitched on a small grassy terrace looking rather worn after the summer season and all the rain that northern Italy had experienced in July. 

Ceresole Reale is one of the 29 "Pearls of the Alps". These are Alpine villages and communities that promote "soft mobility". This means that they are accessible by public transport and promote sustainable holidays. They invest in alternative energy and support environmentally friendly holidays.

Looking east towards Col de Terra

We ate some breakfast in the cafe packed the tent and set off up to road to catch the bus  at 9.00am. The bus arrived on time and we got off at rifugio Muzio  then walked up the road to Chiapili di Sopra (1754m). A small path headed up the hillside alongside a small stone barn in a NE direction (route 533) to a spot height 2543m at a junction of paths. We dumped the rucksacks and headed NE on route 14 far enough to have a look at the path in the opposite direction and towards Col d Terra. 

Sentiero del Re, looking west towards Lago Serru and the French border

On returning to the bags at the junction we draped the wet tent over a large rock to dry in the sun and ate our lunch. After lunch we walked west along Sentiero del Re, a very pleasant contouring path heading toward Col del Nivolet. It had beautiful views west towards Lago Serru and the mountains behind that form the French border.

We took a right turn near Bastalon onto route 550 in a NE direction to a series of small lakes including L. Losere.

We briefly joined the Tarmac road to the first of the steep zig zags where a reinforced path climbed steeply up the hillside, thus avoiding a long walk on the road. The track leads to Rif. Città di Chivasso where we stopped for a drink and some jam tart. 

Unfortunately the refuge was full when we tried to book in from the UK. The guardian said that a group had cancelled at the last minute and that there was now space. We had already booked ourselves in to Rif. Savoia. So much for planning in advance, so we carried on down the valley to our refuge.

When we arrived at Rif. Savoia (2532m) we found that we were booked into a private room with our own double bed, wash basin and shower.

The weather had been OK and certainly better than the heavy rain forecast. We had a brief shower, there was a cool wind with some low cloud. The sun did make a show at times making it pleasantly warm.

The meal that evening consisted of a thick green soup, boiled potatoes, cabbage beef (egg for vegetarians) ice cream, panacotta and some red wine.

After a good nights sleep we had breakfast at 7.00am, consisting of tea, bread jam and yoghurt biscuits and toasties.

Ascent 1155m
Descent 330m