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I am planning a week away next summer for my kid brothers 40th and a good mates 50th. This will be the fourth time for 3 of us but the first time for our mate Tony, who is a solid red XC wheels on the ground rider.
We are looking for good alpine singletrack trails, rather than our usual uber-steep and technical stuff and also don’t want the heavily man-made stuff - berm-double-berm tabletop trails either. Ideally we need access to uplifts or ski-lifts to maximise our ride time and also I may be recovering from surgery.
So...
- Is Annecy a good location? I’ve enjoyed it on a family holiday and there looked like a lot of possibilities but is that reflective?
- There seem to be reasonable connections to trails outside of Annecy but getting a firm idea of this through Googling is proving tricky. Can anyone confirm that?
- Does anyone have killer accommodation recommendations? We would need reasonably spacious rooms and a living area - as well as bike storage. We were thinking of Eurocamp-style, but at the moment I am in Italy and dying on my arse due to the heat and bodies in such a confined space. I don’t want that again - despite multiple great Eurocamp holidays.
Over to you guys for some input!
Cheers, Jay.
What about Morzine - well setup and lots of nice natural options which don’t require a back protector and full face ! I’m thinking stuff like Col du Cou and some of the hiking trails in all the valleys. Lifts up as well if you don’t want to ride up.
Cheers for the input NZCol. I should have mentioned, we’ve done Morzine 3 times and although it’s been fun and we’ve done a lot of exploring, we are looking for somewhere different.
Bumped for the morning crowd.
Samoëns has what you are looking for. Don't know about a whole week though.
Jump on an e-bike. Completely changed my perception and opens up vast network of natural trails.
Morzine is about the best bet for that imo, if you want different then I would have to say verbier and the area if you can justify the extra cost. You’ll have to do a bit of pedalling to explore the area properly but the enduro routes are fantastic and you can get lifts to do most of the work.
The bike park is good for a couple of days for a bit more difficult riding, it’s a step up over the same grades French trails. Then you can link lifts and go a bit further over towards Thyon/Veysonnaz.
Personaly I wouldn’t say Annecy was that good for riding, there’s forest there but you may as well go that bit further into the proper mtb territory and into the lift system, otherwise you’ll be driving each day likely.
Yeah, there's a lot of riding like that in teh tarantaise valley, which isn't so far from annecy. Though to be fair some of it is pretty tech/steep, but every time I've been in that area there's been assorted red/black riders in the group who have not died. And I think you'd like La Thuile...
i think the area suits a guide, if only to avoid accidentally riding down double header and killing your mate- I've done White Rooms 3 times and it's amazing but I reckon even if you stayed in Annecy and did it yourself it'd be worth speaking to Stevo, or maybe Sam at Bikevillage, or trying independent guides (maybe Yvan Bonin is still guiding in the area, he's my favourite human being ever)
Some great contributions- thanks guys!
White Room would be perfect and best food in the Alps! (That is not an exaggeration).
I'll throw Bourg St Maurice in the mix... Funicular access to Les Arcs, which in addition to a lift served bike park with a good bit of variety, has sooooo many singletrack gems hidden away.
On top of that, it's a good centre to explore from; Tignes and Val d'Isere (free lift pass!!), Sainte Foy and La Rosiere are all just up the road and La Thuile (absolute gem with scenery to die for and probably the best enduro trails I've ever ridden) and Pila (drools) are just over the hill.
Though I've not used them myself, I've heard good things about Cool Bus
Nice one JHJ
I'd have a look at Tignes. Last couple of years they have been doing free lift passes while they try to grow the summer biking business.
Tignes is €10 a day now but still a bargain.
Pila would work well.You are allowed to ride all the walking trails and the info place happily give you the walking and mtb traiil map. Lots for a few days there
You're asking for a lot but yeah I reckon Aosta could provide. Certainly wins on food/coffee!
What about Bike Village - good accom , food an guiding for a group like that - opens up all the Tarentaise