Alpe D'Huez

One of the biggest ski resorts in France and - for cycling fans - the main access road is one of the extra hard Tour de France mountain stages. What you'll see depends on when you go. Go there in the ski season (start of Dec to end of April) and you'll see loads of people carring skis and snow. That's when the town is at its most lively with hotels, bars, restaurants and slopes packed. If you're going to arrive by bike in the winter (as I have many times) the access road will be kept clear but a new dump of snow sometimes shuts it for a short period until the snowploughs catch up. The police sometimes prevent vehicles driving up the hill without chains. On a bike that generally means you wait - unless you've brought chains, but I've never seen a bike there fitted with them. Unlike some police decisions this one is sensible. There are parts of the climb (about 10 miles with 21 hairpin bends) where very little separates you from a 2000ft drop. 

The summer season (June to early Sept) is cycling heaven. From first light (before 5.00am in mid summer) there will be cyclists sweating their way up the hill and at the weekends there's often far more bikes on the road than cars. If you feel like taking them on and pedaling your way to the top the dividing line between respect and, well, none, is under an hour. There is a timing scheme run by the tourist office where you can hire a transponder and, after you finish, get a printout of your time to prove your superior status but as it takes around 20 mins to drive the route you'll be doing well to beat the hour on a bicycle. 

  A number of the main ski gondolas take mountain bikers up to the top of the mountain (about 3300 meters high) where they can make their way back down the ski routes either to the town at 2000m or right down into the valley at around 600m. If you're on a motorcycle and going up the hill around 8.00 / 8.30am be prepared to be overtaken constantly by the local plumbers / carpenters going to work in their vans. 

If you go there out of season (May or Sept, Oct, Nov) it'll resemble a ghost town. The only signs of life will be builders desperate to get their projects finished before the snow arrives. I went there this year (2018) in Sept to finish writing a book. 

There's plenty of hotels (independants mainly - no Ibis type chains) and an RV park but no campsite in the town. There are three 'resort' campsites at the bottom of the hill but I've never used them so no idea what they're like. One of them though is a Castels group member and that's about as good as campsites get. There's loads of other sporty stuff going on in the summer - triathlons etc, and loads of outdoorsy type potential (walking) but as I'm not being paid by the word (or at all) you'll have to figure that out for yourself. I liked the place enough to buy a flat there so I'm not biased in the least ....