hi there are 4 of us looking to go biking in the alps at the begining of june we are fairley good riders but would like to do it on the cheap what is the best area to head for and any good hotels/campsites that you can recomend ….

I know a great campsite in les Gets if you are interested? A lot will depend on what kind of riding you want and dates you are away? If you want some of the DH fun then portes de soleil area, les gets, Morzine etc. If so then lifts in this area won’t open until the passportes de soleil ride the last weekend of June. This event is good fun but entries open soon so need to get in quickly.

Chamonix, Verbier in Switzerland are all good from what I have heard more singletrack stuff.

At that time of year you’ll have to go with what will be open. Early june the les gets and pleney lifts open in the portes du soleil which doesn’t give you a huge amount to ride.

Have you thought of doing a mini road trip around a few resorts? We went out at the beginning of may last year and did a couple of German resorts and Lac Blanc in france. only 6 hours from calais in a big van, couple of hours between most of them. We did bad wild bad, todtnau. I’d reccomend a copy of Rowan Sorrells mountain bike europe book, it’ll give you lots of ideas for places to go and also an idea what will be open.

For a start avoid the PDS as there is far far better riding out there.

Have a read of our suggestions for a cheap road trip on page 54 of the current WideOpenMag

View the mag here

If your camping I would second the idea of having a road trip it will be a proper laugh!

For a start avoid the PDS as there is far far better riding out there.

If you mean ‘avoid the Portes du Soleil’ then that’s pretty short-sighted. There are the motorways runs, of course (fun but a little samey) but there’s a huge amount of off-piste stuff as well. All depends on what you like, but the lift-assist means you can avoid 2 hours of granny-ring fire-road climbs.

Morzine & Les Gets both have a lot of cheap self-catering apartments, which work out not that much more expensive than camping (if you fill the place) and infinitely better when it rains. Which it will.

There will be a lot of lift accessible single track available around Brig and Visp in Switzerland at that time. If you like to suffer up long climbs you can also do plenty of that too.