Planning a trip to the Alps, prob summer 2018, with 2 kids (who will then be 9 and 7). Thinking of Tignes, as it has green and blue graded DH tracks. Anyone else been with young kids, would you recommend?? Thanks 🙂

Can’t think of a better resort. There’s loads to do outside of the biking, – lot of it is free (including the lift pass – that saves quite a bit over a week) they’ll be well entertained. Loads of biking options for them too.

Been with a 9 and 13 year old and enough riding out there to keep erveryone occupied. as per the norm greens and blues are a step up from home remember they are graded dh, some nice enduro trails as well. The bonus was all the other activities were free . Bag jumps, hop jumping , boats on lake etc so plenty to do when dads away and keeps cost down. Also you can take a trip up to the glacier and if timed right a summer ski or snowboard is possible. Negatives are its high so can be quite cold and fail to reach 17-20 degrees , it’s above tree line so not quite as pretty as other resorts & and whilst the trails were OK for a week for a half competent me they wouldn’t make me go back just for them. Whole package is hard to beat though

It’d be a great place with kids I reckon- there were loads out when we were there and there’s tons of other non-bike stuff. It’s a bloomin ugly resort mind but lots going on.

I don’t know why but as soon as we got there it just felt “UK trail centre”, instantly familiar.

Yeah, there last summer. Great for kids, loads to do around the lake, fun tracks, good sights nearby, great resort.

I worked in Tignes for a holiday company as a bike mechanic in 2014. Saw loads of families come and go as I was working there. All of the guests near enough had at least one child. As others have mentioned there’s loads of free stuff, the riding isn’t particularly too hard if you’re experienced but was enough to keep me occupied for 7 weeks or so! Good few green tracks, found some of the guests on some of the blues too. Something for everyone

Hello!

I took my family there for a couple of weeks last year.
Kids were 8 and 6 at the time.
We stayed at http://www.chaletchardons.com/ and I really can’t praise them enough.

The resort is ace, you can do pretty much anything you want for free if you are staying in accomodation that provides the Tignes card.
We didn’t have any issues booking on to do anything, unlike the likes of Centerparcs.

As far as the riding goes, it’s perfect for Dad’s to grab a cheeky afternoon or morning. The Enduro trails are “natural” the DH trails moore bermy and tabletoppy.

As far as riding with kids, what bikes will they be on?
I went up the Palafour lift to check out the greens before taking them up and came to the conclusion that on 20in wheeled Islabikes they were too rough. The likes of Intersport seem to take big groups of beginners down these trails which results in braking bumps galore. But they’d be fine on a 24 or 26in wheel.

However, the Popeye trail from Val D’Isere is a 12km downhill trail that my 8 year old took in his stride.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Jv6SGL]Mini ripper in the big mountains! #mtb[/url] by Dan and Claire Lees, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Krz7kk]2016-07-24_02-46-14[/url] by Dan and Claire Lees, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KhgV4Y]Clif bar and Mini Saucisson break! #mtb #islabikes @islabikes @chromagbikes[/url] by Dan and Claire Lees, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JKK9xW]2016-07-31_07-36-03[/url] by Dan and Claire Lees, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KDraP9]2016-07-31_07-39-04[/url] by Dan and Claire Lees, on Flickr

There are a couple of XC trails which make for a relatively chilled family ride and you can do a ride from Bourg down the valley to a lake/play area which is a fun for the kids.

I agree that you are HIGH, you will be blowing out your arse for the first 3 or 4 days and the kids will be too.

Any questions give me a shout on here.

Brilliant, thanks all so much for your replies! Youngest child (currently aged 5) is on 20″ Islabike at the mo, hence why I am waiting to go next year rather than this summer when hopefully he will be on a 24″ bike with front suspension. They are both pretty competent bikers, no problem on trail centre blue routes, and they’ve both done some red route sections (eg. Spooky Wood at Glentress and some at Whinlatter), but I wasn’t sure how difficult a green or blue grade DH track would be?? My other concern was using the chairlift – there will be 3 of us (me and 2 kids), and wonder how you get 3 people and 3 bikes up? Can you fit more than one bike on a lift? Can a lift fit 3 people? Do the guys who run the lifts help you lift bikes off at the other end if you’re on a separate lift to your bike? Never been to the Alps with a bike so a little unsure how it works! Thanks 🙂

There are 2 types of lift in Tignes, chairlift and gondola. Their are lift attendants to load the bikes and then you take it off yourself at the top. The main Palafour lift which accesses 2 Green trails is a 4 seater so you can hand your bikes over and all jump on the same chair (and a bike is loaded on the side). When you get off at the top grab your bike and wait for the other 2 to come up on the next chairs. All of the trails are well signed. Palafour is a good place to start as the Greens cross over the blues a couple of times so you can see the difference in grade. I also had a day out on my own checking the trails out before taking my son out so I could judge based on his ability. Blues on the Palafour are ok but a lot rougher than Green. If you head over to Val Claret the blues there are more difficult as they are steeper, switchback berm style so more about controlling speed. All good fun but just need to judge their ability. As others have said there is loads of other stuff to do and we had a great time last summer and even when it rained overnight the trails dried quickly the next day.

Good timing this thread, thinking of heading there with my son in the summer.

Thanks for all the info and top tips, much appreciated. Just wish I didn’t have to wait another 18 months for the trip!

Thanks for the advice, I booked an appartment in the centre of Tignes last night for the 8th – 15th July.
Any suggestions of where to spend another week, with good biking (preferably uplifts)?

We went from Tignes to Les Arc.
That was good too, but not so sure about with kids.