The furthest, highest, and most remote trip in the series: Saint-Véran, France's — and Europe's — highest permanently inhabited commune at 2,042m, tucked in a regional park hard against the Italian border, with genuinely dark skies and one of the highest paved roads in the Alps right outside the door.
This is as far and as high as this series goes. Saint-Véran sits at 2,042m — the highest commune in Europe with year-round permanent infrastructure (school, town hall, church), a title it holds specifically because other high-altitude spots in Switzerland and Italy are seasonal chalet clusters rather than real year-round communes. The village is famous for the sundials on its houses and its motto, "the place where the rooster pecks the stars" — apt for a valley almost entirely free of light pollution, wedged between the Écrins and the Italian border. The Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras is drier and sunnier than most of the northern Alps (a rain-shadow effect from the Écrins massif), and driving up from the valley floor you cross the Col Agnel, 2,744m, one of the highest paved international mountain passes in Europe.
Sources: Saint-Véran altitude & commune status, Col Agnel elevation
Meudon-la-Forêt to Saint-Véran is roughly 745 km and about 8–9 hours of driving — still beyond a single charge on a 97%-SOH Model Y Premium realistically doing 330–370 km per charge. Plan on 2 Supercharger stops heading south (Burgundy/Rhône-Alpes corridor superchargers are dense and easy), then the key regional one as you approach the mountains:
Once inside the Queyras there is no supercharging — top up fully at Gap or Briançon before heading into the valley, and again before the long drive home. Budget real slack in the schedule: mountain roads, hairpins, and altitude gain all eat range faster than flat driving.
Sources: Tesla Gap Supercharger, Briançon Supercharger, ViaMichelin route Paris–Saint-Véran
Long haul day. Charge 1–2 times heading down the A6/A7/A51 corridor, aiming to overnight somewhere around Gap or Sisteron so the final mountain leg the next day is short and done in daylight. Full charge at Gap before continuing.
Drive up through Guillestre and the Combe du Queyras into the park. Arrive by early afternoon, walk the village (traditional Queyrassine wooden chalets, fustes, and the famous sundials), and settle into camp before dark — altitude and thin air make first-evening adjustment worth respecting.
The valley above Saint-Véran (via the Chapelle de Clausis) feeds several classic hikes. The easy option: Chapelle de Clausis to Lac de la Blanche is only ~159m of elevation gain, about 45 minutes each way — genuinely accessible. For a fuller day, continue toward Refuge de la Blanche (2,499m) or push on to Lac Foréant (2,610m) via the GR58, a high alpine lake basin right at the foot of the frontier ridge with Italy — remote, near-silent, and about as far from anything as this series gets.
Sources: Lac de la Blanche hike details, Saint-Véran–Refuge de la Blanche route
The Col Agnel (2,744m, D902T) is the highest paved international pass in the Alps, straddling the France–Italy border a short drive or ride from Saint-Véran. It's open only from roughly late June to October depending on snow — fine for a late-July trip. Genuinely remote, high-altitude road cycling with minimal traffic; this is the standout ride of the whole 50-trip series for anyone who wants a proper mountain-pass effort.
Full charge at Gap or Briançon before the long return. Split the drive home over one overnight stop as on Day 1, or push straight through with charging stops if time allows.
The Queyras regional park is noticeably more permissive than a national park core zone. Tent bivouac is generally tolerated more than an hour's walk from villages and hamlets, for one night in the same spot, pitched after 6pm and struck before 9am — leave-no-trace, no campfires anywhere in the park. The Ristolas–Mont-Viso nature reserve (near the Italian border, close to the Col Agnel side) has a stricter rule: bivouac only within 20m of marked trails. Always check current municipal arrêtés, which the park updates.
Sources: PNR Queyras — Le bivouac dans le Parc, Réglementation bivouac réserve naturelle, Camping Les Mélèzes rates
Bike loaded inside, front wheel off, per the Car Camping & Bike Guide. The Col Agnel is the headline ride here, but the whole Queyras valley floor between Ville-Vieille, Château-Queyras and Ceillac is quiet, scenic, low-traffic road riding if a 2,744m pass is too much in one go — good warm-up loops before an Agnel attempt.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Tolls (autoroute south, round trip) | ≈ €70–90 |
| Charging (3–4 Supercharger sessions total) | ≈ €40–65 |
| Lodging (bivouac free most nights + 1–2 nights Camping Les Mélèzes) | ≈ €20–35 |
| Food (self-cooked, plus one Queyras specialty meal — tourte aux herbes or a farm auberge dinner) | ≈ €40–55 |
| Misc (parking, showers if not at campsite) | ≈ €10 |
| Total | €180–260 |