[Closed] Morzine - first time, advice wanted

Skiidy Gonzales for transfers, used them last year (booked the shared transfer). Airport to hotel door, bang on time and reasonably priced.

Lift passes, buy a weeks pass for the whole Passports de Soleil area, there's loads of riding for a week. The ticket office attendants are usually pretty good and patient.

Loads of shops there for spares but tend to sell at RRP, so make sure you take consumables such as brake pads and tubes.

Be aware that the biggest difference I found vs UK is the gradient and the length of runs, you pick up speed very quickly. A week is plenty of time so ease into it and don't go full gas until you know whats coming.

Helps to tag along with someone who nows the area, or you'll need to start getting good with a piste map.

Brilliant place. Looking forward to booking up for this summer.

Thanks razorrazoo. I'll look into the transfers you mention.

Looks like alwe are going for 4 fast now, not 7. But to be honest that will be plenty. I'm useless with a map, getting lost is all part of the fun!

https://www.resa-morzine.com is where i'd be looking for accomodation before AirBnB

Good advice above. No point hiring a car as you won’t use it once you’re there and you may have to pay for parking. Plenty do airport transfers.
Take a spare mech hanger. You’ll find it difficult to replace if yours get damaged. Speaking from experience.
We’ll be there for the week of Bastille day (14th July). Let me know if you’re still about.

Depending on where you are in the UK, I'd drive, but I'm on the south coast. I've flown and driven. Time you've packed, got to the airport, checking in, flown, baggage reclaim, transferred it takes as long as driving. Parking in Morzine is free in the summer IIRC. Most chalets have some parking.

Driving means you can take lots of spares you may or may not need.

End of June is more ofen very wet and the trails are really horrible with zero grip on the soil. Go end of July or August and it'll be warm and dusty.

Tolls are about €120 total and its about 550miles in France.

Lifts for a week were €112 in 2019, buy a contactless card that can go in an outer rucksack pocket so you bump your way through the turnstiles.

Don't try and do the PdS route after the PdS weekend, some of the remote lifts will be shut.

Main centres are Morzine, Let Gets, Chatel, and Les Crosets

Me and a mate stayed with MTB Beds in Aug last year. Superb. Breakfast, 3 course evening meal for 6 of the 7 nights, good rooms and communal areas, mechanic, great bike storage, full week lift pass for all Portes du Soleil area for £550 IIRC. They sort the transfers for you too when you give them dates and flight times etc (from Geneva) - think that was €50-70 both ways. The food was very good every night. 5 mins walk from Super Morzine lift and less than 10 mins from all the bars. Great staff too. If I go back to Morzine I’d happily go there again. Look up Stoner (Mark) from this parish too - met him for some beers - top bloke who will give you plenty of local info etc.

+1,000 for MTB Beds

I've been going to Morzine every year for the past 10. Always self catered. Last year was the first year I went catered after going to Finale with the MTB Beds guys.

They can't be beaten As Rascal says, it's £589 for the week. That includes

Accommodation in a huge luxury chalet
Transfers to and from the airport
Breakfast and dinner (the food is top notch restaurant quality stuff by a proper chef)
Bike wash and workshop area
Lift pass is also included in the price
On-site mechanic that's far cheaper than the local shops and he's a brilliant guy

It really is impossible to beat and I'd really struggle to justify sorting my own accommodation etc now.

Lifts and runs are easy to navigate. Give Les Gets bike school a call and pay for a guided day out on la bourgeoise, you won't be dissapointed. take it easy on the mutzig!

OOh thread hijack sorry. Anyone one on here working the summers, off season in construction out there?

Get your bikes in proper tip-top condition, as they'll take a right hammering. Not just 'it's fine' but fully prepped with new pads/oil/cables/tyres etc. so it's ready. As said, consider spares that aren't just consumables; mech hanger, brake pads if you run unusual brakes, spare levers if you have some etc.

Alpybus is also fine for a transfer. Find some brits at the mutzig bar and ask them to give you some pointers. There are loads of good trails if you know where to look, away from the bikepark runs.

Cool thanks for all the info above. Very helpful.
Love the look of MTB beds and seems a great package but we can only go for 4 days due to some of us only having 4 days spare so makes it not really worth it this time round when you factor in flights too. Shame really as I would have gone for it.

I’d drive, but I’m on the south coast. I’ve flown and driven. Time you’ve packed, got to the airport, checking in, flown, baggage reclaim, transferred it takes as long as driving. Parking in Morzine is free in the summer IIRC. Most chalets have some parking.

As someone who also lives on the south coast, who did the drive down there and to surrounding areas a number of time and now flies, it absolutely doesn’t take anywhere near as long to fly.

Averaged at 6.30 door to door with flying. It’s nearly 10 hours drive from Calais to Morzine alone! In fact the best I’ve ever done it was 12 hours door to door & it definitely wasn’t a legal speed.

Not to mention that 9 hours of the drive in France is incredibly boring.

Averaged at 6.30 door to door with flying. It’s nearly 10 hours drive from Calais to Morzine alone! In fact the best I’ve ever done it was 12 hours door to door & it definitely wasn’t a legal speed.

How are you <span style="text-decoration: underline;">averaging</span> 6:30 door to door?

A quick journey to airport - 30 mins
2 hours check in, security etc
1:30 flight
1 hour airport passport control and luggage reclaim
1:30 transfer

There's your 6:30 before you've had any delays or dramas...

That said, I agree flying is quicker overall - but it's a lot more expensive than taking a car for the hours you gain...

Pretty much that as you’ve outlined. 45 mins drive, never get there 2 hours before, usually 1.30 max.

Passport/baggage is super fast, usually 30/45 mins, out & transfer.

I’d probably dispute the cost comparison too. Last flight to Geneva was £180 return with bike bag, transfers are cheap now, think they were £50 each way.

Driving was 3 ranks of fuel, tolls and crossing. They were pretty comparable.

I went for the first time last year and asked the same kind of questions, the only little bits of advise i can offer

Make sure your brakes are of a good standard with organic pads,the runs are long and they get hot quick.
Take spares pads a disk and a set of tyres , cheapest i saw pads was a staggering 45 euros and tyres were closer to 70 euros
Dont go balls deep on the first day enjoy the runs and ease into them, I know a few people that had 5-7 days ruined buy getting over confident.
The lift pass for 6 days was 128 euros iirc

And lastly make sure the week you go the god awful Harley riders arnt there they took over the town and for me lowered the atmosphere

Have you considered a guide for the first day to get your bearings and maybe see stuff outside the normal areas. Jo at Rideability was very useful for us on our first trip out there.

I concur with above re fly vs drive. I have driven and flown, works out pretty similar cost (based on 3 up in a car) and as a flyer from a mixed group we got an extra 1/2 day at each end of our trip as the drivers arrived in the evening on day 1 (we were out on the lifts early pm) and left early am (we flew in the evening so rode until lunch). Given that we were doing Friday - Tuesday that was 25% more riding time for the flyers.

On the brakes front also agree - I upgraded out there to Codes last year, the Guides that I had had heat issues. Codes were great (got a deal on a new set of oem ones one of the shops had been swapping off their rentals as they had a deal with Hope). Stock up on uberbike sintered before you go.

And lastly make sure the week you go the god awful Harley riders arnt there they took over the town and for me lowered the atmosphere

you must have been there the same week as us 🙁

Went last year for the first time in a group of 4, drove down taking a day and a half from the SW to Morzine each way as we planned in overnight stops. We stayed with Roost MTB who are the same as MTB beds, it was a chalet with lots of private rooms, bike wash, secure bike storage, cooked breakfast, afternoon cake and tea and a 3 course evening meal. You really cant go wrong with this style of package TBH. Roost also picked up our lift passes so when we arrived they were waiting for us so we didnt have to spend time getting them.

This year we are going back and going with Roost MTB, through them have organised transfers which they get a slight discount on and will arrange lift passes too.

As someone that went last year for the 1st time Id advise for your first visit to session each bike park/mountain side, we met someone out there who had been and got taken on some god awful tour of what I will still say are the worst trails in the area! Id say arrive and get yourself up super morzine or over to les get and session the blues, reds and blacks and if you enjoy a trail, ride it lots of times. When you've completed one bike park go to the next. Id say spend the first day or so riding Les Get, Pleney, super morzine or Avoriaz. Mid week get yourself over to Chatel, Champerry and Mont Cherry and then for your last few days ride which ever trails, there are other places to ride but you'll come across them as they are more linking trails then bike parks IMO. The reason I say this is, as a first timer there is so much to ride you couldnt do it all in a week with learning the lay of the land and what is good on each mountain. We're now going back knowing what we liked at each place and looking for more off the beaten path/off piste style stuff.

Nobody has mentioned the major pros for taking the car yet:

- Spares. All of them. Take everything you can fit in as you'll need whatever you dont bring. Got spare wheels with mud tyres? Throw em in as you'll really want them if they weather turns grim!
- Extra bike. Always handy having a spare.... especially if it opens up a different sort of riding
- In resort transport. The best park trails are in Morgin. If you ride over you'll spend 75% of your day getting there and back. An easy drive round means you can hit the trails for the full day. (Also works to a slightly lesser extent for Chatel [Pre La Joux])
- I've never seen someone turn up in resort (or at home) with a bike damaged from it being loaded into their car, or it being delayed in transit
- You get to avoid Geneva airport

Coming from the perspective of someone who loves both a road-trip and quite likes flying, I can see advantages and disadvantages to both.

The spares point above from mashr is a really good one; even with basic bike, plus pads, helmet, bike shoes etc, it is easy to go over the 23kg allowance when packing a bike bag. Some airlines only give you one bag for free, some you have to pay for sports equip regardless. I had a weekend with Mrs G in Verbier (flying into Geneva, transfer by train); everything worked like clockwork, but hoping we made the connecting train time was a bit stressful (we were there for a short weekend only and had booked a guide starting the afternoon of our arrival). Bikes on roof of car/in back of van is also less hassle, on arrival.

On the other hand, unless you have a group of you that can share driving (so hopefully more than two), driving is still tiring. Travel in general can be a ball ache, but at least on a flight you can read a book, listen to music etc. If I was going again (on a biking trip), on balance I would fly (but then we are lucky that we live 35 mins from the airport). It is possible to get up really early, get on a red eye flight and be riding that afternoon.

This year we are going to drive to the Alps as a family for the first time (to go skiing). The main driver was on cost of flights, as we are stuck for choice and need to travel in Feb half term. The kids are only young, so it might not be the most relaxing journey...

After reading the tread again and bargaining with the wife 🙂 the only question to ask is .

Does anyone know if and when the "Black Widows " 70s pop culture reference are descending on Morzine this year as that would sway any bookings, from what I can see they might even be giving it a miss this year https://www.harley-davidson.com/gb/en/explore/events/event-calendar.html

It's every other year (i've just learned, which explains why some years I seemed surprisingly lucky) so nothing this year https://www.morzinesourcemagazine.com/events/harley-days/

Yeah, I asked and one of the bar owners said every other year.

Harley Week is brilliant. It was also the same week as the WC in Les Gets last year. The whole valley was carnage😂

Harley Week is brilliant.

It really isn't. Day after day of "hilarious" police sirens on bikes going through the town gets quick wearing.

OTOH, I did get to see a Status Quo concert as a result of being there.....

Last year we drove down in a car and a van loaded with every spare part, tool and bike fluid you could find, in the end we only used the bleed kit once... one of our guys bought spare wheels, tyres, rotars, pads and bars to use none of them! Making sure your bike is really dialed before going really helps, fresh bleed, pads and tyres should see you through the week. The bleed was only required because the guy who barely looks after his bike didnt bother doing his brakes before we left!

Flying we've booked the bikes as sport equipment so get 32kgs, the evoc bike bags are 8kg so leaves some weight after bike for pads, shoes and tools. We've also booked a 23kg case each for clothes and other belongings. We're going thursday to thursday so the easy jet flights out of bristol were cheap off the top of my head think the flights were around £80 PP return with the bags and cases being £110ish.

oikeith

Subscriber

Last year we drove down in a car and a van loaded with every spare part, tool and bike fluid you could find, in the end we only used the bleed kit once… one of our guys bought spare wheels, tyres, rotars, pads and bars to use none of them! Making sure your bike is really dialed before going really helps, fresh bleed, pads and tyres should see you through the week. The bleed was only required because the guy who barely looks after his bike didnt bother doing his brakes before we left!

OTOH I've seen broken forks, frames, wheels, headset (oddly), tyres, brakes and so on in my time - and none of it due to being in poor condition on arrival. Having an excess of spares is never a bad position to be in

Coming from the perspective of someone who loves both a road-trip and quite likes flying, I can see advantages and disadvantages to both.

Yep, I've done both a couple of time each. Lot of it comes down to personal preference.

I dislike flying, not the actual flying me, the 'hurry up and wait' bit each end, the not being in charge of my own destiny bit and it's just generally a bit of a ball ache flying with a bike (getting a bag/box, checking in twice, risk of damage, extra time etc) Getting from Geneva to Morzine is also a pain, okay if you can get a transfer, but car rental... it's expensive to have a car sitting around all week doing nothing and getting one big enough to take you AND you bike.

Driving is 'easy' it just takes forever, you'll write of a day of your hols to get there and a day on the way back too.

I've decided this year to have my cake and eat it. I'm only going for a long weekend for Passportes. My Mate is treating himself to a new van soon, he's going to drive down with another mate who've a bit short of money in his new van. The rest of us (10) are going to give him £60 each to take our bikes and baggage and fly.

We get to fly hand luggage only which is cheap and easy, they get free transport door to door. I think it's an winning formula.

Lots of good advice above, my little bit concerns the actual riding, ease yourself into it.

Beware of the rain channels across the tracks(forestry tracks) big square edged things that come up quick. Guy on our campsite wrecked himself 20 minutes into his first day, I would say he had gravel rash over 30% of his bod.

We got stuck on a chairlift as well for about 20 minutes, got really cold quick.

Have fun.