Looking to book for me and the girlfriend a week away in the Alps/Pyrenees etc, and wondering if any of you have a recommendation for particular companies to go with.
The destination can be anywhere really, looking for vfm and general overall enjoyment. Don't really want to be spending absolute fortunes, and we are happy as long as the rooms are clean and functional.
Won't be looking to go drinking and partying every night as I'm now 37, but it would be nice to be able to get out to local restaurants/bars in the evening for a quite drink.
For a bit of variation on a couple of days it would be good if we could try a afternoon/day rafting or some other activities; as a) I'll probably need the rest, and b) cycling every single day of the holiday may drive my girlfriend mad.
Riding wise a mixture of trails would be good; not looking for black runs as our skill levels aren't that high, but anything below that would be tackled. In fact if a company/location offered some skills training that would be a bonus.
Obviously if there is someone you would definitely advise to steer clear of please post that here too.
(I have tried to search this, but can't seem to find much. :oops:)
All suggestions welcome.
p&0 and a car and morzine.net. DIY all the way. Morzine/les gets trails are all signposted and mapped, go explore have a good time.
Are you looking for a mountain bike specific holiday? If so 'Trail Addiction' look good, and have had good reviews in the past. Havent used them myself yet, but I'm thinking of using them for next years trip to the Alps. Looks like they cater for all levels, and IMO good value for money too.
Just got back from a holiday with Bike Village, based in Landry, near Bourg St Maurice. Absolutely brilliant. 5 days riding, with the Wednesday a rest day for chilling out/rafting/what ever. Lots of riding up fire-road, some road ascent too (though not much) and uplifts on some days to cut out some of the climbing involved. Totally worth the climbs though. The best singletrack I've ever ridden. A mix of everything from high alpine meadow traverses, to soft dirt forest switch backs. The farmhouse is clean and tidy with a nice big garden, great food cooked for you, and wine and beer sorted out too. Not the cheapest holiday in the world, but very good vfm I reckon, especially given the quality of the guiding. Look at www.bikevillage.co.uk for more info. More than one set of routes available on any day too so if your not feeling up for an epic day a less techy, more mellow ride is sorted too.
I went with some friends on our first biking holiday last year for a week at Bike Village near Les Arc. It was great - we are going for 2 weeks this year! 4 weeks and counting!
They are really friendly, well organised, but the place has a lovely relaxed feel to it. They taylor the riding to what the guests want - we did some amazing xc singletrack days, which I still think about a lot! I'm a very average rider and nearly all of it was rideable for me. They do offer to help with your skill's and a couple of our group had a day doing that.
We went on one of their women friendly week's as one of our bunch is a women and we thought it might be nicer.
You can ride as few or as many days as you like, the area is stunning. There is rafting, just down the road and we aim to have a go at it this year!
They are based in a small quiet village and we found that after we'd had dinner and a good chat we were ready for bed anyway. The town is only a few miles away if you did want to have a big night out.
The food is great, the company was great, they aren't the cheapest but I felt it was very good value for money.
Went to the white room chalet for an alpine first timers week last year. Happy as a clam.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far, only had time to have a quick look at Trail Addiction so far which looks pretty good.
I'll definitely be having a look at the others too though when I have 5 mins.
Keep them coming, I'm getting all excited 😀
Toys19 is correct. The town tourist office will sort you an apartment with mountain bike storageeasily enough. Will be half the price of a holiday company.
Any alternatives from the evening crowd?
Bike Village of course! Sam's the original and best, shirley.
sam, mbmb.com 🙂
chamonix
Bike Village here as well, wife rode some days and lounged the rest or rode up to Bourg to embrace the culture i.e. eat almond croissants !
Best. Holiday. Ever.
EDIT: In fact i enjoyed it so much I tried to engineer a 'trip' for work to 'europe' but my general idea was scuttled when Mrs Nzcol discovered that the work element was 2 days of a 2 week trip.
we went DIY 2 years in a row and then to The White Room last year. Athough the white room was a bit more expensive than our DIY (hire a chalet and find your own way) holidays, the quality of the riding and extra days we went for more than made up for the extra cost.
All we had to do was turn up eat, ride, ride, eat, ride, ride, drink, get cleaned, fix bikes, drink, eat, drink drink drink, eat sleep. etc...no dicking about driving to the supermarket to get food and beer, no cooking or cleaning.
With TA this year to see if its better / worse than White Room.
+¹ for the DIY option. But Sea France even cheaper. Bourg D'Oisans would be a good base for a mix of activities.
AQR based in the pyrenees would work well. Depends on your skill set really to get the most the out of your holiday. Go to an area which suits your skills the best and your bikes. Oisans would be good for a diy
All great suggestions, and I'll be investigating them all thanks.
Certainly have some homework to do this evening now 😀
BV for the win!!
Don't how suitable it would be but you could also try Big Mountain. http://www.ridebig.com/
I've not used them but my MTB journalist friend is guiding/coaching for them this August and said they have some space left for this summer.
Might be worth a look
DIY is absolutely feasible, and may be cheaper, but may want to think about the benefits an established set up provides, especially in terms of guiding. Going a long way to work out which trails are good for you etc, whereas a guide will take you direct to the stuff you want to ride hopefully. Seems a no brainer to me, especially for a 1st time.
Also you tend to get food and beer thrown in with the travel companies/chalets. Which is a good thing, cos the costs of beer and food is generally spectacular in the Alps.
apologise for the blatant plug, but you'd be welcome here at BV 🙂
tom (chef).
I'd recommend Holy Grail (based in Chatel) anytime.
Just got back this morning. Great organisation, trails, guiding, and catering/ accom.
My votes go to Trail Addiction or Themountainbikechalet.com , awesome area to ride in , sooooo much singletrack . Travelwise cash in your tesco club points and use the chunnel .
I wanna recommend you a good [url= http://www.portmantravel.com/publicsector ] public sector travel[/url] company - Portman Travel. I never had any problem with their service.
been out a few times with Alpine Elements (all be it a few years ago now) but both occasions were great. basic room and stuff but food/drink and back up service was superb.
Another vote for trailaddiction, esp their backcountry weeks in lesarcs if you are more xc biased.
or try Destination X 🙂
Holy astro turf. I wonder who peppy works for...