Moving to the alps.

Considering moving to the alps as i only have to commute once a month for work. Can anyone reccomend some good locations? Main priorities being location to airports for work and quality of riding. les arcs has most of my attention at the moment, but I’m staying open minded.

Bourg St Maurice/Les Arcs would probably be my aim, mainly due to the variety of riding available. Remember that there’ll be snow for approx 6 months of the year though!

Main priorities being location to airports for work and quality of riding

Chamonix?

Remember that there’ll be snow for approx 6 months of the year though!

This.

And some shocking traffic jams

Does it snow in the Alps? I wasn’t aware of this.

And some shocking traffic jams

10hrs to do 180km was my personal best this year.

Now I think about it, for year-round riding, I’d be heading somewhere like Finale Ligure or Sospel. Not the alps, but if you’re moving solely for somewhere to ride, then it doesn’t have to be the Alps.

chamonix would be ideal in the winter, but its mainly DH trails and bike park stuff for riding.

Molini…. You can also come and help build trails..

molini?

I would seriously consider Samoens.

Lake Annecy? Lausanne?

Have you considered the Pyrenees? Tends to be a bit less busy (although the alps are huge and there are quiet bits). Still stunning and loads of possible off-the-beaten-track paths. Might be an option for some tax savings in Andorra too. For the alps samoens (or that valley) is a good option. Close to Geneva and striking distance of loads of good riding spots. Not too high either for winter.

Molini?

Molini di Triora in the maritime alps and italian riviera, read the current issue of the mag..

I’d love to live in Bourg Saint Maurice but it’s a bloody long way from Geneva if you need to gets there regularly.

Morzine is very close… but very English. The suggestion of Samoëns is a good one – even closer than Morzine, a bit more French and still with access to MTB and skiing.

What sort of riding do you enjoy?

Where do you need to commute to?

I live in Austria just 40 minutes from Ljubljana airport, which has cheap flights to Luton and Stansted all year round. Plenty of natural alpine biking and snowboarding to be had in Austria, Slovenia and Italy in this region. The snowboarding resorts are not the biggest but the season ticket is less than 500 euro for the whole of Carinthia and East Tirol.

I’d go to Annecy if I could. Good mountain biking, good skiing nearby and close to GVA for the commute. Plus it’s an actual city with stuff going on.
Pricey mind.

get this… http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-32042019.html

gfrew88, please tell me what your job is so I can do it too!

Are you going to do a bit of zoltaneering, too?

Bourg St Maurice or Sospel for me.

Bourg you could get the train in the winter (no idea how long it takes, but there’s none of the faff of airports & transfers)

Sospel is about an hour’s drive from Nice airport, brilliant all year doorstep riding and you don’t have to go too far to find wintersports stuff if you want to do that too.

i like the look of Samoens and bourg St Maurice. As long as I can get to London easily enough. The Eurostar runs directly to bourg also. I had considered sospel but I’ve never been so I’m planning a trip on the motorbike next month to visit some different towns. Hopefully it might help me decide.

Eurostar only runs directly to Bourg in the winter. You can still train it all year round, but not direct.

There is an STWer who is a BA pilot and lives just outside Annecy (town called Alice – no Jam pun intended)
Samoens might be good shout too. Chamonix is busy (good thing) Summer and Winter.
I know a few pople whomlive in Verbier/Le Chable and love it (expensive vs France of course) but you have to adapt to some very quiet peiords of the year

You might want to think about living in an actual resort as that can be really dead out of season and you might go bonkers 😉

Plenty of places to live along the French side of Lake Genva with easy access to PdS

Get some advice on tax, much higher in France than you may expect

Good luck and keep us posted, it was always one of my dreams to do the same. Not given up entitely yet !!

Currently part of Stoner family plan is to move out to France in the next two years for a year or so.

We own a small flat near Morzine but probably wouldn’t live here full time. I’d prefer to rent a house in a large town /small city and our research will probably centre on an area between annecy and the rhone Valley. We would still be able to drive to Morzine in a few hours, but also I could grab a flight to London from gva or lyon a couple of times per month as necessary.

Going to do some slow drive bys next week on the way back towards blighty from here in Morzine.

i will definitely need to do more research and visit some more places. hopefully be out there after xmas if all goes well.

Considering moving to the alps as i only have to commute once a month for work. Can anyone reccomend some good locations? Main priorities being location to airports for work and quality of riding. les arcs has most of my attention at the moment, but I’m staying open minded.

If you only have to commute once a month, location of an airport would be well down my priorities.

What about Southern Spain, then you could ride all year?

I still want to know what you do for a living so I can copy you 8)

Mr Transprovence, Ash Smith lives in Menton, you can see why when you look at his Instagram account… https://instagram.com/transprovence

i follow his instagram, I’ve had a look at sospel but its rather expensive for the kind of property i would want.

out of interest what is the riding like in samoens? I’m more into technical natural singletrack and big days out.

Again Molini. I know of a house going for €180 a month, an apartment 30mins down the road on the beach from €350 a month. Just 30 mins from monaco, but the coffe is awrsone and just €1 for un cafe al banco… And the riding is awesome… All year…

Girona would be my choice, less busy, great tralls/roads beach and regular flights to the UK.

nasher i would be looking to buy not rent. it also needs to have a garage for obvious reasons and somewhere for my motorbike. I might have to pay the area a visit.

This^

Why buy particularly?

I say that having recently bought in morzine mind you.

For a small holiday bolt hole to call your own for 15 yrs, yes.

But for the flexibility to move and change location around the country I’d surely rent.

OP with such a big lifestyle change I would suggest renting first particularly as you don’t have a specific favourite area you know well. Property prices in France are pretty static (even falling esp in Alps) so no rush. Year round rentals can be quite attractively priced

bigjim » gfrew88, please tell me what your job is so I can do it too!
This^

Me too please. I’d like to have a crack at a job that only needs me in once a month and affords me a life in the Alps.

Please tell us what it is..?

Me too please. I’d like to have a crack at a job that only needs me in once a month and affords me a life in the Alps.

Please tell us what it is..?

Drugs mule?

James Bond?