Planning to go out biking in the Alps, I know Morzine is The place, but also hear these days over crowded etc. where else would you recommend going & places to stay etc
Any info greatly received

thanks

Do a search, there are 100’s of threads.

Morzine and PdS in general (Les Gets/Chatel etc) is still pretty good for a first trip as it’s probably the best connected and sign posted area in the Alps. You could also consider a guided holiday which will get you onto trails you’d likely never find otherwise, downside is that most of the popular companies are sold out as the core part of the season is only 8 weeks long.

What is Les Arcs like??
Thanks for info

great, there are huge numbers of threads with lots of good info, try searching for trail addiction or/and white room

Cool will have a good search

thanks

Morzine is a good place to start. Its a nice town surrounded by great, well marked riding. I’d never call it crowded as the area is huge. You might get a queue on the popular runs but it’s easy to get away from there. What sort of riding do like?

Fast flowing Singletrack Love the Wall in Afan ie zig zags & looking to do a bit more DH, only done few DH runs at FOD

Kind of riding you wanting to do?

The White Room always gets my recommendation. Going back this year again. Although they are pretty full this year.

Are you going with a guide or by yourself? I’m trying to get it together to go back to White Room this year, 3rd in a row, love it out there. Uplifts but not mental dh bike uplifts generally, just really top quality riding, not going to say enduro…

Other companies are available 😉 I’ve only ridden around les arcs with guides or people who know the area, but I don’t think I’d struggle to get a week’s riding from the area even without. But for the best I’ll go guided

IMO Stevo at the White Room makes the best of the terrain compared to other guides I’ve had. Always a good balance of climbing, traversing and descending.

I would be going with a few mates & wondered if it was possible to get around following routes?
When you say guides. I know having done ski seasons in France that the French not happy with Brits guiding unless you have done the French Guide courses sometimes even the Brit equivalent MTB guiding course not considered enough…
A few years ago was a story about British guy had lots of MTB courses guiding etc thrown in jail by French as they deemed his qualifications not good enough.

We’ve been to Meribel a few times and love it.

Loads of riding of all types, good lift access and well linked with the wider area (3 Valleys)

Best of all, you can ride all day and only see a few other people.

transition1 – Member

I would be going with a few mates & wondered if it was possible to get around following routes?

Loads of people do go without guides, it depends what you want from your holiday- like, if you go out to morzine or any other main centre I’m sure you could knock out mapped runs for a week no bother, though there’ll be repitition. Down at Les Arcs Etc if you’ve got transport you can knock up La Thuile (stunning btw), Tignes and Val D’isere and you’d not struggle to fill a week. I mean, I could spend a day just lapping a handful of the main lines at Les Arcs, after all if you were in the UK you’d do multiple runs of a couple of tracks.

Buuut, guides are basically a holiday multiplier- you’ll waste no time getting lost or riding crap trails that looked good on the map, and you’ll almost certainly ride good stuff that you’d not have. I figure, when you look at the overall cost of food, accomodation, flights/petrol, transfers, guiding is generally a bargain. British guides are a bit complicated in France but some companies have fully qualified guides.

(trying not to turn this into a big White Room/Les Arcs bumming session… They are brilliant but I’ve not really been anywhere else, they’re so good that I’ve not really looked elswhere. No doubt you could come away just as enthused about tons of companies and tons of areas. Also, WR are more or less full for the uplift season so I don’t think they need the plugging 😉 )

Garda is my favourite.
Good review and useful contacts here:
http://bikemagic.com/mountain-bike-trails/mtb-travel-guide-lake-garda-italy.html

A few years ago was a story about British guy had lots of MTB courses guiding etc thrown in jail by French as they deemed his qualifications not good enough.

it’s a very important question to ask when you book, we did and the White Room covered all the bases.

Knowing it’s all taken care of make things much more relaxed

@transition, a bit more info from me. I’ve done 6 trips to the Alps (3 times to Les Gets/Morzine) and one guided trip (Trail Addiction/Destination-X). The amount of riding you’ll do on a guided trip is far higher as you won’t get lost, you won’t spend time looking at maps or trying to decide whether the trail is ride-able or deadly, the guides push you on pace-wise and they often have the use of a van for uplift so you get extra height and or can collect you from the bottom of a remote valley.

Morzine/Les Gets: If you have a few mates you can rent a self catering apartment pretty cheaply or camp (campsite in Morzine is a little out of the town). Last time in Morzine I stayed at Grand Teton Hotel (my review is on trip advisor) have also stayed with Ski Blue Ridge (excellent) in their catered chalet in Les Gets. To be honest if it’s a first holiday Morzine/Les Gets/Chatel isn’t bad, relatively good number of marked slopes plus some other trails which are easy to find with maps and direction off here. Many of the trails the guides use are marked on maps as footpaths (they know which ones are worth riding and which are not) and it’s common for there to be other trails off these paths, often built by locals. Unless you know about them you’d never find them. The other advantage with the area is it’s close to the Geneva airport and there are a few companies running transfers. It’s also a little closer if you are driving.

One other thought is I am a bit of a fan of multiple resorts/day Les trips – for example if you stayed in Chatel you can get to Verbier (Les Chables lift station at the bottom) in about an hour or to the Swiss end of the Chamonix Valley in less than 90 minutes. Les Gets / Chamonix is about an hour.

Well thanks for all the info, Technically he was threatened with jail or hefty fine…
Owner Endless Summer. Just I know French don’t want us Brits being Ski instructors let alone MTB guides 😀
Had a look at White Room website & they are all fully qualified.

Where to go depends on what you want from a holiday each place has its own merits
PDS (les Gets, Morzine etc) Great fun and a massive area so big you won’t ride it all in a week no chance. in my opinion more suited to big travel bikes, great place if you want to build confidence jumps, drops very man made & it does get very cut up as the season goes on. Especially the runs into the resorts, particularly if it rains.
Les Arcs area more natural stuff more rocky but far harder to navigate on your own there is marked stuff but the really good stuff La Varda, Grannys ride, White 8 and way way more is not marked although you can find it on your own most of it is not easy to locate.
For me Les Arcs every time its quieter and for my type of riding better suited but a guide is a good idea, we normally take one for a couple of days to get some routes off and remind us where to go.
Highly recommend a guide called Yvan, speaks great English and showed us some amazing stuff last year and he is proper quick
+33 (0 )6 88 17 26 19 .

The Goat shed organised him for us, if we want accomodation they were awesome.

Verbier and the surrounding area is amazing, especially if you like varied terrain, endless singletrack and natural backcountry stuff away from the crowds. People to go with are http://www.bikeverbier.com – simply superb in every way. If you post a Bike Verbier thread on here, loads of satisfied guests will rave about this company. They’re one of the original Alps outfits, and still probably the best according folk who’ve stayed with a selection of different companies.

Yvan was out guide when we were out with the White Room, It is a little rocky, it is a little hard, you may die 🙂 Awesome fun for the week

Just I know French don’t want us Brits being Ski instructors let alone MTB guides

Formal qualifications. The French love ’em. A DEJEPS should be about enough 8)

let alone MTB guides

As some have proved it’s possible just play the game, just like anywhere else

Verbier epic place but with the swiss franc so bloomin strong not a cheap place to holiday.
Not tried 3 valleys in the summer has the advantage of free lift passes I believe.
Oh so much choice !!!!!

nashwaymule – Member

Highly recommend a guide called Yvan, speaks great English

Yvan Bonin? Spent 2 amazing days riding with him around sainte foy when he was with White Room. Though if he speaks great english, he hid it well behind gnomic/yodalike trail descriptions, long silences and “OK? We go” Highly recommended, some of the best days I’ve ever had on a bike.

Cheers for all the info..
sometimes I feel like jacking it all in & moving to the Alps to run a Chalet.. Bit of a dream after doing a ski season in Meribel 10yrs ago

Yep Northwind I don’t reckon there is another Yvan…

Ok maybe his English wasn’t amazing but better than my French!!he can ride though and he knows the trails incredibly well.
We will be back there July 12-18 and will be using his guiding services again.