well new year started of a bit shabby on the money side of things, but determined not to let it spoil things to much, so I have decided to buy a tent and get in to camping, I have always fancied doing the alps and looked at various hoiliday companies, but is it possible to do it on the cheap,
my plan is to drive there in my van with tent and everything i need and hopefully find a campsite that not to far from the trails, I have nothing set in stone yet and was thinking of going july/august time, I had thought of going morzine area, some where you could get up lifts
so my questions are

is morzine area a good place to go and do you know of any campsites
how much are lift passes roughly
any any thing you can think of that maybe helpfull
cheers
craig

I did it a few years ago but kipping in the converted van.
Camping in Morzine isn’t that easy from memory, there is one up the hill in Les
gets and a couple out of town.
Other downside of Morzine is when the weather turns it gets very wet very quick 🙂
Went from there down to Les Arcs, some nice campsites in town and good riding I think a lot more is easier to find these days and strava would be your friend down there.
Personally I much preferred the riding style down there and the stuff up around St Foye etc. much more trail/singletrack than some other places.
Lift passes just google the resort and hit the summer tab.

There’s plenty of campsites around the Morzine area and across the alps. Its also pretty common to wild camp especially in a van If that is an option. Morzine lift pass is around 20 euros a day. A bit less per day for a week. Some other resorts have cheaper or even free lifts but nothing like the lift network. It might rain so be prepared for that. It’s great. Go!

thats great, we and my mrs dont have to go to morzine, we are open to some other place if the riding is better, we are not super fit so uplifts would be good,

what time of year is best for the weather in that area

I’ve had shocking rain in Morzine for the length of the season 😉
Of my 2 visits down to Les Arcs area and from that the locals have said it’s a lot more stable with less rain and IMHO better trails

Mid summer is the best but it’s the mountains, anything can happen. Should be fine, might be hot and sunny, could be foggy or rainy too. We love Morzine as its a huge area and has every kind of riding plus loads of other activities. Plenty of other places and they will be great too but Morzine ticks an awful lot of boxes.

are there up lifts at les arcs?

http://en.lesarcs.com/stay/in-summer.html
Loads, you also get La Thuile, Tignes, St Foye and a bit more out there.
Take a look at WhiteRoom, Trail Addiction etc for some of the stuff they do up there.

edit – not the same lift pass but all close enough to spend a day in each easily.

thats really good, will speak to the mrs and get the ball rolling

If it’s your first time I’d camp in Les Gets. Nice little site halfway up a mountain. Easy access to probably the densest trail network and lifts everywhere. Loads of people around to quiz for tips or tag along with which saves you working everything out for yourself. Just don’t get stuck down in Morzine at the end of the day.

On the plus side. I’ve never found a bad camp site in France although I’m sure some people have. It’s very easy to go from place to place and avoid any holiday nightmares.

We’ll be setting off again in July. Starting in Andorra and working out way back up. Good luck, it’s great fun.

Not sure about camping options, but last year the lifts in tignes and val d’Isere were free as they were trying to encourage summer use: don’t know if it will be the same this year but might be worth checking out? Lift passes can get expensive

We stayed in Bourg St Maurice, riding Les Arcs, etc. Then popped over to Aosta for the rest of it. Cracking holiday

Camped in Bourg St Maurice a few times. Great access for Les Arcs, Tignes, La Thuile, Pila, La Rosiere. This summer will be our 5th trip.

Camping ale Pré in Montriond is a good place to base yourself in the Morzine area. 15 pedal up to the main lifts in Morzine (slightly uphill) and 5 mins rolling downhill afterwards.

We camp there each year and as with anywhere in the mountains the weather can be a bit hit and miss.

lots of wild camping around Chamonix if you wanted to save money.
Otherwise, We did 2 weeks last year, staying in the van, didn’t do any sites, generally you can stay at the lift in the car park, or near by, made exploring other places easy as we didn’t have to return to a base. We have an outdoor shower for the van, £12 well spent!

Top tip, don’t drive to the top of a mountain pass and think it would be a great place to sleep with amazing views in the morning, even in July it was freezing, sad times using the eberspacher in July!!