Hi all,

I will be steering the good ship SwissTony via the Pyrenees on the way to Spain this summer for our family hol but plan on stopping in the Pyrenees for some riding.

Not having been there before I’m looking for tips of where to go. We’ll probably be there for a weeks camping, so ideally it will be somewhere with family riding/stuff to to do plus some bigger stuff that I can slip off and ride, chair lifts would also be very handy to save time but not essential. Oh and we’re going to end up just south of Barcelona so it needs to be somewhere on the eastern side of the border.

Thanks

Les Angles in France would be a good mix of easy rides plus lifts.

VTT Prades used to have a website, I’ve only found ads and broken links, if your French is better than mine I suggest you search.

My mum lives in Prades, so done a lot of riding around there.
Some nice campsites in the area – Vinca has a good one I seem to recall, and there’s a nice beach on the lake there.
Some excellent riding for family and solo stuff. Head up towards Canigou (the nearest big mountain, can’t miss it!) and there’s miles of trails. Just buy a walking/hiking map of the local area and it’s covered in trails. It’s a good area to just go exploring for a day.

http://biking66.com/les.circuits.vtt-140.php

perhaps

Brilliant, thanks folks I’ll work my way through the suggestions

There’s a funny yellow train that runs up the valley from Prades, past Villefranche de Conflent etc… It takes bikes and you can ride back down… Top day out! Sorry I can’t be more specific – I was just following and smiling

Altitude adventures based in tht exact area. Went for a week with them last year. Fantastic riding.

we stayed just outside vinca (finestra?) and under canigou near prades brilliant riding all the sites have good info and we rode with vtt prades by accident…me and eldest daughter… really good just to wander

up is the altitude company and this was an article in singletrack a few editions back…good riding there…towards the sea is cerbes/tet valley…..really hot when we went so moved on. over the ‘hill’ is girona again recommended but we only spent a couple of days in the area

Try Montsegur and the cathar area between Carcassonne and perpigan (Coribaries region) really quiet and very beautiful more spare with trails but we did find some…..

+1 for Les Angles. The gondola runs all summer and the xc is extremely varied and very well waymarked.

Rumour has it that the train jaune is going to be axed because it isnt financially viable (despite it being a tourist magnet and run 100% hydroelectric from the barrage up at the lac des Bouillouses), so get that uplift whilst you can.

Thanks all, both of those areas look perfect.

I am not sure I would choose Prades or Vinca as a summer holiday destinations, the riding is pretty good but its not that nice compared to higher up in the mountains. Les Angles/Font Romeau has a load of other stuff to do as well as biking, it is also a decent temperature rather than the valley which can be very warm in summer, the municipal camp site at Mont Louis is really nice and fairly cheap but book early. Alternatively, Ax les thermes has an uplift and some good XC on the plateau opposite the station and it has a nice free campsite on the road up to the ski resort.

La Molina and Andorra are also options but not much outside of the bike parks.

Thanks for the tips all, we had a great week staying at the Camping du Lac site just below Les Angles. Really nice site with lots to do, biking was a perfect mix of family trails and bigger stuff for me plus lots of great walks, lakes and even a thermal spa.

Cheers

If you go to Ax Les Thermes and need somewhere to stay, my cousin has a gite just down the road. Her boyfriend is a keen hiker and cyclist and could probably point you at some interesting stuff. I didn’t ride the bike park when I was there but it looked like it could be a fun descent

I’ve stayed there myself! did you discover the local taste for honey on pizza?!

I tried the family trail from the gondola with my 10 yr old, and it was trickier riding than a lot of uk trail centre reds!

Thanks atlaz i’ll bare that in mind as hopefully we will go back.

Sambuka, no we didn’t come across those, thankfully! But you’re right about the family route in Les Angles, I rode it to see what it was like and decided it was too much for my 12 & 10 year olds.