The La Mure Railway

An hour south of Grenoble, a little red train climbs out onto a ledge cut in a cliff face, and the floor of the world drops away. Hundreds of metres below, the Drac lies in a turquoise thread between wooded mountains; ahead, the track runs on a shelf of stone arches and galleries hacked into the rock. This is the Chemin de fer de La Mure — a metre-gauge coal railway turned one of the most spectacular little journeys in the Alps.

It was built in the 1880s and opened in 1888, not for tourists but to bring anthracite down from the mines of La Mure. It was also a serious piece of engineering: in 1903 it was electrified at ±1,200 volts DC through two overhead wires — a bold early experiment in high-voltage direct current, at a time when almost nothing else ran that way.

The coal traffic ended in 1988, but the tourist trains — running since 1968 — kept the line alive. A landslide closed everything in 2010; after a decade of rebuilding, the upper half reopened in 2021, and the red carriages once again run the cliffs out to the Grand Balcon, fifty minutes and five tunnels from La Mure.

Today's ride starts at La Mure, the old coal town on the Matheysine plateau, where a venerable electric locomotive waits at the head of a rake of deep-red carriages. It is a gentle beginning: the train rolls out across high green pasture and past old mining villages such as La Motte-d'Aveillans, with mountains standing all around.

Then the plateau simply ends. The line swings out onto the rim of the Drac gorges and everything changes. To get along the cliffs the builders cut a shelf into near-vertical rock, carrying the track on stone arches, galleries and viaducts with a sheer drop beneath the windows. Far below, the dammed river shines an improbable turquoise — the Lac de Monteynard — and the ranges of the Vercors and the Oisans stack up on the skyline.

Fifty minutes out, the train reaches its terminus at Monteynard. The viewpoint itself is a 400-metre walk from the platform — the Belvédère du Grand Balcon, a balcony hung in the air above EDF's dam, where everyone stands and looks before the journey back.

What makes it remarkable is how much drama is packed into so small a railway:

• A metre-gauge line of 30 km, opened in 1888 to carry coal, climbing to a high point of 925 m.
• Today's run: 50 minutes through five communes, five tunnels and over three viaducts, on a ledge cut into the cliffs above the Drac.
• Electrified in 1903 at ±1,200 V DC on two overhead wires, a genuine pioneer of high-voltage DC.
• Vintage red carriages with drop windows, and the Lac de Monteynard shining far below.

Note that only the upper half of the line — La Mure out to Monteynard — has run since the 2021 reopening; the lower section down to Saint-Georges-de-Commiers remains closed.

This is a seasonal tourist railway, not a public transport service — so it runs to a published programme rather than a daily timetable, with the most departures in July and August. In winter it does not run.

Real departures (2026 — confirm before travelling): in high summer (4 July–30 August, Mon/Tue/Fri + weekends) trains leave La Mure at about 09:20, 10:30, 11:40, 13:40 and 15:00, with an extra late run around 17:40 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In the shoulder season (31 August–1 November) there are two a day, roughly 10:30 and 15:00. The run to the Belvédère de Monteynard takes about 45 minutes each way.

Two things are worth knowing before you plan:

Trips are return excursions from La Mure. Allow the best part of a half day: fifty minutes out, time at the terminus for the 400-metre walk to the Belvédère du Grand Balcon (and lunch at Le Panoramique, if you like), then fifty minutes back. Add a couple of hours if you take the DUO ticket and stop at the Mine Image museum on the return.

The operator is blunt about booking: "We strongly recommend booking in advance on our website, as trains fill up quickly." Take that seriously in high summer — if a train is sold out online, it is sold out on the day too.

Programme last checked: July 2026; the operator publishes its calendar and times as images that change each season, so confirm before travelling at lepetittraindelamure.com (opens in a new tab).

Unlike the regional trains elsewhere in France, this is a heritage excursion with its own tickets: you buy a return trip from La Mure, not a point-to-point fare, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply. Book online with the operator, because the trains genuinely sell out in July and August and a sold-out train is sold out at the window too. Children's fares cover ages 4 to 15; under-fours travel free.

Beyond the plain return, the DUO ticket adds the Mine Image museum at La Motte-d'Aveillans, taken as a scheduled stop on the way back — a two-hour guided tour inside the real anthracite galleries the line was built to serve. There is a single class aboard the restored carriages: plum velour benches, wooden luggage racks and big drop windows. Take a layer even in summer, because you are at around 900 metres and the windows are open.

The railway sits in the Matheysine, a high plateau of lakes, pasture and old mining country between Grenoble and the southern Alps — a corner of France most visitors drive straight past. Pair the train with the lake below it and the mines beside it, and the Matheysine easily fills a couple of days.

Most people ride the La Mure train as a day trip from Grenoble, and that works well: the city is about an hour away, has hotels at every price, and gives you somewhere lively to eat afterwards. But the plateau is a lovely place to linger. La Mure itself has a handful of simple hotels and guesthouses, handy for an early departure. Around the Lac de Monteynard, campsites, gîtes and small family hotels put you beside the water — the best choice if you want to combine the train with sailing, swimming or the Himalayan footbridges. For something more Alpine, the villages of the Matheysine and the edge of the Vercors offer walkers' inns and chambres d'hôtes with big mountain views. Remember that the railway is seasonal and the plateau sits high — nights are cool even in midsummer, and out of season much of the tourist infrastructure, the train included, simply shuts. Check that the trains are running before you book a bed for them.