The lakes of Alpe d'Huez and the Dôme des Petites Rousses circular loop

Date of your route : Aug 13, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Hike done in August 2025, so inevitably there were lots of people
Two quick notes:
- The car parks on the lake road (including the one at Lac Besson) fill up very quickly. An alternative is to park at the top of the resort and take the shuttle bus
- To get back down from Lac Blanc, there are indeed a lot of mountain bikes. Otherwise, another option is to take the Avachis trail next to the 2700 cable car station, which is well signposted and not very busy. There are several variations, including one that ends with a short section with cables but no major difficulty at the bottom

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Aug 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

As specified in the description, there is a very small section on the climb to the refuge that requires a little concentration and should be avoided in the rain. Quite busy during August, unless you are very sociable, it may be better to visit slightly out of season. Many routes overlap (hiking trails, mountain bike trails, ski slopes, roads, etc.), so it is not always easy to stay on the path. N.B.: there are no water sources between the Fare refuge and the end of the route. GPS and the Visorando app are useful!

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : Yes

Hi
First of all, thank you to the author!

First piece of information: be careful when parking, as there are signs placed horizontally across the road (making them invisible when driving and therefore non-compliant) prohibiting parking between the "parking" areas. I followed other people and never saw these signs when parking. I am very respectful of the rules of the road (200%) and never park in places where I can clearly see a sign, but anyway, that's not the point, haha, just a heads up.

After this mishap on the way back, the hike starts off flat, warming up the muscles very gently, and is very busy, followed by a nice second half after the cable car with relatively few people to pass or overtake. there are three (or four, I can't remember) slightly exposed sections with cables, then the crowds return, most of them probably coming from the cable car, onto this huge flat section of this large and beautiful glacier.

We quickly find ourselves back on the ski slopes, which make up the second half of the route.
If you have £13 to spare, you could be tempted by the Pic Blanc cable car after the dome, but then again... you need to have £13 to throw away and no clouds up there lol.

In short, a hike whose only interest (for those looking for something a little challenging, far enough away from the crowds - The place is packed with people) lies in ~1/4 of the distance, fortunately rewarded by a view of what remains of a glacier above some beautiful glacial lakes (when the clouds allowed me to see them, which wasn't for long in my case, haha).

The old ice locks are impressive, though, and in some places it even looks like the ice receded yesterday (which is the case in terms of our planet's time scale), and the whole "semi-wild" part is really beautiful, even with the clouds I had and with which I played hide and seek.

It's extremely well marked, almost impossible to get lost unless there's fog so thick you can't see a metre in front of you, and even then.

The second half is really boring, where you descend on ski slopes in the middle of cable cars and chairlifts. And in the middle of a few mountain bikers who are mostly coasting downhill. A hike that saved a day of low clouds when I had planned to go higher XD
So thank you for this backup itinerary.

Be careful if you're prone to vertigo. As with anything where they tell you there are "unsecured sections", just don't go there, and definitely don't go in the opposite direction. It's better to go up the slopes, even if they're ugly.
In terms of duration, an experienced hiker will take much less time than this. Personally, without pushing myself too hard, it took me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach the dome, including a long break away from the crowds, so a little less than 5 hours in total. Not exactly a record, then, haha.

Enjoy your hikes! I'm going back to the wilder ones, far from the crowds and the cries of bewildered hikers

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Aug 21, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely route whose main attraction is the presence of several lakes spread across two levels: just past a car park not far from the Alpe d'Huez resort, there is a first series of lakes that are very popular as the car park is easily accessible by car. At the Alpette, the hike becomes more challenging with a steep climb passing by the Refuge de la Fare. Once you reach the second level, there is another series of lakes with far fewer people and patches of snow.

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Sep 27, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The route is busy in the lower section, but apart from that, we had it all to ourselves.
In my opinion, Lac du Milieu is the most beautiful.
The return journey, following Lac Blanc along the ridge, gave us a bit of a hard time. In this section, we had to follow markings with two red lines.

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Sep 09, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

I went on this hike with my dog.
It’s quite busy at the start as the first lakes are right next to the car park.
The first part of the climb can be tricky in places, but there are metal cables to help in some spots. The descent is via switchbacks. The paths are well signposted. The lakes and the view are well worth the detour – it’s absolutely stunning!

Machine-translated