So we have decided we are going to Chamonix and then Verbier in the summer. I need suggestions on where to stay, and any other special reccomendations you can make on what to do (riding or otherwise). I know there are lots on here that have been. Show us your Verbier pics too,

Don’t bother the skiing is sh1t in the summer. 🙂

Stay in The Bunker, and have drinks at Farm Club discotheque? 😆

Talk to Lucy and Phil at bike Verbier, you will not find better hosts and bike guides, really nice people. As for the trails well they are amazing, I never want to leave the place, true mountain bike heaven!

Get some guiding with BikeVerbier. They have a brilliant reputation, and there’s a reason for it. Great people and without doubt some of the best guides in Europe, if not the World.

We went there after Cham on our little tour last year.

There is a distinct lack of campsites, apart from the one down the bottom of the valley in Villet/Le Chable, but it was the scabbiest place I have ever seen, location sucked for riding too.

We ended up staying with the guys from Powder & Snow for a couple of nights.

Riding was good, trails were very quiet & generally in good nick (purely from a DH angle here), some nice secret stuff, and surprisingly cheap lift passes. Everything else was seriously bloody expensive there though, even in comparison to the rest of the Alps (Crans Montana runs it close).

If you are going in a more AM capacity, I think you might need a bit of guiding though. It’s nowhere near as obvious where the trails are compared to the other alpine resorts we have been to.

if you want to do some walking i like the view from by the Chapel and by the climb after the castle, it is out to the north of the resort.

Can’t remember who we stayed with but I know I broke my wrist on the first day and was gutted until I saw where my mates were riding. They filmed it each day and I have never been so glad to be unable to ride! Even they, who were, and still are, MUCH better riders they I am found it challenging. Most of the riding was on edge of the mountain stuff which made a goat track look wide. I know other rave about the place; perhaps our guide wasn’t up to much. Weirdly I feel I ought to go back at some stage to re-assess the place. Loved it for skiing though!!

Souldrummer, surely your guide was a GOOD guide if he was taking you/your mates to such trails 🙂

That’s it then I’m not going to Verbier again if someone that’s not riden there says it’s narrow exposed and difficult.

Think I’ll book a week in Wrexham instead.

Ash – in principal I agree, but when even very experienceed riders were fearing for their safety, I did wonder. Another reason why I was very glad to be hors de combat!!

Yup, some of the riding is seriously on the edge and STEEP. Be mentally prepared to take your riding 3 steps up. Bike shops out there are pretty useless so make sure you go self sufficient. We are going back there’s again this year with Powder and Dust, great guys, great guiding.

in principal I agree, but when even very experienceed riders were fearing for their safety

I’d say they weren’t as experienced as they think.

[img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/5461897739_5017133ec4.jpg[/img][img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/5461903035_a02078750c.jpg[/img] A few from various years up to last year from 2006

Blimey Graeme where was that stuff when I wanted it??

Graeme that looks awesome! I’ve been told that the one side is super steep but the rest of it isn’t. We don’t want full on organised holidays however I wanted to stay somewhere reasonably cheap.

That was in the middle of August 2007, we had about 40 cm overnight , then mostly gone by lunchtime apart from up past the top lift.

You will probably find more than enough to keep every one happy with the riding to be had in what’s known as the Verbier Bowl. I can’t make it this year, going to have to wait until 2012.

Just over the other side of the Verbier bowl.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Lb2aEeBSs[/video]

There’s every kind of riding you could want in the Verbier area

From steep, exposed and technical to nice safe stuff like in the video.

switzerland is just a bit pricey, but honestly, go with Phil and Lucy at bikeverbier if you’re going. ace chalet. ace trails. ace guiding. ace food. ace.

Thing is I don’t want to go on an all in holiday. I don’t want to have meals cooked for me which is why I don’t want to go with BikeVerbier. I don’t mind that’s Switzerland is a little pricier hence why we are looking at camping or cheaper accommodation.

think they’ll do just guiding. give them a shout.

I don’t mind that’s Switzerland is a little pricier hence why we are looking at camping or cheaper accommodation.

Camping isn’t really an option at Verbier, and cheap accomodation doesn’t really exist.

There might be an option of staying in the bottom of the valley and getting the lift up from the lower station however. I should imagine the prices are a little bit more sensible the lower you go.

Someone else did tell me to stay at the bottom of the valley in La Chable I have found a few reasonably cheapish places I find somewhere 😉

Just some guiding sounds like a plan though!

We’re also considering Verbier as part of our Alps mini-tour this summer, and I think some of the guys will be wanting to DIY.

Is it more trouble than it’s worth, considering we have a too-long list of destinations at the moment anyway?

from sept 2010

There are some well signposted blue red yellow etc… trails (these are downhill grades and do NOT represent anything like the UK’s colour system!). Plenty of off-piste as well, but you need someone to show you round really. Great place!

Chappaking are you saying it’s more trouble that it’s worth going to Verbier? well the issue we have is our holiday is 22nd June until 4th July so may of the resorts don’t have lifts open yet although Chamonix and Verbier do (and they are relatively close together) which is why I’ve chosen these 2 resorts. I think it’ll be fine when you get there just want to book accommodation in advance.

Any other handy hints then? If not camping where to stay? And NOT on organised pre booked everything in holidays! Thanks

CP Pics are ace? did you have guides?

thanks for the pics comments 🙂

The guy in the pics has an apartment out there – he’s been skiing there for about 6 years. He knows the place pretty well so we just bimbled round under his direction & played about on the blue (cos it was hard enough for me!) dh run.

Never been to Chamonix, but it really isn’t that long a drive – maybe 1.5 hours?

Verbier is fairly expensive, particularly since the pound is so crap against the CHF at the mo. Pizza = 18-25 CHF, pint of beer = 8-10 CHF.

£1 = 1.5CHF

Chappaking are you saying it’s more trouble that it’s worth going to Verbier?

Sorry, should have made it more clear I was asking a similar Q to yours.

We’re heading out to PPdS – staying in Morzine a few days and then onwards elsewhere in Alps or beyond. Verbier, Les Arcs, Pila, Chamonix and even Lake Garda are all on the list at the moment.

I was keen for Verbier but after reading here about crap camping options, expense and difficulty of self-navigating I was wondering if it was mnore trouble than it was worth to DIY it.

Apologies for slight hijack!

Drop Lucy/Phil a mail and ask for some info on locals or other guides to show you round.
To get the full Verb “experience” you will need someone who knows their way around. My understanding is the maps are not anything like as detailed as our OS and you will spend too much time faffing around and hence less miles per hr/ride and miss out on way too much trail time.
If all you want to do is use lifts to go up & down then probably not a problem but if you want to go for a “proper” all day ride you will need a guide and maybe even a van/minibus like we did 🙂
Have been once and would go back again if I could afford it or any biking holiday atm 🙄

Chapaking if you want to email me I can send on some useful stuff I got from others about lots of areas. I bought the mtb Europe book which has been very useful. There must be places out there it is just finding them.

I looked into going to Verbier independently quite extensively and basically reached the conclusion a supported trip (with Bike Verbier) was the only viable option to get the most out of the area.

But how much did you spend for a week with Bike Verbier? I have got friends who’ve done it (hence why I said I can send you some e-mails Chapaking) so I will do it, jsut research, research and do a bit more! Even if we have ot pay for some guiding I don’t mind.

I’m not familiar with Verbier, I keep meaning to head down that direction but, there are LK maps which are the equivalent of OS maps for Switzerland. You can get them for the whole country at a scale of 1:25000. They have a pretty good resolution and if you know where the trails are they will work for self guiding. This will require someone telling you where the trails are first though or doing a bit of hit and miss exploring.

If you really have no idea where the trails are and don’t want to get lost or spend time hiking your bike down something unrideable then get a guide. I don’t know the Bike Verbier people but I’ve only ever heard good things about them.

For the German speaking part of Switzerland there are 1:50000 Singletrail maps available which show trails graded as Blue, Red or Black. Of course not all trails are marked up on the map, but you can still try other trails that are not marked as bike routes if you fancy a bit of exploring. While these maps do have their flaws they do serve as a good start point to getting some good riding in when visiting Switzerland and as you learn your way around an area more exploration of the beaten track becomes a possibility. Unfortunately I’m not aware of anything like this for the French speaking part.

Hoping to spend a few days in Verbier myself this summer.

Cheers munque chick, I will drop you a line.

I’ve got the MTB Europe book too, is v handy and it gets read quite a bit at this time of year.

The maps are ok but only show you so much. The riding there is fantastic but if I was going for the first time, I’d definitely recommend that you get some guiding as a minimum. You’ll get to the best trails with the least faff. However, availability of guides will very much depend on whether there is space to guide you.

Guests who pay for a full package will obviously be the priority as they are the ones who help the guides stay in business so I would say you’ll need to go with a flexible attitude as to what and where you will be riding.

I’d recommend Lucy and Phil at Bike Verbier for the simple reason that you’ll spend no time faffing with a map and wondering whether you are on the best trails, accommodation is laid on for you and you don’t have to rush back to get a meal in one of the few open restaurants.

Like I said, the riding is great and I reckon going for the full deal will make for a far more enjoyable trip.

Hope this helps?

If you go self catering, definitely book accommodation in advance. A lot of the hotels are closed for the summer so pitching up and finding a reasonably priced place to stay might be a bit of a trauma.

I’m not sure how much you’ll save if you go the camping/ buy your own meals option etc. Verbier isn’t as super expensive as you might think for eating out but it will add up fairly quickly cost wise.

I found that a week with BV worked out cheaper than staying in a hotel and self-catering, with guiding to boot, and all the advantages mentioned above, but if you’re in a group it might be different.

I actually rode a bit independently in the Verbier vicinity last year (though not Verbier itself) and it’s a massive drag if you haven’t had someone give you specific details of the trails together with a GPX. I had a GPX and a very good marked up map and it still detracted from the experience a bit having to check GPS and map at every. single. junction. And even still you sometimes inevitably take the wrong turn and have to spend ages pushing back up in a futile way in the baking valley heat. It was still fun, highlight of my year even, but a guide would’ve helped.

Did an Alps road trip last year, stopping off at Verbier for a few days on the way home. Like everyone has said, its difficult to do cheaply, even if camping. Lift pass (from the bottom of the valley) is twice the price as France or Italy for example, and supermarkets are expensive too. We stayed at the campsite in La Chable, run by a rather ‘interesting’ mother and son partnership. Yes its basic (can’t remember how much it was) but got everything you need and in a quiet location. Its about a 4km drive to the bottom lift station which takes you up to the resort, from where you can access the rest of the area. We found it better doing this than driving up the hill which is quite a way, plus its difficult/expensive to park for the day in Verbier.

With regard to the trails, there are a few dedicated DH tracks which are all pretty much full on and steep but you’d probably soon get bored with these and want to venture further afield….in which case I’d definitely look to get a guide as you’re likely to spend much of your time trying to follow rather vague maps. We hired a great local guy from one of the bike shops in the town and got more riding done in a morning than we did in the previous 2 days. While the pics above make it look fast and flowing, some of the trails were super steep and very exposed…dry when we were there but would be very interesting in the wet.

Chakaping, all the trails in PDS from Morzine are really accessible with a huge area of trails that are easy to find. Les Arcs has great riding but to get the most out of it you’ll need a guide for a day, also probably best to stay at one of the campsites in the valley and get the funicular up, as the campsite is quite a drive up the hill, and also not very central so you’re likley to have to drive to get to the lifts. Pila is essentially a bike park with all trails accessed via one lift, again easy to find using the maps but I’d say 3 days would be enough unless you like riding the same DH trails over and over ….great for practising riding in the dust. The trail from Pila to Aosta has to be one of the best around! Would recommend staying in Aosta as its a beautiful town, as opposed to Pila which really isn’t, and there isn’t mcuh going on there. Have camped in Aosta but site was very basic (but cheap)…there is a VERY expensive one if you fancy treating yourselves.

As I’ve already mentioned a lot depends on what dates you are going and hence what will be available lift wise. so we are going quite early lots of other resorts the lifts aren’t open, as we looked into Pila etc and that’s how we ended up with Verbier.