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For those of you that do this type of holiday, do you take your bike or hire one? How do you get from the airport? I used to go many years ago, but the cost of bike carriage and transfers etc. seemed to make the whole thing more and more prohibitive each year.
Any advice?
If 1-3 days hire, more, take your own. We booked random resort company.
We drive so take loads of stuff including bikes. A few of our party have flown and it is a pain and expense with bikes but you do get to ride your own bike. That said the hire bikes in Morzine are pretty good so it is an opportunity to ride something newer and better or try out a bigger, bouncier bike if you fancy. Hire isn't cheap though. Personally I'd always make the effort to take a bike unless its only for a couple of days
Have driven in the past & it's always been a crappy journey. The fact I can take more spares doesn't make it up for me. Much rather fly & it compares in cost to driving anyway. Also get to ride my own bike, which is nice.
We've always taken our own with Easyjet without too much bother. Even when there's been lots of us we've never lost a bike yet. This year (if we go) we're thinking of driving and stopping off somewhere on the way to break the journey up.
Free airport transfers if you stay with Riders Refuge. Flying with a bike is a ball ache but depending on where you live it might be the easiest option. We usually drive but the Morzine stop is usually the end of a bigger trip.
- I take my own bike, as I prefer to have a bike set up just how I like it.
- I usually drive but if not then I fly Liverpool-Geneva and then transfer. Not expensive to do either IMO.
Fly.. its not too bad should be around £130 each way with a bike box - getawayvans is a good transfer company as is skiidy or powdercabs etc... basically everyone just avoid easybus or alpybus
So for Morzine I'm almost always driving down as part of a group of mates.
We've always done it in a single day and it's quite a long drive (we get a tunnel crossing at a very early hour of the morning) and we usually arrive around 6 - 7pm
On previous trips rentals seemed to be between 90 - 130 euro per day. Some of the others in the group did rent and for the most part the bikes were in decent condition.
Assuming you're doing mostly bike park riding and you own a DH bike, then I'd take it with you unless you're doing a very short trip.
How good are you with the brakes the wrong way around? If no good (like me) take your own bike.
I’ve drove once and flown twice trouble free, until 2018 when easyJet lost around 10 bikes from our flight due to over booking, 3 of which were mine & two mates. The other 8 mates bikes turned up on time. Ours were put on a later flight without us knowing and left at Geneva airport pick up area unattended. There was nobody to speak to, just fill in a lost luggage form on the app and claim off your insurance was the only help we got.
I will stick to driving or renting from now on, it is a long drive but a better holiday imo.
Last time I drove (well, got a lift) and took my own bike. This year due to lack of a place in a car I've picked up a second hand Evoc bag and am flying, got decent deal on BA. I did consider a hire bike. If driving we would be there 3 days, but flying means I'll could ride 2 x half days too. Was more cost effective to fly with my bike in the end as 90 euros + a day for bike if I wanted to ride on all 5 days I could. I do also like having my own bike as I like the familiarity.
Over the years I’ve done the drive down taking my own bike, flown taking my own bike and hired in Les Gets/Morzine. I’m now firmly in the “hire there” camp due to two real issues. Over the years I’ve trashed my own bikes having to replace parts / service bikes when I get back. That combined (when flying) the extra luggage costs meant that it wasn’t much more expensive to hire more overall. Secondly I’ve hired 170mm enduro bikes and I ride less travel trail bikes back home. So over the course of a week I’ve had more fun / been less beaten up on the hire bike. A last smaller consideration - travel is a little easier hiring a bike rather than travelling with one.
I will be looking to hire, I was wondering if you had any recommendations for where to hire from and whether you need to book in advance? I will be going end of July and staying in Annecy but with a trip out to Les Gets (I think), so want to avoid driving there and not getting a bike!
i rented from Evasion last week for a cheeky opening day session - the only time I've ever ridden les gets without a million braking bumps.
I nearly always take my own - this time I rented as I was only riding for 1 day on what was otherwise a family holiday - the only other time I rented was because I'd snapped my bike.
The shops can all swap the brakes round, so thats a non-concern, you might like to book if you want something in particular, if you're renting for a few days the prices are normally negociable - I think I got €20/day off when I rented for 4 days last time.
We normally drive, as we're only an hour from the tunnel so its not too bad a day. If I lived up north I'd probably fly. If there's a few of you you can always rent a car on the far side to drive to the alps - it can work out cheaper than a transfer and gives you more flexibility once there.
renting is pricey, but if you include wear on the bike its not too bad - if its wet and gritty the alps can get through a set of pads per day, and you'll inevitably break something else on the bike too.
Many thanks, very helpful indeed!