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Been watching some of Owlaps videos on YouTube, and the stuff from Tignes looks amazing. It would be tricky for me to do a week away, but a four dayer could be possible.
So I'm just after people's experiences. Is it better to fly (probably from Bristol/Birmingham) and get a transfer/cheap car hire, or should I take my van (which has a fold out bed built in to the back) and gun it down. The van option appeals as I don't have to box the bike up, and also I could camp in it rather than fork out for accomodation. Driving that sort of distance doesn't bother me, we drove from Lyon last year.
Any recommended websites for tips and tricks when doing an alpine trip?
Van sounds like a great option 🙂
Tips and tricks, take spares, take a Credit Card....
enjoy lots !
It's the Alps, not outer mongolia 🙂
Get your tips and tricks on this website right here!
Its an easy drive. You can head off after work get an evening ferry/tunnel, drive until late, sleep in an aire or F1 hotel. Then back on the road and there by lunchtime feeling pretty good and ready to ride. Don't know about Tignes but there are usually plenty of makeshift campsites near the lifts in these resorts if you are happy to do that.
We are going in aug and my brother is flying out from Southend airport for the grand total of 42 quid. SE is great because its tiny.
Morzine, I've done a short trip before driving.
Given the shortness of the trip I'd not risk flight. From experience with skiing of luggage going AWOL and not making it to the destination until several days later, then the trip is a write off. Assuming you're taking your own bike and kit.
It's fairly easy drive. I'm SE based so door to door, it's only a few hours longer than door to door flying once you add in the travel to from airports, parking, faff, being at airport couple hours before flight, an hour to get out the other end (or more), hiring cars etc.
More chilled, stops on the way, can take almost whatever you like, no need to pull apart the bike and reassemble. Road trip!
But to make it worth it on cost, you need to be splitting it between two of you at least. Van/car hire if applicable + fuel + tunnel/ferry + tolls. Ideally split the driving also. Cost maybe higher than budget flights, but then again add on the parking/transport and extras for carrying luggage (though if you've got bike bag and stuff, just get a BA flight, it'll probably be same or cheaper ultimately than a RyanShite or CheasyJet and less hassle).
Plan the route before and check your Sat Nav. First time I did it mine was taking me through Paris! (don't do that). Estimated time looked right so I just assumed it was going the right way.
p.s. get a toll tag.
good advice from dead kenny, i think except the tag - from memory, the no queue drive through toll lane is limited to 1.8m height. so no good for van or roof mounted bikes.
Just checked https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/faq/
In France on certain dedicated class 1 Liber-t lanes there is a 2 metre height limit. These are always on the left hand side of the toll plaza. However there is always other lanes available for vehicles over 2 metres or class 5 (motorbikes), simply go though one of the other open lanes that is displaying the Liber-t
or VIA-T symbol.
Although...
If you are a Class 1 vehicle and have a roof load such as a roof box or bicycle that takes your overall height over 2m, you will still be charged as a Class 1 vehicle. There is equipment (laser and 3D imaging) in the Liber-t lanes that can distinguish between 'Class 1 + roofload' and Class 2 vehicles. You should be charged at Class 1 rate.
Occasionally however, this auto detection equipment may incorrectly identify you as Class 2. We advise you to check your bill when you receive it or view your future toll balance in your 'Account Summary' area and if you have been incorrectly charged at Class 2 rate, please open a toll adjustment request. Just go to your 'Account Summary' area, scroll down and next to 'My Tags' click 'View Tolls', click on the toll you wish to be adjusted, click 'Raise a Toll Adjustment Request' and complete the toll adjustment request form. We will ensure that you are reimbursed the difference the following month. Toll adjustments must be requested within 3 months of the transaction date.
No benefit in getting a tag, especially if you are too big for the dedicated tag lane. It costs more and there aren't any queues to speak of on that route anyway.
My 2p.
The Alps, whilst not in Mongolia is a PITA to get to, it's 9hrs once you get to France and all you'll want to do when you arrive is have a beer, you ain't gonna be jumping on the lift the day you get there.
For a weekender, I'd like the Airbus take the strain - this would be my itinerary:
Cheap flight from local airport to Geneva - there are other airports that serve the Alps, but none seem to have flights from regional UK airports in summer.
Take the shuttle to Morzine, no it's not Tignes, but it's the only resort I could find with a scheduled reasonably priced shuttle from Geneva, which again is the only airport that's easy to get to.
Accommodation is plentiful and cheap, even the cheapest place is going to nicer than camping in a Van, what with all that indoor plumbing and that.
Yeah, it's the 'obvious' answer, but it's also the easiest.
Costs: Flights with bike - £200 if you're lucky, digs £50 a night if you go mid-range, transfer £50ish - so you're talking £450 all-in. It'll cost you more to drive there solo.
Okay, bike turns up late, that's shit, but you can rent one easily enough.
I've driven it far too many times to remember. South coast based. 2.5 hours to the tunnel. Usually 1.5 hours there including the crossing & 8 hours of driving fast, or 10 hours of driving mostly sensibly. Therefore realistically you are anywhere between 12 & 15 hours of travelling.
And the French bit of that, is 95% of the most boring driving known to mankind. The middle of France is a fantastically dull place to be.
Flying this time. It's quicker by miles, cheaper, even if there is 2 of you & considerably less stressful.
I'm never doing that drive again.
Tignes is about a 12 hour drive from the Chunnel. I did it in one stint having stayed overnight on this side of the Chunnel after driving down from Leicester after the kids got out of school. It was bloody hard work not due to the driving but due to the amount of time to be in a car.
Driving as far as you can on the first evening then having a rest is a much better idea.
There is a campsite in Tignes Les Brev.
The Wonderboisses trail finishes right by it if I recall correctly. The free uplift van stops next to it. The only issue you might have is that if it's full from the first stop you might be waiting a while. It would be a better bet to roll down the hill to Les Brev proper and get in the queue there, it's 2 mins down the hill.
There is also a Campsite in Val D'Isere, which might be better as the 2 resorts are linked and you can jump straight on the Telecabin L'Olympic with no dramas. Means you can finish your day with either Val Bleu or Fast Wood.
Not sure your lift passes are included if you are camping as they are included in the My Tignes OPEN thing when you book into a chalet/hotel. If they aren't they are only 10E a day.
from memory, the no queue drive through toll lane is limited to 1.8m height. so no good for van or roof mounted bikes.
No it's 2m, I get through in an S Max with a roof box on.
Also, usually there aren't major queue's but there can be big ones on busy weekends and tag is great when that happens. It only costs 10€ a year from memory and it means you don;t have to fanny around getting out of the car if you're on your own or worrying about the passenger being asleep, just cruise through the tolls and wait for the email to arrive telling you how much it cost!!
I've only ever been mistaken for a van once, twice actually but at the same toll. The last one in France near Perpignan before you go into Spain, and it's only a cheap one so cost me and extra €. I couldn't be bothered to challenge it.
Have you considered going to Germany and some of the more northern french resorts instead? Saves a lot of driving. Depending what kind of trails you're after but you could easily do some of Winterberg, bad Wild Bad, Todtnau, la bresse, lac blanc etc and all within 5 ish hours of calais.
I'd not rate Tignes as a place to ride, many better options.
What P-Jay said, the shorter the trip the worse 30hrs of travelling sounds
Check in have a beer fly down, probably hang around for a group trransfer but get there ride and when you are done pack up and head home.
Its 10€ to apply for it plus 6€ per year admin fee plus 5€ for every month you use it plus a 20€ deposit plus 2% to pay in pounds so can be a lot more expensive for a one off but only a little more expensive if you use it every year.It only costs 10€ a year from memory
Check in have a beer fly down, probably hang around for a group trransfer but get there ride and when you are done pack up and head home.
Or, get there, then have to get the tools out, and spend the night extracting bike from box/bag and reassembling the bike. Instead of chilling with a beer for the ride next day. Then you realise you left something behind and have to find a bike shop in the morning 😉
Transfers vary, but the worst are shared or public ones (or tour/package stuff) which spend a couple of hours getting people onto the damn bus at the airport, then crawl along the roads and stop at dozens of different drop off places along the way. Had ones take three hours to do an hour trip.
Hiring a car/van the other end still takes time and faff at the rental place (which in Geneva is a bit of a nightmare, as is driving round Geneva).
Okay, bike turns up late, that’s shit, but you can rent one easily enough.
Can't stand riding a bike that isn't mine that I maintained and set up myself. Especially on a planned trip where I've been looking forward to riding my bike in the mountains. It's the only option, but is a disaster of a trip to me.
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Or, get there, then have to get the tools out, and spend the night extracting bike from box/bag and reassembling the bike. Instead of chilling with a beer for the ride next day. Then you realise you left something behind and have to find a bike shop in the morning </span>
Yeah, opening the box/unzipping the bag, lifting the bike out, putting the stem/bars back on along with the pedals and putting the wheels on is a real tough ask. I mean it's probably 3 or 4 sips of beer to manage that!
Or, get there, then have to get the tools out, and spend the night extracting bike from box/bag and reassembling the bike. Instead of chilling with a beer for the ride next day. Then you realise you left something behind and have to find a bike shop in the morning
Never happened in 40+ trips, can build the bike in under 20mins out of the Evoc with a beer in hand. Worst case was a break banjo that moved and lost some fluid, could have happened in car too, fixed while I got some breakfast and a lift pass the next morning.
Had ones take three hours to do an hour trip.
So still quicker than driving
the shorter the trip the worse 30hrs of travelling sounds
To be honest we went for 2 weeks to Tignes, I wouldn't drive that far for less.
Deadkenny seems very 'glass half empty' about flying ha ha.
I can rebuilt my bike in 20 mins, well now I take a trail bike, big heavy DH bike in a CRC bags that's only 99.999% big enough for the job took longer. That's roughly the time it takes me to drive from Les Gets to Morzine on the way in.
Alternatively you could wait 5 hours to board a ferry / tunnel if there's problems at the border.
No option is completely risk free.
Agreed hire bikes are a bit ****, but as a back-up it's not a bad solution - ratty Lapierre Spicy for €30 a day or some wizbang DH 'sled' for €80.
Yeah, opening the box/unzipping the bag, lifting the bike out, putting the stem/bars back on along with the pedals and putting the wheels on is a real tough ask. I mean it’s probably 3 or 4 sips of beer to manage that!
Yep, although, I'm told if you hold back on the beers to use two hands it's even quicker - but who the hell wants to live like that!
I don't mind the bike build, whatever way you do it, you rarely arrive when the lifts are still running, it's not a bad way to unwind.