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Start from the La Croisette car park.
(S/E) From the car park (altitude 1,175 m; already a superb view of Mont Blanc), follow the red and white markings ofthe GR®® du Balcon du Léman, heading west towards ‘Les Pitons’. After about 50 m on the Route des Crêts, take the path branching off to the left. After a left-hand bend, enter the pasture through a metal gate and continue westwards. Magnificent views over the Chablais, the Mont Blanc massif, the Bornes and the Arve plain to the south-east, and the Franco-Genevan plain, the Jura, Geneva and its harbour, and Lake Léman (Petit-lac) to the north/north-east.
Follow the more or less well-marked route (signposted at regular intervals) which crosses the pastures grazed by herds of beautiful cows. The route is fairly obvious and the walk through the pastures offers a varied landscape, with small woods, sinkholes, charming copses, a diverse range of flora and consistently impressive views. You’ll pass by a small hill, go through a gate and, after a gentle descent, arrive at ‘Chavanne’ and its farm (alt. 1,320 m).
(1) Another gate. Carry on straight ahead, following the barbed-wire fence, whilst trying to persuade the geese not to follow you… The path continues through the pastures (still offering an exceptional view towards Mont Blanc, with the Aiguille Verte as an added bonus); a few gates further on (keep to the left of the road), you reach ‘Le Chenex’.
(2) Carry on straight ahead towards ‘La Thuile’ and enter the forest. Shortly afterwards, turn right, following the ‘Grotte du Diable’ signpost. There is a wide variety of tree species, with a carpet of superb ferns. There are some impressive traces of wild boar rooting.
You’ll reach the Grotte du Diable restaurant fairly quickly; the cave is 50 metres away (altitude 1,330 m).
(3) Back at the restaurant car park, turn right and follow the D41A for a few hundred metres to the Col des Pitons (alt. 1,335 m).
(4) Shortly after the pass (car park), at Les Pitons, keep to the left and follow the signposts for ‘Le Grand Piton’. Go through a gate and head up to the left through a sparse forest, which you’ll soon cross to reach a beautiful sharp limestone pavement on the summit plateau; the 1,379-metre marker is situated in the grass, just before the rocky promontory and the Tour des Pitons (or Bastian Tower, erected between 1820 and 1830 by Claude-François Bastian); “Alphonse de Lamartine, author of the best-known poem about the Salève (the opening lines of which begin: ‘Do you remember the day when, climbing the summit of the Salève with its azure flanks, along a narrow path hanging over an abyss, we took our unsteady steps, trembling?’”) often walked in the mountains with his friend Lord George Byron. Their two names are, in fact, carved into a rock a few metres north of the Tour des Pitons; it is unlikely that Lamartine or Byron were the authors of this double inscription".
As the tower stands right on the edge of the cliff, do exercise caution. To the left, set back slightly, you’ll find the Rocher de la Sorcière. The view is splendid: the Franco-Genevan plain, the Jura, the city of Geneva (the harbour and the Jet d’Eau, the Petit-Lac), the Coin massif (La Corraterie), amongst others. For your information, the Petit Piton (1,359 m) is very close by, but on the Cruseilles side!
(5) Carry on by retracing your steps for a few dozen metres, skirting the edge of the sharp limestone pavement on the eastern side; as soon as you spot red markings on the rocks, head down to the left into the small hollow and follow the ‘path’; then climb the hill for the view (1,370 m).
You can also cross the pasture directly, walking gently downhill to the road, just before the Petit Pommier farm.
(6) To return to La Croisette, turn left and follow the D41 (via ‘Sous Chavanne’), or you can also retrace the path you took on the way there by crossing the road (S/E).
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