So ... turning 50 early next year, and I'm thinking about a chill out mtb long weekend for next summer.
I've biked many places over the years (Whistler, Sierra Nevada, NZ, Australia, Basque, Madeira, Tenerife, Morzine, Finale Ligure, Verbier, Cyprus, Luchon, Dolomites), so I've worked out what I kind of like.
Ideally, I'm looking for something with the lift access and decently lively town of Morzine but ideally with more singletrack and less DH heroes.
As I've marched on in time, I've realised that a chilled 4-5 hours of lift assisted biking with a few drinks in the sunshine in the afternoon is what I like. Really needs to be a flight and 2-3 hour max transfer from a Scottish airport.
Does anyone have any ideas for a multi lift, multi trail option?
I've heard Saalbach is quite good, but wondering what else is out there.
Similar thoughts for me, Morzine is a great town but I think the riding has now got a bit laiRy for me. Solden Bike Republic is great riding but the town is kind of quiet. Die Berge hotel is great, just FYI.
Our little group is struggling to come to a consensus for the next year and I keep looking at White Room MTB.
Whiteroom is great and as fast and rad or not as you want.
Saying that we're off to andorra next year.
Had a great week in Saalbach but objectively it's the worst alpine MTB destination we've been apart from Montgenevre.
It was about a decade ago so has probably got better. As have the kids.
Lively town might be a problem finding. There aren't may with good lifts access and riding
We did Saalbach last summer as part of our Alps trip. Riding was good but the town was far from lively
OP, picking up on your birthday being early, is a trip to NZ possible? Queenstown?
is a trip to NZ possible? Queenstown
Oof, that's ambitious for a long weekend from Scotland. Haha
reading this made me wonder, what happened to Chanonix as a place to ride?
used to go there in the summer. there was a lot of single track accessed by lifts that was very far from the bike park style of riding.
that may be worth looking into, assuming that bikes are still allowed on the lifts…
Had a great week in Saalbach but objectively it’s the worst alpine MTB destination.....
It was about a decade ago so has probably got better.
Nope. It's still shit. Fine for a day but after that you'll have ridden everything there that you're allowed to ride.
Crans Montana via Geneva?
I'm not sure what the night life is like though?
Les Arc area perhaps? Bourg St Maurice was reasonably lively when we passed through a few summers ago.
Crans Montana via Geneva?
I’m not sure what the night life is like though?
In a word - expensive! Food, accommodation, everything.
In a word – expensive! Food, accommodation, everything.
From experience?
chill out mtb long weekend for next summer.
If its just a long weekend, I'd still head for Morzine, yes it's all a bit DH but TBH it kinda always has been. The trail network is established though there's plenty of backcountry , and its easy to navigate, you won't spend your whole time searching out the good stuff, lifts are centre of town. Both Morzine and Les Gets are set up for it, and can be as quiet or bumpin' as you want, flights are relatively cheap and there's transfers to and from Geneva.
If it's just a wee trip, you'll want to go some-one you know roughly and you can deal all the travelling and associated horseshit in your sleep. Going somewhere new and you just end up wasting time navigating it all.
From experience?
Sort of. From day trips over the border while staying in France, food and beer is more expensive. We tried to stay in Switzerland a few years ago but accommodation was about 50% more than on the French side so we didn't. I seem to remember extra costs for driving there too but I may be mistaken?
Innsbruck or close by especially Crankworx week.
There's a bike park close to the city, Serfaus, Nauders, Brandnertal, Area 47 within an hour, Solden, Leogang and Saalbach a bit further.
I haven't been, but I liked the look of Livigno for a similar type of weekend. Seems a bit more relaxed/less hardcore (at least in its advertising!) than most others:
Never ridden in Livigno but it was my first ski holiday 30 years ago. Isn’t it around 5 hrs from the airport?
Bourg St Maurice for density of lifts and trails in one place.
Over the Petit St Bernard pass to Aosta/Pila for amazing riding, weather and food - and a cool little city.
More limited lifts there, but I'd happily do a long weekend. And you can pop up to La Thuile.
Livingo is a pain to get to but it's tax free and cheap. Mottolino Park is awesome. I'm going back when both parks are open next summer.
OP, the problem is that you want lots of contradictory things.
- Lively town, but no DH heroes
- Accessibly with flights from Scotland, for a long weekend.
- 2-3 hour transfer time.
Flights from Scotland means Geneva, Italy, or possibly Zurich.?
The places that don't have too many DH heroes tend to be quieter in the evenings.
A lot of the places with great singletrack tend to be a bit off the beaten track from the airports.
I dunno, there seem to be a few suggestions here. Bourg St Maurice, Crans Montana, innsbruck. All worth looking at.
I've always fancied Livigno, but the whole difficult to get there thing really puts me off.
As a comparison ... Finale Ligure say 10 years ago. Cracking town that was lively due to it having a lot of "other" business away from biking, good trail network, one or two good guides. Downside ... either having to peck up long steep hills or sitting in the back of vans vs lifts.
I do really like some places that aren't lift accessible, but lifts really add to the "chill" factor I'm after.
I'll have a wee peep at some of the suggestions above alongside Saalbach.
I do want the moon on a stick 😉
That's the crux. If you want lift served, then most of it's going to be bike parky. If you want more singletrack enduro then it's almost inevitably going to involve getting into an uplift van.
The trails around Bourg are amazing, but the Whiteroom only does full weeks, and Bourg's a bit of an arse to get to from Geneva if you're not driving, or in the Whiteroom transfer van.
Also to get to the really good trails there I think you need a guide.
For what you'd suggested, if it's a no to Morzine, then Finale would be my other suggestion, but that means pedalling and uplift vans.
Crans is meant to be good, both for natural riding and the bike park, although again I think a guide makes the difference there. Elsewhere in Switzerland Graubunden is meant to be good too.
Graubunden. That was the one I was trying to remember. Cheers. All grist to the mill. In my head, guiding was a given. Just on my terms (BTW, RideAbility in Morzine at cracking at scaling to your wants and needs and actually listening to you).
I've found many other guides who don't listen and seem to feel it is their sacred duty to push you just beyond your limit. That's not always what everyone wants.
We did Livigno as the next stop on our Alps trip this year after Leogang and Saalbach. Then it was on to Lenzerheide, Interlaken and finally Verbier
Livigno trails were first class and everything was cheap.
Switzerland as always was good but very expensive
Loads of good suggestions up above but you may need to compromise