later on in the summer I’m going on a family holiday to Normandy. whilst I’m there I’d like to do a bit of cycling but I’m wondering whether to take a mountain bike or a road bike. anyone know what the riding is like round there and what would be most suitable?

Where abouts?

Honfleur

Love it there. The mussell cafe opp the casino is brill. Unfortunately I’ve not tried riding MTB near there. I’d take the Pugsley…….

Normandy is suprisingly diverse in terms of riding; you will have a great time on a road bike, quiet roads and a bar in every small village to stop for a cider. I would recommend the area around Granville for this sort of riding. However if you google Suisse Normandy you will find miles of excellent, and often empty trails.

So all down to the riding that you want to do really.

Firstly enjoy – Honfleur is lovely, beaches at Trouville and Deauville are very nice too.

I’d say probably road, we were in the area a few weeks ago and noted quite a few marked vtt routes in “Suisse Normandy” which is inland a bit from where you’ll be. I have to say I’ve never been able to find a directory online of these vtt routes. Aside from that I think you’ll just have to buy an IGN map and follow your nose.

You can do a little research via this site (once you load a route you can switch the maps to IGN and then scroll around – my experience is you can ride on the paths / trails without any issues and the marked vtt routes I’ve ridden with Trail Addiction – Dest-X and also around Les Gets/Samoens have been on the paths shown on IGN maps)

utawaga vtt

my mum lives in suisse normande, there is some good technical VTT, but it can be hard to find. there are also the paths between fields which can be fun! When I’m over I take the road bike for the miles and miles of perfectly smooth swoopy tarmac, respectful drivers and pleasent weather! I’ll be there early july getting the miles in around Granville for a week and then in to Domfront.

wow, I was expecting to hear that it was all boring busy highways with farmers trying to run you down in their 2CV vans.
still not sure which to take. I will probably need to ride out from Honfleur and not venture too far for too long – maybe half a day tops.
I’d take the road bike, but if I noticed a little forest or hill with trails on it I’d be kicking myself that I couldn’t explore.
maybe I could take the hardtail with some hard and fast tyres on.

Take a road bike. It’s a great place to ride.

Another vote for road bike – had a great time riding out to/along the coast round there. Didn’t see much that looked promising for mountain biking but I’m sure there is some – I was looking out for tracks etc though.

Some kind of cyclocross type bike with semi-slicks would be good for a lot of riding in France though IME.

There is VTT routes that are worth following and you will be able to get the info from the local tourist office, however it took me a couple of visits to sort them out and a cx bike would work great on them (or a speedy hard tail as I used then, so do the locals), this does not apply to the Suisse Normande necessarily. Road rides are just so so good and hillier than you may expect, you’ll love it. I spent some time ridding with VC Carentan. You are making me jealous, have a great trip.

thanks all. not sure I can stretch to a CX bike.
I’m thinking hardtail as I can put the bike seat on it too for the boy.

Before I forget I did manage to find this which is (I think) the VTT map of Suisse Normandie. It’s from the vttfrance.com site

link