Any recommendations?

Looking for a weeks holiday that offers guiding and accommodation.

Previously done holidays in Tuscany, Pyrenees, Sierra Nevada and Alps and looking to try somewhere different

What about guided transalp?

Otherwise, look at Ötztal or maybe Vinschgau.

Not overly sure about guiding there as I just ride by myself….

I’m going to be very interested in this thread, having previously been told by a local that there’s a risk of being shot by hunters if you ride a mountain bike off marked trails 😆

It’s so beautiful and surely waiting for someone to go and be the next White Room etc…

I am booked onto an Austrian mountain bike guide certification in June. I’ll be accredited then. I’m also currently doing a tour guide certification which needs at least 340 hours study and many practical assessments. Call me in July.

Biking Austria based by Leogang/Saalbach/Hinterglemm

You could even stay at my place

Hey Iolo, mind sharing the details of that course?

https://vavoe.at/ausbildung/bikeguide/mountainbikeguide/

https://www.wifi.at/kursbuch/branchen/tourismus/fremdenführer/fremdenfuehrer-ausbildung

I remember reading an article in one of the MTB magazines about guided holidays in Serfaus. The writer seemed to have a good time.

Colp recommends Saalbach/Leogang. It’s a fantastic area for riding. I’ve been the last two summers. It’s very easy to navigate and you don’t need a guide, I rode some of the time with my stepson but a lot by myself. I actually felt I was out riding with people though as nearly everyone I shared a lift with started chatting. Obviously different if you want a guilde to show you off the beaten track type stuff though.

Vielen danke Iolo

Saalbach/Leogang. It’s a fantastic area for riding

Go on then, what’s the secret? We went two years ago and thought it was seriously limited. Having been to Tignes this year I now think Saalbach/Leogang is really really mimited and a waste of an amazing opportunity.

They have around 10 steep downhill trails and around 500km of waymarked landrover tracks. Almost nothing in between.

We loved Wurzelweg and did it loads when we were there. We talked it up big and made the most of it. But in hindsight it was about 2km or excellent singletrack, nothing amazing.

Afterwards I realised what made Wurzelweg seem to great was how dire most of the other stuff was.

What did you like about it?

I think it depends on your riding style. Only Pro Line and X line have any steep bits and are DH tracks really in the S/H valley, the rest are fairly mellow.
My lad’s 2 mates came out this summer on enduro bikes and loved it, they hit everything including the X line road gap.
I agree it’s not a singletrack based place but that’s an Austrian thing with the 2 metre law.
There are cheeky trails that we ride that are fantastic in other valleys.

Few of us did ride Slovenia this year. We did the Alps to sea tour which was brilliant, all accomodation included.

I’m going to be very interested in this thread, having previously been told by a local that there’s a risk of being shot by hunters if you ride a mountain bike off marked trails

Austrian farmers, hunters, foresters and the Wirten (kings of the mountain huts) are a grumpy bunch.

i get yelled at often when we go over the border to ride.

just recently a group of four of us rode 12oohm up to reach a hut and the Wirt started to tell us where we can’t ride. he had hung up signs on every trailhead witha cyclist crossed through and the words “hier fahren vernüftigte leute nicht runter, für alle anderen ist es verboten!”

go google it.

fact is, lots of conflict both in Bavaria and Austria. in places such as Saalbach, Serfaus and Ötztal it is “geduldet”.

It’s so beautiful and surely waiting for someone to go and be the next White Room etc…

see above….

Go on then, what’s the secret? We went two years ago and thought it was seriously limited.

^^ this… fine for a weekend or a beginner, but any longer and the official trails get a bit boring. there are some great trails, but you shouldn’t be riding them.

go further south into South Tirol. better weather, better coffee similar hearty food and a much more tolerant approach to bikes.

There’s a guy called http://www.upanddownhill.com/mountain_bike_holiday/default.htm in the Scheffau area.

I’ve never been but was always semi interested as I’ve skied around there a lot.

I know an Austrian local who rides and things in that area seem to be more about e-bikes with endurance rather than enduro.

^^ this… fine for a weekend or a beginner, but any longer and the official trails get a bit boring

A beginner, earlier

I appreciate what you mean though, it’s an ongoing battle with landowners who have got rich from the ski seasons and think bikes will disturb the animals and spoil the hunting.
They are starting to wake up though, 2 new built flow trails in our area in the last few years and a guide working with the tourist board.

go further south into South Tirol. better weather, better coffee similar hearty food and a much more tolerant approach to bikes.

….This!

After several MTB forays in France, Spain and Austria, we found a great little gem in North Italy (Sud Tirol). We stay at a ‘bike hotel’ in the Pustertal Valley (Hotel Innerhofer at Gais); nice comfortable 3* Hotel whose owners are very keen and experienced mountain bikers & guides. They normally offer at least 5 days of guided rides per week, in two ability/fitness groups. As it’s about 20ish km over the border from Austria, the rules of the game are different and as the guides know the local trails really well, we’ve never had any trouble. There’s shed loads of natural singletrack with barely a tyre mark on them. If you want to venture out on your own, the guides will load up routes onto GPS’s, or if you get tired of pedalling uphil, there are some nice lift assisted trails about 25 minutes easy ride away (Kronplatz). It’s easy to spend a day on the latter, with bars and cafes at the top and bottom for R&R 🙂

I guess I’ve been riding off-road here & there for about 30+ years, but I’ve had two or three rides in that valley that are amongst the best days I’ve ever had on a mountain bike!

If you want any more info, just let me know.

As per spenny

Ride Slovenia. Steep techy rooty Rocky flowy

Just awesome