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We are off to Tignes for our summer hols - a week and a bit camping in Les Brévières. We're taking bikes but the kids (9 and 6) won't want to ride every day.
Anyone been, have any wisdom or suggestions (or photos) to share?
Photo of us from last weekend (not in Tignes) 😎
Was there for a week in the van a couple of years back. Parking (only had to pay for one night, 10€) up top with water filling and disposal.
17€ for the day was a fair price. The trails are mostly very groomed and a little motorway. Expect lots of berms and rollers.
There are some more technical trails (both machined and more natural), but I'm not sure you'll want to send your sprogs down them. There's a shuttle bus, too, that runs from the dam, but the trails down that way aren't necessarily kiddie friendly.
Off the bike.... There's the lake with some activities (SUP etc) and some walking trails. Don't recall much else.
Beware that eating out and basic shopping is very expensive. Stock up in Bourg St Maurice before you go.
I would happily go again, but I think there might be more family friendly resorts, imo.
Family TheGe loves Tignes. Best holidays have been there.
There's a shuttle bus, too, that runs from the dam,
And indeed past the campsite. It may be a tad stressful getting the family on it first thing in the morning. That stress may be slightly alleviated by rolling 3 minutes down the hill to the lower ( Ie first) bus dtop
but the trails down that way aren't necessarily kiddie friendly.
Yep agreed. Some of them are glorious but hard
There is (was?) one easier one though: ( that leads to the campsite)
, but even that may be too much for a 9 year old. I think ours was 9 or 10...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/egq72EF1q3
We'd load up with supplies each evening
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/DU3Nz943Fy
Roll down the long enduro route through 1800
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/o54Kw80h57
Buy a box of ice cream and then pick wild berries
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/Q0j11647tN
To eat with the ice cream
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/A40bU09ksA
Good via ferrata in La Daille.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/7F2V46cRk7
But perhaps a bit full on
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/1DG0n63370
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/Nc2Bk00K1u
PoS forum 🙄
Buy a box of ice cream and then pick wild berries
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/Q0j11647tN
To eat with the ice cream
https://www.flickr.com/gp/27724803@N07/A40bU09ksA
Then as the kids grow you can take them back to scope out new lines
Then ride them..
Then come back in winter when it all looks different
Soz got carried away. But Tignes is fabulous
Their Instagram gives you a good idea of the riding there.
https://www.instagram.com/tignesbikepark?igsh=MTg3NzVnanR0NDVtMA==
thegeneralist Is obviously a fan!
We went in 2019 and likely would have gone back in 2020 if 2020 hadn’t happened! After that we had a small person to look after- hoping our second trip out will include her as well
Tignes was tremendous for kids of that age when we went (when mine were roughly that age).
Nowhere near the size of trail network that Morzine has, but you don't need that. Plenty of kid-friendly trails - no tree cover in the main (from memory) so awesome views everywhere.
The upper half of the resort (val Claret?) has a load of sports pitches, used by all sorts of teams on training camps, that were just open and available for kids to play on. My two couldn't believe their luck. Plenty of things like crazy golf for family violence, there was a good card scheme that got you free access to pretty much everything.
Their favourite was the lake though, and the near total absence of frustrating health and safety rules. Lifeguard would just shrug and say "they're your kids, its up to you", the dream ticket for energetic kids.
Went a couple of times, it was only when the older one wanted a bit more riding we started going to Morzine.
and the near total absence of frustrating health and safety rules.
Aha interesting. So I'm not alone in having this viewpoint ( a propos the moorland wildfire thread ,:-) )
It's a long time since I went, but I remember skiing on the glacier in the morning and swimming in the outdoor pool in the afternoon.
We've been several years in a row, back out again soon - lots of nice blue (ish) trails with optional features.
Good pool + slide for kids your age for rest days or after the lifts shut.
DM me if you want to ask any questions, I'll try and help!
These guys are super helpful, best bike shop in Tignes https://www.sportglisse-jubike.fr/
If they are running the Kangooride race while you're there, make sure you enter - great fun and no stress down a friendly trail.
These guys are super helpful, best bike shop in Tignes https://www.sportglisse-jubike.fr/
If they are running the Kangooride race while you're there, make sure you enter - great fun and no stress down a friendly trail.
These guys are super helpful, best bike shop in Tignes https://www.sportglisse-jubike.fr/
If they are running the Kangooride race while you're there, make sure you enter - great fun and no stress down a friendly trail.
We went a few years back and the offering then was if you stayed in a approved accom you got a Tignes card that gave you free lift access and loads of activities.
They seem to have started charging for these now.
If you're clever you can get riding in whilst the kids are doing an activity or having some quiet time.
The riding is OK but there are better places. Worth looking at the "Enduro Trails" particularly those down to Les Brevierres.
The bike park riding is fine if you like bike park trails.
Shops/Restaurants are silly expensive.
Yes, went last summer with my partner. For us it was a great place given our disparity in experience. There's plenty to go at in the blue ish range if your only experience is UK bike parks and trail centers. I took a couple of afternoons and went ticking off the downhill tracks and enduro trails, the latter of which were great. The center of Tignes as mentioned has loads of sports facilities and there's a nice walk/cycleway round the lake which I'd be happy for my kids to go roam and explore on their own. From memory the lift pass was around £40 for the week and included sport kit rentals for things like miniputt and sup rental on the lake. I think you had to pay for a session on the lake slides and the indoor pool but that was it.
As said food is as you would expect, pricey. I can highly recommend the Taiwanese/Chinese takeaway tucked next to La Croisse. If I went again I'd make sure the accommodation had a kitchenette or something, we ended up having bigger lunches and then bread and cheese for supper quite often.
One last thing, I didn't even think about the altitude and came entirely unprepared for how chilly it would be in the evenings, it felt warm in the sun during the day but it rarely got above 17C and the evenings were down to single figures. 
Thanks for all the information and tips!
As above the MyTignes card is probably worth getting for the week so you can access the chairlifts / funicular / bike shuttle bus / etc.
The free buses from Brevieres up to Tignes 1800 and then from Tignes 1800 up to Tignes 2100 (inc. Val Claret, Le Lac, etc) only run at fairly limited times so it's actually well worth taking the bikes up on the shuttle bus anyway so you can then just lock them up while doing some other activity and then have the option of pretty much just free-wheeling back down to Brevieres when you want rather than hanging around for the main buses.
There are some nice walks from Brevieres as well, even just a simple walk along the valley / river away from the dam takes you past a couple of waterfalls. Or if the kids are up for bigger walks and you have plenty of snacks/water you can head up to the Refuge de la Martin - that is quite ambitious though! Perhaps download the route cards that the Alpine Elements hotel in Brevieres have done:
https://myholiday.alpineelements.co.uk/summer/your-route-cards/route-cards-tignes/
Great white water rafting further back towards Bourg / Moutiers as well!
https://evolution2.com/en/peisey-vallandry/rafting-kids-families?v=5335
