First Alps Trip – Where to go?

£250 per person will be tight… And make sure everyone gets on well in the camper… If just one of the people you go with turns out to be a complete penis it will ruins everyone’s holiday!!

Go for camping Le Pre in Montriond. It’s a 10 min ride on DH bikes up to Morzine along the river and a 5 minute ride back at the end of the day. It’s cheap and the washing/shower facilities are great. Bakery just around the corner and everyone is always friendly. You can get away with pretty much anything there as long as you’re not to noisy late at night. Been staying there for many years now. Camping Le Pre
The soil drains well if it’s raining as well. It’s pretty popular with Germans and French riders as well.

I’ll be there again this summer

I think we spent about £7 + Tesco points on our return channel tunnel ticket

Tunnel all the way for driving. Takes the PITA out of that bit of the travel.

When I was last there the one on Mt Cherry was great.

As for not pedaling, even in Morzine/Les Gets you have to do some (unless you do 1 or 2 routes all week) also it’s like everything else the best stuff is just a little bit off the beaten track. Putting some effort it can really pay off.

Get the map, find the newest guide book and consider treating yourselves to a day or 1/2 day of guiding early on in the week to get into some of the more hidden gems.

What is the newest guide book? I am struggling to find anything up to date.

Morzine, Les Deux Alpes. I’ve been to both. I’m going back to both this year.

With reagards to Chunnel or ferry, I would recommend the Chunnel. Last year we did the ferry, it was only 60 quid return at fairly short notice (we went to Dunkirk), BUT it put ALOT of extra time on the trip, probably 4 hours ish as on the we got there 2 hours early (ment to be an hour early anyway) and the crossing was about 2 hours. We had hoped if we arrived early they would let us on an earlier ferry, no such luck!! Apparently the Chunnel is a bit better at letting you on earlier crossings if there is space.

On the way there we drove to Dijon, stayed there in a hotel, then continued to morzine the next morning, on the way back we did the whole journey back all the way to north Wales in one hit! It was a killer. Left morzine at 5am arrived home about midnight! That was doing a steady 90 through France the whole way! If we had got the Chunnel it would have been a much easier drive on one hit, and that’s how we will do it next time

Yeah – done the ferry thing with boats to Lake Garda last summer. Bit of a nightmare (we did that in one hit there and back again from Aberdeen!). Have also driven to Belgium a few times via the tunnel and it’s a much nicer crossing – and faster too. Given the prices I was quoted £87 each way – divided by 4 of us I’d rather just pay the extra £20 or so it will cost me.

The £250 budget quoted above isn’t really that firm. We can spend more but I have to be able to show the wife that at least on paper it can be a cheap weeks holiday – otherwise she won’t let me go as we’re supposed to be saving to do the house up!

Should I be thinking about pre-booking campsites or is it not really necessary? Sorry for all of the questions – as a newbie there’s a lot to consider. I guess after your first trip you can easily get a feel for it to plan for next time!

Thanks,
Oli.

I really liked Les Arcs overall, it has been quite quiet on the two occassions I have been and trail maintenance seemed to be up there, there was little in the way of b lack level riding though.

A couple of chaps I know visited LesGets lst year and they said that most of the trails were pretty washed out. They rave about Morzine though

I really liked Les Arcs overall, it has been quite quiet on the two occassions I have been and trail maintenance seemed to be up there, there was little in the way of b lack level riding though.

There is plenty of bonkers tough stuff, it’s just not on a map as that or sign posted.

Also there is a huge area that isn’t “Les Arcs” that is within the valley and over the back towards Italy.

Some awesome riding if you have a van & trailer

YEs you will have to pre-book campsites as there aren’t many around, it’s not like Chamonix where there are HUNDREDS!

and they are not £5 a night uk campsite either most of them!!!

Cheapest campsite is the Carrefour car park, in it.

Some figures for you Oliwb from last years trip to Les Arcs with 4 in a car, averaged just under 40mpg and did the ferry (which is a PITA but cheaper, however get in there early with a pillow and you can get 2 hrs sleep under the stairs)

ferry £85.00
Breakdown £26.00
Insurance £90.00
camping 200.00 €
Fuel £46.00 224.65 €
Tolls 178.00 €

Total £749.21 split 4 ways

If you stay in one place then you just need a week lift pass (c 70 Euro) If you move about its c20euro per day +/-5 euro, but you do get to see more.

There are ways to do it cheap. We have previously bought an LDV minibus and had 10 in it with 13 bikes and all teh camping gear. Best and worst 2 weeks ever. Never spent a penny on camping, got lethered everynight driving somewhere new, did about 3500 miles in two weeks, and we got thrown out of Les Gets by the robocops as we were making the place look scruffy it transpires. However lake Montriond offers washing facilities and a better view so not a vast loss.

I can say that 2 days were wasted in the PDS during the two week trip. The first day everyone was too smashed to ride. The second was like a shock to the system, people everywhere and featureless trails.

Go once, do it you will get the buzz, but then start planning a road trip for the following year once you get the buzz!

Go once, do it you will get the buzz, but then start planning a road trip for the following year once you get the buzz!

so true. A one-off turns into an annual pilgrimage. Its fair to say for me anyway that my first alpine trip was a true gamechanger. Not just for the riding, the whole experience.

I think someone emailed me with a question from here and I didnt reply cos it went to spam then I lost it when I moved it out Sorry! If you want to ask again feel free to resend it G

If there were 3 or 4 of us taking a car and renting an apartment would almost certainly end up cheaper and less smelly than camping.

Unfortunately everyone else in my bunch is off to do the mega this year which seems like a waste of quiet trails to me.

I’ve stayed in Chatel the last couple of times I’ve been over – nice chilled little town 🙂 and they have more trail faries than avoriaz, morzine and les gets put together.

Driving via Switzerland is off the cards this year as the motorway vignette is now 150CHF – shame – I enjoyed Metabief.

Thanks for all of the info folks. We’ve got someone in our group who is in his fifties and more of a XC rider than the rest of us. He’s been murmuring about dropping out because his son, who’s into DH has been to Les Gets before and said that he’ll be too old – and therefore get tired quickly, and not good enough to do most of the trails.
I’ve been trying to persuade him that it’ll be just like a ski resort in that there’ll be as many wide motorway blues with big berms and non-threatening table tops as anything else. Also that there’s no way we’ll be riding all day every day because I’m just not fit enough / strong enough for a week of punishment. Am I miss speaking though or is there plenty for everyone?
Also we’re going when the PDS tour is on – not intending to ride in the event but will it be a waste of time ie. mobbed and not be able to buy lift tickets that week? Maybe we should try to go the week after?
Thanks,
Oli.

Personally I’d avoid the passportes event and the French School Holidays. The start of July has generally been a winner with us