GR5 hiking trail review: what I liked and what to keep in mind

Hi there, in July I hiked GR5 trail together with my boyfriend. This trail is a long distance trail, more than 650 kilometers and it starts at Geneva Lake, goes all the way to French Alps, and finishes in beautiful Vichy Nice. So this video is meant for anyone who is considering hiking the whole trail or part of the trail. And I'm going to share with you, a short review what I liked and what to keep in mind if you want to do GR5. So let's start with things that I liked the most. And not surprisingly the landscape is one of the things I really liked on this trip. If you're hiking through the whole French Alps you are destined to see a lot of different landscapes and that's what I really liked. Every few days we would enter a different mountain range that has its own features and characteristics. And so it wasn't a boring trip of all the time seeing the same things. GR5 is also awesome for its flexibility. And this flexibility to me came in three sections, in terms of itinerary, in terms of food and accommodation. As for itinerary, you can even start and end the trail in different places. GR5 has a lot of variants so everyone can create their own GR5 anyway. In terms of accommodation, if you want you can basically camp the whole trip but if you want you can also not camp at all. Because there are so many possibilities also due to flexible itinerary that you can create trip how you want it and sleep where you want. And in terms of food I would say there's also a lot of flexibility because every few days you will be entering a valley and so you don't need to carry a lot of food on your own. It's not a super wild trail where you need to rely on yourself. You will also pass a lot of refuges where you can get one lunch or dinner. And also in the valleys of course there will be restaurants, supermarkets, anything you need to get food that you want. GR5 is also very well marked so you don't need to worry about getting lost or that you need to carry maps and compasses. Of course it's good to know where you're going for the day but in general markings are really awesome on this trail. Another thing is that for such a long trail there's actually very little road walk. I think we had to hike a few times on the road and even then the roads were really quiet and there were only a few cars passing by in the mountains so it does feel quite safe. I also found the locals on GR5 very friendly and helpful especially if you don't know where you need to go or you can't find a specific place. So in general people in mountain villages are very helpful. And finally what I like about GR5 is the safety on the trail. So I would say that besides a few mountain goats there are not that many animals on GR5 so you are not worried that a bear or a wolf will attack you. So it's not a wild trail and that's why it also feels quite safe. Okay so the trail sounds really nice and lovely to do but there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First thing is that GR5, if you do the whole thing, is quite an expensive trail. So even if you are wild camping all the expenses will accumulate. We spent a whole month in France and so every single day you are buying food, you're staying in somewhere and those things really add up quickly and so for one month it's quite expensive even though on a daily basis you can go quite cheap if you want to. Another thing that I look back was that socializing was a bit tricky. As we were hiking in France most of the other hikers were French so they tended to mingle with other French people and talk French. And since we only knew a few phrases we were not really part of the conversations. And another difficulty for socializing is the flexibility of the itinerary. Meaning that many people you'll meet will be hiking in a different route. Maybe you will go with them for one or two days but later they might go another way or another speed. And so it's difficult to have a lasting relationship with other hikers because everyone is quite individual. Another thing that comes into my mind is that ending in Greece is in stark contrast to the whole trip. So you will be spending a month in the mountains and quiet villages and peace of the nature and then you will end in Nice which is a big city. And it's busy and active and lots of people are there just to enjoy the holidays next to the beach. And so for us it was a big shock to end up in Nice after all this tranquility of the mountains. So if I was to do this trip again and I had more time I would probably hike to Mentum instead of Nice. So I've mentioned that GR5 is marked really well and that is indeed the case. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the GR5 branded trails or signs are not always there. So sometimes you do need to know to which town you're going on that particular day because the trail will not say GR5. It will just say oh two hours to Prolognone or some other village. So that's something to keep in mind. Another thing that also you've probably heard from my things that I like is that this trail is not very remote. You are never far away from civilization and if you really like to immerse in nature and wilderness GR5 is just not that kind of place. It's alps and alps are not wild. And my final takeaway from this trail is that it is a decent physical challenge. I thought I was pretty fit to do the hike but boy it was tough. Sometimes you know you have to cross a few passes in a day where it's more than 25 kilometers and you're carrying your backpack with 10 kilograms on your shoulders and it's yeah it takes it takes its toll and I would say that you do need to be fit to do GR5 especially if you've never done any long distance trail maybe GR5 is a bit too ambitious to go for 30 days I'm not saying that you shouldn't. Just know that it is a long hike through alps which have a lot of elevation gains So would I recommend GR5? Of course. It was an amazing trip. It was hard. I'm not saying it was easy but it was amazing to see so many different landscapes and to spend one month in beautiful French Alps. If you want to know more about GR5, if you are considering doing GR5 yourself I also wrote a guide on my blog and I will leave the link down below in the description so you can check out for more practical information about how our itinerary looked like, what kind of gear we took, where we stayed and many more things and of course the pictures. Thanks for watching and I'll see you on the trail!