Hi folks,

Any experiences greatly appreciated, heading into the alps for a long weekend, inc biking, sometime in July, and wondering if anyone has any recommendations of resorts/hotels/places that are particularly family friendly, esp for younger kids (6, 5, 5 and 2). Great biking also an essential.

Is Portes du Soleil any good for wee kids? Meribel article in recent MBR was V inspiring and makes it pretty appealing, but it is maybe not the best for wee ones.

We live in Switzerland, but would rather get into France as it is so **** expensive to live here, let alone holiday as well!

Hope some can help, thanks.

Kev

Butlins 😉

I'd recommend Tignes (just up the road from us). Absolutely every sport/activity you could possibly imagine for the kids (including a great pool with flumes and such-like). The riding is a bit DH orientated, but there's some great singletrack slightly further out – the big bonus on the riding front is that the lifts are FREE this summer! 😯

wow, free is appealing. Hadn't thought about Tignes as a summer spot, I guess there would be plenty going on, Val not too far away either… Hmmm… good thoughts. However, looking for more of a lift assisted XC/trail riding than full on downhill battering. Will rpob rent bikes for a day of that, but our own kit is, sorry to say, hard tail clown bikes so into a bit more flow up, down and across rather than just DOOOWWWWNNNN!

Grantway, if there was a Butlins in the Alps, I would be in like Flynn!

Any more thought peeps?

Ta!

Kev

Anywhere else that anyone has experienced?

Appreciate any comments.

Kev

Morzine is v busy but good for little kids, great pool for children and other activities, play areas etc. Eating out isn't that great in my experience there but plenty to do. Worth staying out of town a bit with family in tow I think.

Also Les Contamine is good for a quiet family holiday, swimming lakes, play areas, good walks and activities all at hand.

Zell am See, in Austria. Plenty for the non-rider. Then drive to some of the bike parks, like Leogang or Hinterglemm.

I would look into staying at Bourg St Maurice, funicular access to Les Arcs with loads of great cross country tracks a proper town for the wife with swimming pool for the children. Also good access to Italy and Annecy for days out. Tignes and Val are just up the road but can be very bleak if the weather is bad but great when the sun shines.

2nd Morzine. Lots of family stuff (assault course, horse riding, swimming pool) and you can get a good size chalet slightly out of town very cheaply. A few trails that are fire road all the way down, too, if the kids have bikes

Have you thought about Austria? Somewhere in Voralberg near a Lake, or up around Seefeld in Tirol there's stuff for families and good biking.

Vouch for Morzine too. Plenty to do for everyone including kids. Loads of stuff up in Avoriaz for the kids (and adults for that matter). Last year we had a chalet for 14 in Les Prodains just beneath the telecabin up to Avoriaz and it was great – kept the parents, in-laws, wife & nipper very entertained for a couple of weeks.

Consider a different tack:
The Jura.
closer to nature. More suited to 'clown bikes'
More smiles.

OK folks, cheers! Morzine is getting a thorough googling, but Jura is being unsurprisingly coy though trad search channels. Any insights Mugys_m8?

ta!

Kev

There is a good mixture around where we live. Places like Hexenwasser (Witches water) for the kids and loads of good mountain biking.

Here are a couple of links…

Hexenwasser

and our place — upandDownhill.com

If you have any questions just give us a shout.