The Vosges…. once, together with the Black Forest, a huge mountain range. Until Italy found it necessary to collide with Europe some thirty million years ago. This created the Alps and the huge plate on which the old mountains lay broke and largely collapsed. In the enormous groove that was created then, the Rhine now separates the Western Vosges from the Black Forest in the East.

The ridge that remained formed the border between France and Germany from 1871 to 1918. 1918, you read that right. The end of the First World War. Afterwards, boundaries were literally shifted, but you can already imagine that the terrain of the Vosges during WW I was a particularly turbulent area…
With this bend route XXL you traverse this entire area. And as fantastically beautiful as it is today, never forget that the roads, forests and mountains here once literally turned blood red….

This XXL version of the curve route again departs from Motohotel Col de Bussang.

Barely 500 meters from the hotel you will find the first sight: the birth of the great Moselle. Although… big? At least not here yet. It is actually hard to imagine that this small source is the start of such a mighty and large river.

A first gas station can be found after a good 3 km. Filling is highly recommended on this 350km tour.
Just before Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle you leave the main road and the curves course immediately opens the warm-up registers; the first of the 115 pins present themselves…

After this warm-up you will be allowed a short breather, and if desired you can actually take it in Cernay. And we highly recommend it. Because… after Cerney, an uninterrupted curve course of no less than 200 kilometers is pushed in front of your wheels… .

And it's not just the curves course that is worth the effort, after Cernay you enter the "Route des Crëtes", the world-famous, imaginative road over the peaks of the Vosges, and on the way to the Bramont you also pass Hatmannsswillerkopf ( immense, impressive, cemetery of useless dead cannon fodder) and the Grand Ballon, the highest peak of the Vosges. You are free to visit these points or not on this route, but we highly recommend that you do….

If you want to fully enjoy the Route des Crêtes, we definitely recommend the nearby route collection 'Route des Crêtes SM-XXL'. This collection is specially focused on this famous road and allows you to 'tast' it to the extreme.

However, the purpose of this route is to make curves… and we will do just that, at least if the weather and time permit. That is why we leave the Route des Crêtes for the first time just after rp 17 and we travel via the D27 towards the Bramont. A curve course without the delicious Bramont simply cannot exist….
After the Bramont you arrive back on the Route des Crêtes, after which we quickly reach the planned rest point with a view of the 'Sommet de Hohneck'. You will be short of time, lips and ears to hear all the joyful cries of your fellow riders, provided you can keep quiet about it yourself…

And then the next bend palace even has to open its doors… Because just after the break on the 'Sommet' and the descent back to the Route des Crêtes you leave this road again to push your tires into the limits again. And this time it can't come fast enough. Due to the fast succession of bends, some more spicy than others, your tires don't even get a chance to cool down before they reach Lac Blanc, a small, nice lake with a beautiful legend as well.

The Devil himself was jealous of a young man whose heart was so pure that he decided to take everything he loved from him. In his great goodness and in full confidence, the young man gave him all that he loved. And then he fell in love… whereupon the Devil decided to take his great love from him too…

That was too much for the fairies of the White Lake, and they hid the woman in Jean de la Roche's castle. Only the pure in heart could see and find the castle through its reflection in the lake.

Unfortunately, the young man did not know this and wandered for years between the Lac Blanc & the Lac Noir. Until one day, in sheer desperation, he crawled high on the rock and suddenly saw the castle appear in the reflection of the water. He was able to open the door, his bride was released, and time turned back to the youth they had lost. The fairies of Lac Blanc continued to protect them from then on and to this day only the pure of heart can see the castle glittering in the reflection of Lac Blanc…

You can stop at the lake and have something to eat at the local facility, but the chances that you will not be alone there are quite high. You can also drive 8 kilometers further to the Col du Bonhomme where there are two spacious terraces to please you if necessary.
You can also discuss here whether or not to take the shortening, depending on the circumstances and the 'desire'. Instead of turning right at the crossroads on the col and continuing the route as planned, turn left on the D415. You will automatically return to the route just after 'Fraize', but you will have saved just under 50 kilometers. But if the weather gods are kind to you, you can still make the detour.

You approach the Lac de Gérardmer on a relaxing stretch, where your arms are allowed to rest after 200 kilometers of continuous bends. This lake is the largest natural lake in the Vosges and a great tourist attraction, both in summer and winter. In winter, the view of the lake from the ski slopes must be truly sublime…

Shortly after Gérardmer you pass La Bresse. It is nice to know that just after La Bresse and your possible refueling there (last gas station on the route…), you will drive for a while along the 'little Moselle', a tributary of the 'larger' Moselle, which you will soon witness the birth of .

Crossing the Moselette you immediately return to the meandering mecca and dessert is served. The first pins will appear again and while you shave off one top after the other, the pulling and pushing work will bring you back to the hotel Col de Bussang. There you can do nothing but conclude that this route has lived up to its name….


The route with nothing but perfectly smoothed asphalt is a real tire eater and for that reason alone a real pleasure to drive. Your driving skills will be duly measured, but the turns are never such that they won't forgive you a few mistakes. On the contrary, their variation makes them suitable for testing all kinds of techniques, although you should of course not push it over the limit…

Because of all this, the route deserves a 5 star rating, although the novice may have to admit this with their tongue on the ground. Fortunately, a small and a medium version of this route are also available so that these categories of riders will also find something to their liking in the wardrobe of the Vosges….