I’m travelling to Passportes du Soleil this summer by car from the UK. We will be leaving the UK on Sunday and arriving in Morzine on the Wednesday, staying for a week and then another leisurely drive back home over a few days taking in some sight seeing.

Can anyone recommend “must do” trails in France on our journey there and back please?

EDIT: Stratobiker help would be appreciated!

I’d stay longer in the mountains and do a few hours on the motorway in France

double post

Bump for the evening crowd.

strato’s gaff is a bit off the way if youre coming back from morzine.

Suisse Normande could be taken in on the way back though.

Check out http://www.utagawavtt.com/gmap/gm-carte-generale-topos-vtt
and
http://www.ffc.fr/a_VTT/a_SitesVTT/index.asp

Salut jesterthefirst,
“must do” trails in France???
Oh la la la la la la!!!! France is a big place, and it depends on what sort of stuff you like.

Like nickjb said, if big mountains are your thing do the extra M-way time and stay there.

If you are goin’ to the Passportes du Soleil you are probably not coming near me (I’m in dept 87 Haute Vienne). But if you were there’s more ‘natural’ trails here than you could ever ride. Mostly, the whole of France has trails, and you can ride them without hassle.

For waymarked stuff check the FFC website here…
http://www.ffc.fr/a_VTT/a_SitesVTT/index.asp

Tell me your dates and proposed route, and I’ll see what I can find for you.

HTH
SB

PS – I was gonna say give stoner a shout! 🙂

Thank you guys 😀

I couldn’t find any websites so your links are really useful. I’ll email you Stratobiker when I know which route we are taking – might be a few weeks though as I’ve got some homework to do!
Thanks again, much appreciated.

I would stay in the alps if I were you. Other areas to look at however would be the Vosges (bit of a detour though) or Bugy (between the alps and Bourg en Bresse). The North of France is pretty uninteresting really.

Having ridden in Morzine/Les Gets and with Stratobiker on his local trails, I’d swerve the Alps and head to the Haut Vienne. The trails are natural and hugely varied, you feel like you are finding them for the first time, and the village cake shops have delicious fare :-).

I love rural France.

I love rural France.

Hell yes

I would stay in the alps if I were you. Other areas to look at however would be the Vosges (bit of a detour though)

Actually, the Vosges isn’t that bad a detour. I’ve often ‘turned left’ at Dunkirk & travelled to the Alps via Belgium & Luxembourg on quiet toll-free roads (well, quiet once south of Brussels) & through the Vosges.

In a big motorhome, what I save in tolls on the autoroutes more than pays for the extra diesel, and it’s far more picturesque. If you’re canny & plan well you can drive via geneva into the stunning Jura enroute to the Vosges. It’s a good roadtrip to remember.

vosages and jura loverly singletrack and really recommended, good and overlooked
we stayed at freland above kayersburg but plenty of riding in the area and as above not much of a detour

If you go through Geneva than you have to pay the swiss road tax.

Vosges is very nice, and very different in character to the alps.

We’ve done the vosage and Jura as stop offs.

I like some of the small hills (one chair) that give you a day / day and half good riding. Kind of like trail centres with more bite.

Jura – Metabief or in the Vosges – Lac Blanc.

If you go through Geneva than you have to pay the swiss road tax.

That only applies if you’re using the autobhan – which, if travelling from Morzine, you don’t have to. From memory you travel from Morzine, St Jean ‘Aulps, Thonon, Annemasse, Geneva centre, then into the Jura virtually the instant you leave Geneva. I once did this in an old over-loaded Citroen ZX with knackered rear torsion bar. It was a very windy road that stops being funny after about 45 minutes.

as Mildred says that is the way we have been as well, we went to lac blanc did not use a lift and i think it there was not one there…….does that make me very old!