Late May / Early June, 2026
KmM = Kilometer Marker
Albi, a city of about 53,000 to the North-East of Toulouse, has a very pretty downtown filled with large religious buildings. The Episcopal City of Albi has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010.
The Episcopal City of Albi is dominated by the lofty fortified Sainte-Cécile Cathedral, built in the late 13th century from local brick in characteristic red and orange colors. It is the largest brick Cathedral in the world.
Other religious buildings include the Berbie Palace—the former bishops’ palace, now the home to the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, and the Saint-Salvi collegiate church.
Albi prides itself on the cycling around it, although there is no particular ride that you can point to and name. Instead there are lots of villages and lots of quiet roads, and so you can create many different loops. The area around Albi is very agricultural so you’ll be riding through farmland much of the time and will see fields here, fields there, fields everywhere.
Unlike the Luberon area where we stayed before Albi, the villages around Albi are all very small and non-touristy. In the Luberon, many of the villages prided themselves on their beauty and did what they could to attract tourists so it was easy to create rides going between the famous villages. Around Albi the villages are almost inconsequential. They just happen to be on a ride that you have chosen to do.
Here are a few loops.
Northern Loop
This loop starts by heading west, which is much preferable to riding east into the sun. You ride for almost 4 km to the boundary of Albi at which point things become quieter and more peaceful. The first 18 km are pretty flat and then the first real climb starts. But the climbing is not hard, and after a while you are up higher on rolling farmland.
The further you get into this ride, the more interesting and difficult it becomes. Most of the ride is on small, quiet roads, with just a few sections on bigger roads. The loop is about 99 km with 3,900 feet of climbing.
Here’s the climb on Ride with GPS.
Southern Loop
I was a bit nervous about the riding to the south of Albi, thinking it might all be flat, boring countryside. But it’s far from this. This was a delightful loop through beautiful farmland, with lots of gentle rolling roads. The loop is about 76 km with 1,800 feet of climbing.
Here’s the ride on Ride with GPS.
Eastern Loop – north of the Tarn
I wanted to explore the hillier area to the East of Albi, and in particular the Notheast. This is the result. I made a mistake in Ambialet so ignore that part of the GPX file. This loop is about 103 km with 5,200 feet of climbing.
The road along the river, the D700 is almost like a bike path, very relaxing. But towards Albi, I rode up two completely unnecessary but fun and steep little climbs, just to make things a little more interesting.
Here’s the ride on Ride with GPS.
Eastern Loop – south of the Tarn
Another fun ride in the hills to the East of Albi and south of the river Tarn. The highlight for me was the long climb from Ambialet to Alban. The loop is about 78 km with 3,100 feet of climbing.
Here’s the ride on Ride with GPS. We messed up when leaving the Place du Vigan so ignore that part of the route.
Eastern Loop – hilly – both sides of the Tarn
A great loop with lots of climbing on both sides of the river Tarn. The highlights for me were riding up the Côte du Croup, through the tiny hamlet of Cambon du Temple, the descent through Saint-André, the climb up the Route de Lesquiquié (have to love that name), and the climb up towards Assac (my favorite of the climbs). Probably the steepest climb was the climb to Sérénac. The whole loop was about 112 km with 6,300 feet of climbing.
There was a bit more cycling on the D999 than I’d prefer, but I rode it on Sunday morning and there was very little traffic so it wasn’t bad. At other times there can be a fair number of trucks on the road.
Here’s the ride on Ride with GPS.
Cycle Uphill 