Generally speaking we go to Frankenjura or ‘bleau for a mixture of climbing and occasional biking. This year I was thinking that since the kids have moved on to 20″ wheels the options for mountain biking have opened up a lot and an alpine biking holiday might be the way forward.
The various postings on White Room/Basque etc look good but no use at all for a family with 6/8 year old kids. They won’t be able to cycle with the group and it’s a waste of money if only one adult goes out each day.
What I’m looking for is lots of exciting (for a 6 year old) but not too arduous biking to do as a family, followed by 3 hours lung busting exertion in the afternoon.

With a bit of swimming, camoeing, climbing thrown in.
and maybe some other kids for them to play with

Any ideas?

Tenerife/ Canaries.

This doesn’t really work per your description

But how about a Neilsen Beach club. No point if you don’t do water sport
but if the kids do then it frees you up to go biking..

We’re trying with Altitude Adventures in Pyrenees. They have an apartment with kitchen (easier to feed kids at time that suits them) and have suggested a daily rate that we pay out there for whichever days one parent wants to join the other guests / guided group – so just like renting an apartment and pay for whatever guiding we use. Think there is a bouldering crag right behind the house 🙂

We’ve done Ciclo Montana before where one parent paid full and other parents / kids paid the “non riders” price, then alternated so one got to ride each day. Other parent and kids drove out for a walk / play to meet up with group most lunchtimes.

Have also done Alpbach in Austria at Gastehaus Larch. Franz the owner is an mtb guide (around other summer jobs) so it worked OK to get occasional half days or a few hours mtb with him in the evening, maps marked etc. Nice self catering chalet apartment. Staying in the valley you get free passes for the local lifts, with kids adventure playgrounds at the top stations. Nice spot but I wouldn’t say it is the best destination for singletrack – the interesting stuff was distinctly “cheeky trails” and we had to choose times to avoid annoying ramblers etc. I still got a bit of grief one day – back of beyond at 9am on an otherwise deserted trail 🙁

Finally, have been camping at Meiringen in Switzerland a few times. Plenty of kid ride routes in the valley bottom. Then had a few bits of half day guiding from Sandra and Bernard at http://www.erlebniskultour.ch/aktive/default.php

Again – the area isn’t the most mtb singletrack friendly so have to tread a bit carefully.

Garda lake? Mountain biking, cycle lanes, water sports and tons of sport climbing in Arco