Ideas for places to go mountain biking in France

I’d like to take a group of about 8 friends mountain biking in France for a week this year, and I’m looking for ideas of places to go. I’ve not been mountain biking in France before, so I don’t know what the key areas are. We were thinking of taking a couple of cars over and hiring a cottage/chalet for a few days (lets say not more than 7 including getting there and back). The people I am taking are fit, but relatively new to mountain biking – I took them on their first red a couple of weekends ago, and they did fine and enjoyed it, but I think a black would be beyond them for the minute. People either have trail hardtails or full sussers of about 5 inch travel.

My other friends who are downhillers recommend Morzine, but having looked at Morzine, although it looks well set up, it seems quite full on. Are there more trail-ish options that are easy to find there?

What other options do I have?

Thanks!

Plenty of gentle stuff round that area too

Suisse Normande is lovely. Great riding, sublime food, just be careful with that Calvados!

Not all Morzine is DH’ing, there’s loads of XC stuff too. I wouldn’t rule it out but would suggest a guide to find the best bits.

Also the Pyranees are good for big up and down XC riding. Probably a bit far to drive for 7 days though.

Les Arcs is good too, based in Bourg Saint Maurice, less DH and much more hardcore XC. Check out http://www.chillchalet.com for digs and guiding, also Rob at http://www.thecoolbus.co.uk does guiding too.

Other than that there will be loads of other stuff, France is a big place :o) My advise would be to contact some of the bike holiday companies, they can make everything so much easier.

Les 2 Alpes and Alp D’huez are also close and have strong MTB scenes – you could stay at Bourg-d’Oisans which is n the valley between the 2. Both excellent for XC and DH / freeride stuff

And chairlifts…. 😆

http://www.altitudeadventure.com/

Consider the Limousin. One (large) forest alone has almost 700km of marked MTB trails ranging from green to national standard DH trails and there are thousands more km of unmarked trails.

http://www.creuse-oxygene.com/france/espace-vtt-ffc-gueret-34.htm

Straobiker on here lives in the region and is always very helpful.

http://www.stratobiker.com/

look at the ffc website http://www.ffc.fr/a_VTT/a_SitesVTT/index.asp

Choose an area with a good range of routes. Personally I would stay away from Morzine if you are intending to ride only XC. Les angles/font romeau is good for Xc and has some lifts if you wish but there is loads of stuff all over France that might fit the bill.

Straobiker on here lives in the region and is always very helpful.

….Thanks leggyblonde.

Yes, the Limousin region has some great mountainbiking. I love it here. There’s more trails here than you could ride in two lifetimes!

What time of year would you be thinking of malibu?

End of April, start of May.

End of April, start of May

No ski lifts for you then.

but there is loads of stuff all over France that might fit the bill.

Oooh yesss.

All things relative, there are few areas of France that are as flat as most places in the UK and footpath access is toally legal apart from some national parks.

As Ianv said, Les Angles and Font Romeu have uplifts and there is alot of XC around those parts. Using that area as a base, you could also check out the trails near Quillan and Carcassonne or head towards Le Boulou and the Alberes.
As an estimation, that would keep you busy for several months !

The chalet we’ve used for skiing the last couple of years (just outside Les Arcs) turns into this in the summer.
http://www.themountainbikechalet.com/
Really nice guy who runs it (who is also a MTB guide, more into lift assisted singletrack trail riding rather than hoofing down gnarly downhill.

April May might be a bit early for the mountains, but quillan/Nebias/Lac Montbel is lower and pretty good. Alternatively, there is the area north of Montpellier, Lac Salagou/Pezanas, loads here and much warmer.
The Drome is also a great area and there are loads of waymarked routes in that area (3 FFC centres I think)

Alternatively, there is the area north of Montpellier, Lac Salagou/Pezanas, loads here and much warmer.

I have nowt to offer on that remark 8)

April and May is very early for the Alps…

If you fancy provence and the Italian side of check us out at Rivierabike

Don’t know if this thread will help that I posted the other day:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/where-to-ride-in-the-alps

I have just bought the MTB Europe book and it looks quite good (although don’t need all the UK stuff) but it was only £12 or something like that.

yup – you could do worse than a visit to riviera bike – although not really france – You can probably see france from there!

Sospel is great + loads of great riding down south, which is where you should head at that time of year if you want some warmth!

If you want lifts at that time of year you’re best off in Switzerland where they have a lot of lifts that act as public transport and can take bikes. South facing mountain sides are obviously the best bet!

I am watching this thread with anticipation I plan on driving down to South of France at end of June (22nd to be precise) and want to go somewhere different to Morzine etc. However I don’t want holidays with everything included although possibly interested in guiding (hence my previous thread).

The south is a great place to ride:

You can do things like go to Nice, get a train north into the mountains with your bike, then ride back to Nice – with a bit of gravity help, plus a bit of climbing.

If anyone wants any help riding in my neck of the woods (Limousin/Haute Vienne) drop me a line. I’d be happy to show you some of the great trails we have here.

What we do have is great natural trails ranging from easy to ball-braking hard. It’s very very quiet, you won’t see many people when you are out. XC riders would love it. Trail center riders and those who like lifts probably wouldn’t.

SB

Thanks to everyone who got back to me. I had lunch with the various people interested in the holiday, and what we concluded was that ‘serious mountains’ were out (like Morzine) because there is too little AM experience in the group. Also the group view is now that they are content to ride up the rides (but they dont have the fitness to ride up mountains in places where the air is very thin). I guess this might rule out the Pyranees too.

Having had a longer chat with people essentially what they want is decent weather, nice food and a nice chalet / cottage to stay in. They want to ride a maximum of 3-4 days of the holiday (so don’t want to be tied into a lift pass), and want to be able to have walks, take in culture etc round somewhere scenic / chill out with wine and cheese for the other days of the holiday.

Given these requirements, I need to find somewhere which is either wayposted (or get reasonably gpx data for my Satmap), or where some guiding is available.

We also rediscussed the dates, and people are prepared to be more flexible, but we want to avoid the school summer holidays to keep prices down.

With this in mind, the Limousin seems an obvious first choice, which of the options people already suggested would still fit, and are there any others?

Many thanks for your help.

If anyone wants any help riding in my neck of the woods (Limousin/Haute Vienne) drop me a line. I’d be happy to show you some of the great trails we have here.

What we do have is great natural trails ranging from easy to ball-braking hard. It’s very very quiet, you won’t see many people when you are out. XC riders would love it. Trail center riders and those who like lifts probably wouldn’t.
SB

Very interested in the Limousin area for riding + possible property purchase – is there much in the way of a local downhill scene? Along the lines of Hopton/Bringewood/Forest of Dean type DH trails.

Get in touch with Sam and Lyndsey at http://www.bikevillage.co.uk/ , located in Landry near Les Arcs/Bourg, lovely accomodation 🙂

Here are a couple of vids from Haute Vienne. The first one is one of my training loops……taken in April…

The second one is an easy loop that we use as a recovery ride, usually on a Monday to get cake…filmed in April also…

There’s no guarantee of good weather this early in the year, but April/May are normally excellent.

MMM Les Arcs was looking promising but it looks soooo flipping far away it’s another 5 horus from Chamonix! DOn’t think I’ll be going there this year.

I’m thinking Chamonix and Pila? Was thinking about Verbier as well but didn’t know if that was a bit much. What do you reckon? 4ish days in C nad P?

SB, I hope to be down for at least a few days around Easter/royal wedding. I can’t wait, it’ll be almost 2 years since I last rode on those trails.

When I confirm plans I’ll drop you a line to see if we can go for a ride or two 🙂

@leggyblonde – that would be great. Road or MTB I don’t mind. 🙂

Where is Haute Vienne then?

@Munqe-chick – it’s a department of the Limousin. Situated in Central France on the edge of the Massif Central. Or, about halfway down, slightly to the left.

HTH SB

+1 for Stratobiker’s trails. Monts de Blonds rock.

Almost as good as Scotland, the cakes however swing it. Vive La France

“the Limousin seems an obvious first choice” not really, go further south, guaranteed decent weather and more interesting landscape IMO. Google lac Salagou to see what I mean.

The site http://www.utagawavtt.com/randonnee-vtt-gps is a good place for route info.

I am watching this thread with anticipation I plan on driving down to South of France at end of June (22nd to be precise) and want to go somewhere different to Morzine etc. However I don’t want holidays with everything included although possibly interested in guiding (hence my previous thread)

You need to go to Val D’Allos. All-mountain rides, natural single-tracks, sunshine and pas d’Anglais (as recommended by Fred Glo in the MTB Europe book). You don’t need a guide as you can download a stack of superb GPS routes via the Allos website.

Make sure you have googled the right Les Arcs, the one you probably want is only a couple of hours from Chamonix and a stunning drive. If you went straight there you wouldnt go via Chamonix.

Personally though, I didnt think it was a varied (or picturesque) as the Bourg D’Oisan or Chamonix area. Best riding at Les Arcs was in the woods – IMO.

Verbier is doable in a day from Chamonix, longer drive than it looks on the map, about 1 1/2 hrs.

Personally I wouldnt stay in Morzine / Les Gets, unless you want a more “Brit Abroad” type experience. It’s cheaper than Chamonix, but that’s the only reason for chosing it. You can get there in under an hour from Chamonix or Les Houches. But, I’d say the DH stuff there is all manageable, the harder stuff to ride in the Alps are rocky / rooty footpaths (again IMO…).

If you are thinking of Cham to Pila, dont forget the toll for using the tunnel (unless you were planning on a longer drive…).

I’ve got soft sports for Valloire and Sauz D’Olx (sp?) too, especially if you want to see how the Italians to MTB resorts…

It’s all good, you’ll have fun

Okay guessing I got the wrong Les Arcs! Now there are too many options and this MTB Europe book isn’t helping as I want to go to them all!
Agendagnamit; we have 13 days in total door to door, what would you do? where would you go if you had that time? i’m happy staying away from Morzine (having been there every year for the last 8 or so!).

I’m staying just North of Foix in September. Anybody know this area?

Munge – we went for 3 weeks last year (door to door, stopping a day on the way out and back) so had a few more days than you. We also took in Lake Guarda for 3 days, so if you took that out too you would have a similar amoutn of time to us. I ought to say I quite enjoy the driving in the Alps, so was happy to tour aroud in our camper, drive over famous cols, drink coffees, speak bad French etc. Our itinery was pretty much this:

3 Days at Venosc – 1 day chilling out and buying kit after the drive, a day at Deux Alps and a day on the via ferrata.

Drive to Bourg St Maurice (Les Arc) via a days riding at Valloire

3 nights at Bourg St Maurice, so 2 days riding at Les Arcs via the funiclar to the lift stations. Rode Black 8 on the day we left to drive to Chamonix

4 nights at Chamonix, 3 days riding (Trient decent, local valley stuff then a day around Les Houches / St Gervais). Quick trip up to the Midi before breakfast on the last day (you may as well as it’s now including in the expensive lift pass)

3 Nights at Lake Garda – very nice riding, plus a beach which is always good.

2 Nights at Sauxe D’Olx – day riding the resort

3 or 4 nights at Allemont to ride Alpe D’Huez and do some climbing, before heading home via Annacy and a stop in Ypres for some proper lagers.

Fantastic trip and not too expensive if you camp and do some of your own cooking, buy beers in shops etc. Tempted to do something similar this year, although heading further east or north is tempting too.

AGent do you mind if I PM you for a bit more info/guidance! That is VERY useful and would be great. Thanks.

Yeah, go ahead. I spent enough time on research to share around!

pics here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238857&id=670282779

Cool I will e-mail you this evening when I get home from work. Thanks a lot.