The ancient salt road on the Ligurian border between Italy and France makes the heart beat faster. It’s narrow and there are usually no crash barriers, but the views are even more beautiful. Why it’s not suitable for all drivers and what else you should consider: TRAVELBOOK provides an overview.
To the left an overhanging rock face, to the right a many hundreds of meters abyss, in the middle a dirt road no wider than two fingers wide of the car – such scenes are otherwise only known from fuzzy YouTube videos of the most dangerous roads of the world, somewhere in the Andes or the Himalayas. But this is not an expedition to South America or Asia, but a trip to the Alps and an ordinary road to boot – or at least what they think it is in the northwestern tip of Italy bordering France.
Ever since the military began gluing fortresses and border barracks to the peaks nearly 150 years ago, there has been a dense network of slopes and trails through the Alpes-Maritimes. Today, the roads serve peaceful recreation purposes, but offer many adventures for motorists.
Toll and car limit on main route
By far the most famous of these Alpine slopes is the High Salt Road, the Alta Via del Sale: Because it runs permanently at more than 1800 meters and sometimes scratches up to 2100 meters. Sometimes in Italy and sometimes in France, it stretches for about 60 kilometers from Limone Piemonte to Monesi di Triora, which is as gravelly as it is jagged.
It is so spectacular and so attractive to tourists that neighboring communities have introduced a toll system on the approximately 30 kilometer long central section of this road. With a €20 ticket and a limit of a few hundred vehicles a day, they make sure it doesn’t get too crowded. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the route is reserved exclusively for hikers and mountain bikers.
Also interesting: An overview of tolls in European holiday countries
Just don’t lose your nerve when things get tough
Although the number of cars in the heart of the Hohe Salzstraße is limited, as it can be driven in both directions, there are often delays. Again and again you have to look for alternative places and sometimes maneuver several hundred meters backwards.
There are usually no guardrails, so you need to be able to drive well and know your car and its dimensions accordingly. It is not for nothing that the Denzel Alpine Road Guide warns against high physical and mental stress and rates the route on a scale of 1 to 5 with a difficulty of 4 to 5. This makes the Alta Via del Sale a “difficult route even for those who are used to the mountains (and) require much above average driving skills,” says the guide.
When the mountain farmer comes towards you in the transporter
Even though it’s mainly heavy off-roaders you see on the route – overlanders with roof tents and raised vans – you can easily master this Ligurian border experience with modern SUVs. Or with completely conventional small cars.
That’s why you only feel like a secret expedition leader on an off-road adventure until you see a Fiat Panda around the next bend or a local mountain farmer comes across a pickup truck.
Sleep in the valley – or with the cows in the hut
If you are in a hurry, a day on the Alta Via del Sale is enough. But if you not only want to look at the road, but also at the view, if you take breaks and photos and occasionally take a few steps, you should plan at least an overnight stay.
It can be spent downstream, for example in the cheerful and sleepy Tenda, clinging like a swallow’s nest to the hill at the foot of the pass, where there are recharging stations for electric cars and where the famous Tenda railway takes you on a journey train to Turin or Nice tempting the other way.
But if mountains, then please mountain cabin. And none of them are as picturesque and at the same time attractive in this area as this one The Third Refuge. If you call the innkeeper ahead of time and are driving the right car, you can certainly drive the last few hundred yards from the parking lot to the door.
They cook deliciously at the Refuge and of course the Vino Rosso is tempting, but be careful: the curfew is at ten and shortly after the lights go out in the simple rooms. And you can take it literally, because the diesel generator is then turned off. It is therefore better to charge the batteries of cameras and smartphones first.
The road to the sea is short
If they then turn the generator engine back on at seven in the morning, things can continue. The Alta Via del Sale website lists half a dozen of them itineraries they are all worth exploring. So you can let off steam for days up here – but you can also end the hike in style and whiz along seemingly endless serpentines in the direction of paved roads until the view widens and the blue of the sky and the blue of the Mediterranean fills the landscape .
And at the latest when the car arrives at the beach in Ventimiglia, Menton or even Monaco and shortly after the sea water wets your ankles, even the heaviest lead foot becomes very light and the hardships of the Alta Via del Sale they are forgotten in no time, until the question of the route on the way back arises.
Alta Via del Sale – more information
The Alta Via del Sale is located in the extreme northwest of Italy and the extreme southeast of France and begins just beyond Limone Piemonte in Italy, which is just under a two-hour drive from Turin.
The main part of the dirt track measures 30 kilometers and can be covered by car five days a week at a cost of 20 euros. Access by bike costs 1 euro. Grenzkammstraße is closed to motor vehicles on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The trip is possible with all cars depending on weather and road conditions. Four-wheel drive is useful but not necessary. On the official site of the Alta Via del Sale there is route information, possible closures and tickets for the main route to purchase.
There are overnight stays in the valley, for example in Limone Piemonte and Tenda, or in the mountains, for example at the La Terza Hut.
Location of the Alta Via del Sale in Italy
With material from dpa
