Any recommendations for European riding destinations in March and holiday companies who make the logistics easy? Currently look at Switchbacks Maliga, but wondering if there are other options?

Canary islands?
Weather should be nice, plenty of elevation changes, you’re seldom far from a beach…

Freemotion are all over the islands and do pretty much everything from single day bike rentals to mutiday guided trips…

Madeira?

Check out Freeride Madeira and/or Bikulture

Definitely check if BasqueMTB have any spaces left on their Ainsa based weeks – simply awesome place to ride and they’ve got the organisation/logistics side of things nailed.

Keswick.

Ciclo Montana in the Sierra Nevada

+1 for Ciclo Montana

Based right on the beach with plenty of Winter sun to enjoy.
Beachside accomodation,great breakfasts and a free bar.
Stunning singletrack rides with plenty of bus uplift during the day & fun après-bike on the coast at night.
Just 560 Euros for a packed week!Sierra MTB

Trip Advisor reviews

BasqueMTB have any spaces left on their Ainsa based weeks

Yes – great area. Faaaaaantastic trails. Crazy, crazy landscape.
But…: March is too early for Ainsa in my view.

This area is “high up” and in March there is still snow!

Ainsa is great from mid of June to mid of October.

BasqueMTB have any spaces left on their Ainsa based weeks

Yes – great area. Faaaaaantastic trails. Crazy, crazy landscape.
But…: March is too early for Ainsa in my view.

This area is “high up” and in March there is still snow!

Ainsa is great from mid of June to mid of October.

This is inaccurate.
Basque MTB run their Ainsa Enduro trips from November to March because there is rarely any snow, making it a great place for winter mountain riding.
In summer it’s too hot, 30+ degC.
It’s not “high up” either, Ainsa is only 580m above sea level, and all the trails we rode, including the EWS ones, start below 1500m.

What cookeaa said

Technically the Canaries are a Spanish territory, so Europe, to all intents and purposes.
Temperatures in the mid-20’s in March, absolutely fantastic riding (its a volcanic landscape, so like riding on the surface of the moon), nice places to stay, with great food and wine, cheap as chips and just a 4 hour flight away. What more do you want?

I’d also recomend Freemotion. They’re brilliant.

This is inaccurate.
Basque MTB run their Ainsa Enduro trips from November to March because there is rarely any snow, making it a great place for winter mountain riding.
In summer it’s too hot, 30+ degC.

I love these hot and dry summers there. Went there early in the year, in summer and late in the year. I think Basque mtb does these winter things in Ainsa due to the fact that the weather in the Basque country is way, way too crappy at this time of the year. But – for me – as well: November to March is crappy in Ainsa as well. With some beautiful days – but average not good.

EWS world cup enduro, Ainsa: end of the summer – right? September…

How about CostaBlancaEnduroLand https://costablancaenduroland.com/ based out of Altea on the east coast of Spain?

Just come back from a great week of riding over the Christmas break.

Andreas, sorry but you are just totally wrong. Ainsa in July and August is just too hot for most people, including locals. It can easily be 40 plus degC lots of days. In March if there is snow in Ainsa I’ll but you a beer and send it to you by courier! It’s not high and is on the south facing flanks of the pyrenees in a small, dry area where there is very, very rarely snow. Really please check your information before posting because what you put is factually inaccurate and directly affects me. Ainsa is dry and pleasant. Best time for riding there is autumn through to spring. Rainiest in April and August (thunderstorms).

Ainsa in July and August is just too hot for most people, including locals. It can easily be 40 plus degC lots of days.

Pfft, bunch of northern weaklings 😀

@mogrim true! The thing is I often have to go as we have a holiday in August and we use it for a team building / training week. Last time we were there in August it was 42degC. I was born an hour north of Inverness and I almost died!

And I’m sorry, what I wrote about July and August might be pissing on some of the new local guides chips. I don’t mean to do that, it’s fine but not in the main Zona Zero area, you need to go high and start early. A good reason to get a good guide, get off the marked trails and get high.

I’ll stop commenting on this now. Sorry for the thread hijack, I really try my best not to post on any threads like this.

@SimonR

I’m doing a few days with them (Costablancaenduroland – worst name ever) over easter. I’d be interested in your feedback.

I love technical rocky trails with predominantly singletrack, is this what they take you on?

Well, I quite like Doug – will keep him in mind in future.

@lardman

Plenty of technical rocky singletrack to play on – Jose is also a trekking guide and knows how to put a good day together that includes good riding, somewhere interesting to stop for lunch and the opportunity to explore different locations. Definitely better as an off season location if you’re not used to heat – we’ve been in September and it’s been pretty warm (mid 30s) – over Christmas it was between 15 and 20 degrees.

We’ve got some friends who know Spain well (they’ve lived and ridden all over Spain) and regularly return to that part for the quality of the riding.

I put a few photos on Instagram as simonr1000 but happy to try and answer any other questions.

@simonR
thanks for that. I’ll check out the images on Instagram.

@doug_basqueMTB.com

Personally think that this whole area is one of the finest MTB areas in Europe. And I believe you that many of your customers feel that it’s too hot in summer.
And you are absolutely correct that the fun is biking on those “non marked trails”. Means guides make a lot of sense (if you only have a couple weeks available for vacation).
My approach was different. Worked over the winter and spent the whole summer in crazy and nice places like the area around Pamplona, Jaca, Ainsa, Rioja and so on(went also the whole coast over Cantabria (Picos) and Asturias over to Portugal). Great, great adventure. Lots of small ghost villages, lots of wild camping. For this kind of adventure stuff those summers (up to end of September) were just great. At least for me.

You’ll find that Freemotion have stopped offering all but gentle fireroad trips now.
There are still some of us doing the more technical end of the spectrum though.
Gran Canarian had a bit of a setback last autumn when the island government put up prohibition notices on a lot of trails making it plain that mountain biking is forbidden. There are still guides riding them though. Here in Tenerife, we have issues in the North but that is due to very heavy errosion which is completely understandable, but currently no issues in the South.
There’s also good riding to be had on El Hierro, La Palma and some on La Gomera.
Always 20° to 25° in March. Great riding weather.