Col de Castillon, an absolute must for road lovers
Col de Castillon is a mountain pass at an elevation of 707m (2,319ft) above the sea level, located in the Maritime Alpes, in France. The pass is traversed by the scenic Route des Grandes Alpes.
![Col de Castillon](https://www.dangerousroads.org/cache/images/900x/4/castillon0-bc97e636.jpg)
The road to the summit is asphalted. It’s called D54 and includes several narrow and steep sections. In many places the road is bordered by a drop of hundreds of meters (many hundreds of feet) unprotected by guardrails. Near the summit there are some military fortresses from WWII. It is easily bypassed by a newer main road, which stays in the valley and goes through a tunnel. The pass has therefore very little traffic until the two roads converge above Menton. The name Castillon derives from a village located just to the west of the pass. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1877.
The pass has been climbed by the Tour de France race. There are 2 routes to reach the summit. Starting from Sospel, the ascent is 7 km long. Over this distance, the elevation gain is 359 meters. The average percentage is 5.1 %. And starting from Menton, the ascent is 15 km long. Over this distance, the elevation gain is 697 meters. The average percentage is 4.6 %.