I'm probably heading home to Oz later this year, would really really like to take the 'big bike' to the Alps for some big mountain/mahoosive long descent type riding (so uplifts and the like!) - trouble is my budget is going to be severely limited (first born on the way, moving costs back to Oz etc etc), so need to keep the cost to a bare minimum in order to swing it past my wife...
So, what's the cheapest way to do this? Bus? Liftshare? Squeezy Jet/Ryanair? Camping/Hostels? All advice and tips welcomed!
cheers 🙂
liftshare out + back.
Camp, but not in campsites.
Eat nothing but pasta.
Sorry but this is a weekley thread, use the search function. Can't you afford it now you spent too much on your bike? 😉
+1,need to go on a budget too.
Cycle. Realistically a van or minibus share then camping.
Five of us drove to Zermatt in 2008 for £350 each including fuel, ferry, tolls, chalet rental & a kitty for breakfast/evening meals.
Flying is cheaper than the train options and much quicker. Finding some folks (4 inc you to get a decent benefit over flying) driving down will be cheapest. Camping in sites is an option but not that cheap if you do it officially. Food wise stock up in a big supermarket lower down the valleys rather than buying everything in resort.
I'll be driving down at the end of June if you want a lift.
Renting a car, euro star over, french tolls and petrol for 10 days should cost around the 600 mark.
bonus is you get to bring a DH bike, XC bike and tools to fix anything. the shop prices over there are crazy.
give me a shout if you want a lift!
5 nights in July is costing me;
Flights (inc bike) 151.48
Car park 33.40
Accommodation 243.01
Transfers 41.40
Lift pass 90.91
Total 560.20
Food & Booze - expensive €7 per pint!
Borrow a van, join the poor students in the big car park in the centre of Morzine, by the Champion normally in the bottom corner. Live there for a week, wash in the river or the pool (don't forget the speedos).
Live on pasta, French bread, ham and cheese.
Cost; fuel, ferry, tolls, lift pass & food.
Proper pikey.
Yup Hobnob remember they won't let you into that pool in your baggy shorts!!
Last year I drove to the Alps with a friend in an old crate of a van we picked up off a scrapheap. We spent 6 weeks bivvying, eating out of rubbish bins and eating shit loads of pasta. We washed ourselves in lakes and once stole a steak from an unsuspecting french mans plate.
We rode every day, climbed some big hills, cheered the TDF, got really pissed with some norwegian girls at 2500m and only spent £250.
Just get out there. Alpine bin men is one of my favourite games.
You'll generally get cracking deals on chalets/apartments if you have anyone to share with and are willing to shop about a bit. We paid £90/each/week for a palace in Morzine with hot tub, etc. Paying £100 each for apartment in centre of Ad'H during the Mega.
Gooner, any details on that flight your taking?
I have a brother out there to stop with so would only need to get me and the bike out there with some beer money!
heh, my week away has totalled to a grand so far, that's without travelling to and back from the airport, and any spends i may need whilst over there, and spares!
But a mate managed to do a week o £300 last year, managed to bum onto a group going out there for a lift, then he camped and bummed onto a lift on the way back too.
We just booked a car + 3 people return for £50.
Sorry to go off topic but how safe will my bike be while camping, is there much robbing going on?
you should be fine out there while camping. I lost my phone and wallet (which was full) and a very kind person handed it all in to the police station. You'll find everyone is very friendly out there.
somouk,
easyjet from manchester to geneva
flying out on 12 July at 18:25 and returning on 17 july at 17:00
it was booked sometime ago so may get dearer the closer you get to fly out date
Me and a mate did the alps a couple of years ago in his van. Can't remember the exact cost but we lived like proper pikeys for the 10 days. We found it pretty easy to find places to camp which weren't campsites. Washed in mountain streams (free but flippin' cold!) and also got our water supply from them. We saved a lot of money on food by going to Costco before we left and buying food in bulk for the trip. We bought a pack of about 50 double deckers, not had one since!
You will need to have decent locks for your bikes while camping if they can't live in the car/van (and maybe even if so), bikes get stolen in the area every year without fail, not in huge numbers but certainly enough!
when we went for a family holiday we spotted
apartment is really cheap, but its then weekend flights which are expensive
camping lets you fly mid week
driving to an aprtment sound good
read the singletrack article on this (when was it?) some resorts are doing cheap accomodation lift deals...
for flights look at easy jet to geneva
Please somebody get a picture of Psychle eating out of a bin, with his carbon Mojo propped up against it.
🙂
Issue 64
"In the case of Arosa this meant a complimentary lift pass to anyone
staying in the resort, including the campsite. I had envisaged us
spending our first night camped on a small patch of grass among a
multitude of motorhomes, what with this being the ‘official resort
campsite’ of a fairly major summer resort. Thankfully this could not
have been further from the truth. We found ourselves unloading our
frame bags in a small meadow out the back of town with free chairlift
(and pedalo!) passes in hand, a postcard Alpine vista out front and a
small stream to cool our 50 cent beers in."
Joking aside though, why don't you sell some of that old tat you're stockpiling and spend it on your trip to the Alps - I'm sure you wouldn't regret it!
Ride your bike?
