D2566 · Alpes-Maritimes · France

Col de Turini

The most famous stage of the Monte Carlo Rally, in the hills behind Nice. Tight, narrow and relentless, with hardly a straight between the hairpins.

Where is the Col de Turini?

In the Alpes-Maritimes in south-east France, north of Nice. The route on this page climbs the D2566 from La Bollène-Vésubie to the col at 1,607 m.

Why the Col de Turini is famous

The climb has been a stage of the Monte Carlo Rally for decades, often run at night and in snow and ice. It is one of the most famous rally stages in the world.

Look at the grades: most corners are a 1, 2 or 3, and many come chained one straight into the next.

Col de Turini hairpins

Over 12.6 km Turini calls 19 hairpins, 1 square corner and 131 corners graded 1 to 6, plus 1 crest. That is 153 calls in all, one every 82 metres on average. Grade 1 is the tightest, 6 is nearly straight (how to read pace notes).

Elevation profile

From 665 m at the start to 1,608 m at the finish, with a highest point of about 1,620 m. Red marks are the hairpins.

Col de Turini pace notes, first few km

The first 25 calls, exactly as Turini reads them, with the distance from the start.

That takes you to 1.77 km. 128 more calls follow over the remaining 10.8 km.

Col de Turini the other way

Driven back down from the col to La Bollène-Vésubie, the same road gives a different set of calls: a corner that tightens going up opens going down, and the grade depends on which way you come at it.

Going up, Turini calls 19 hairpins; coming down, 21. The same bend can read differently from each side.

Before you go

The road is narrow, with low walls and steep drops in places, and many corners are blind. In winter the upper part can be icy or covered in snow.

Rally weekends bring road closures and crowds. Outside them it is a quiet mountain road used by locals, cyclists and motorcyclists.

How to drive the Col de Turini with Turini

Set the route before you leave and Turini saves its notes on the phone, so it works with the screen off and no signal. On the road it reads each call about 4.5 seconds before the corner, timed to your speed, and you never touch the phone. It also works through Android Auto. If pace notes are new to you, start in Simple mode (Easy, Medium, Hard) and switch to the 1–6 scale once it feels natural.

Always drive within the law, the conditions and what you can see. Turini tells you what the map says; the road is what counts.

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