Just back from BikeAlps and it was bloody brilliant, now looking for our next trip, where and who have people been with that has been amazing.

Swindon.

Verbier, ideally with http://www.bikeverbier.com. Awesome and varied riding, lots of if well off the beaten track, including crazy amounts of ridiculously good natural singletrack or steep techy stuff if you want it. Great hosts, guides, food and accommodation are just a bonus.

Italian Riviera is top of my list at the mo.

So many places still to visit though.

Hopton woods.

Swindon

Duh, Brexit….

Verbier, ideally with http://www.bikeverbier.com. Awesome and varied riding, lots of if well off the beaten track, including crazy amounts of ridiculously good natural singletrack or steep techy stuff if you want it. Great hosts, guides, food and accommodation are just a bonus.

+1

Italian Alps… Lake Garda, Riva, Tenno, Val di Sole, Val Pusteria

We just did a week in Pila.

Ride top to bottom, 6 miles of downhill bermy jumpy droppy stuff, 1800m vertical descent. Stop for excellent but cheap (€1) coffee part way down.

Hard not to like that.

Previously done White room 3 or 4 tines, trail addiction once, singletrack safari once and a few self guided trips to morzine.

Pila is by far the best yet but white room is great too.

What kind of riding do you like?
Best is very subjective it really depends how you like hairpins

I’ve been with Bike verbier for a couple of years now and it’s hard to beat TBH, the riding is some of the hardest techy stuff you could find. Guides are great, set up (food chalet, transport etc) is really first class and Lucy and Phil are great hosts.

Expensive, but just about perfect I reckon

Not really for the Gnaar boys and girls but if you want somewhere nice to hang out, good roads, good trails, good food and booze and lovely people I would suggest Girona.

Easy to get to as well.

Have done Verbier on a road trip & unguided & the riding was great – would love to go back & do some guided riding but dropping a grand on a week is bonkers.

When it all comes out in the wash, I could go to Whistler, guided for only a few hundred more. Or unguided, as I know where i’m going for less, all in.

Off to Finale for the EWS later this year & staying on for a few days to do some extra riding – have heard a lot of great things, so looking forward to that.

Pila was good, La Thuille was great, Les Arcs was awesome, most places are really good to be fair 🙂

Thanks for the tips, so far looks like Veriber or poss Canada,

We have done mountain bike chalet in les arcs morzine tinges white rooms and molini which was also amazing. love really techy singletrack as apposed to smooth park lines.

Depending on what you’re after, Whistler riding is no better than Verbier IMO, so long as you know where to go and have the right transport. I’ve done several weeks in BC and around 6 months in Verbier in total. To get the best from Verbier you definitely need good guides, and a van/trailer, and knowledge of the network of small local lifts away from the resort. That’s why Bike Verbier is well worth paying for if you’ve got the brass.

Finale Ligure for me.

great riding for xc/freeride doownhill

finish the day with a dip in the med.

Italian cuisine in some great restaurant’s…classy resort.

but dropping a grand on a week is bonkers.

Depends, doesn’t it?

The bike verbier setup is one of the best I’ve come across for knowledge logistics chalet, food, facilities and so on, chuck in some of the best riding you can find, and the cost doesn’t seem so bad

But there are loads of companies at every price point, so I guess ‘best’ largely depends on your budget.

but dropping a grand on a week is bonkers.

£200 a day for some of the worlds best biking, food and beer included too?.

Don’t ever look at salmon fishing on the Tay, or grouse shooting in the Cairngorms. Wouldn’t even get you your breakfast on day one….

People spank a grand on a ski holiday where you have to go out and ski yourself! So guided all inclusive MTB holiday is a bargain! Verbier is ace, alternatively try Morocco with cycle active or MTB kerala… note just re read title… DOH!

cheers Munge-chick looks amazing that

I’m off to BV for the 3rd yr in 3 sleeps

Have tried most of the above.

My pick would be Basque MTB. Absolutely top-notch. Lovely part of the world, tremendous scran, great accommodation and Doug and co are great at what they do.

I had a week with the Whiteroom couple of weeks back. Really good! Cant fault them. Amazing riding, great food and lovely chalet, really nice guys too.

I would say that the best riding i’ve done has got to be in the French riviera and alpes maritimes and then also in Slovenia. My riding type is probably best described as hike-a-bike back country type stuff though, I don’t mind not getting a lift and getting the map out to explore myself. There are SO SO many trails in the SE of France, it would take you years to do them all! I lived in Slovenia for a while and there I made friends with a lot of locals who are incredibly nice and friendly and showed me all sorts of fantastic trails and it is such a cheap place, it would be hard to find them yourself over there but then there is Ride Slovenia you could go with!

Norway is epic too but a different kettle of fish i guess…

£200 a day for some of the worlds best biking, food and beer included too?..

Or £130 a day for some of the worlds best riding, with the option to ride in the worlds best bikepark, with a resort that’s a fraction of the price to do anything & has a (big, vibrant) population in the summer?

Don’t get me wrong, Verbier was great, but for the cost being near as dammit, like for like, it can’t compete with the Whistler experience.

That’s if you bother with guiding, which you really don’t need to, because Trailforks lists more than you could ride in probably a month, and its free.

I have no idea.

I’ve ridden all over the French, Austrian and Italian Alps, and love it all. The Italian Alps probably edge it there purely for the undeveloped nature of the riding (not a massive Bike Park fan), but Chamonix (with a guide) really should be on your bucket list.

Want to ride in Slovenia; loved riding in Croatia.

Norway is very much on my wishlist, as is the basque country.

France has some inland gems, such as Vosges, and I’d like to have an explore around Germany some more.

Finally, and without wishing to appear daft, how much riding have you done in Scotland?

Just got back from Lake Garda. Did a day with Michael from the Liteville Test Centre in Torbole. Excellent riding. Good, steep, technical singletrack. Some of the best I’ve ridden. Even saw a brown bear (nearly as scary as the riding). Want to go back as just scratched surface. Also did a week with Switchbacks in Bubion, Sierra Nevada, in May. Again, steep, gnarly, and as natural as you can get. In fact, one of the days was happy just to have survived. Both outstanding. Far better IMO to Morzine/ Les Gets, Les Arcs and Chamonix. They’re just too busy/groomed. If your budget conscious go to Sierra Nevada, if your not go to Lake Garda!

For a combo of riding, food, drink, views, lovely cities/towns, events It’s hard to beat the Basque country. ( to me anyway). Obviously different people place different weights to these factors in determining their ideal place.

My pick would be Basque MTB. Absolutely top-notch. Lovely part of the world,

It’s hard to beat the Basque country.

Basque country is terrible, not recommended at all 😉

agreed, I left in droves.

Having read through the many good suggestions, I think Parling probably got it right with the first sentence.
Best biking destination: Europe.

Far better IMO to Morzine/ Les Gets, Les Arcs and Chamonix. They’re just too busy/groomed.

Cham is definitely busy, but – certainly last time I was there, which was a few years back to be fair – certainly wasn’t groomed.

I should add too – southern Spain in the winter. Certainly worth considering. I won’t go into specific spots, but there’s some superb riding.

Pipmaster Jazz, i’m setting up a place in Norway as we speak… give me a shout next summer you might be able to come stay on my farm and I might be able to show you some trails 😉

Favouriting thread now… 😉