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A dedicated team of travel specialists is available to offer you expert advice Monday to Friday from 9 to 12:30 AM and 13:30 to 6 PM (French time) on the phone, or by email.


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Mountain bike France

Ride the best singletrack on the way through the French Alps, from Lake Geneva to the Med seaRef CY9Y

From Lake Geneva to the Côte d'Azur, this French Alps crossing is a must for Alpine trail riders and enduro friends. The trip combines a hand-picked selection of some of the best singletrack with an experience of the most beautiful bits and pieces of the Western Alps: broadleaf trees, firs, spruces and green pastures in the northern part, and pines, larches, boxwood and golden grass in the southern part. The trails we ride on our way to the south are simply spectacular and satisfy all types of riders: from easy and flowy to steep and technical. You will be amazed by the unspoiled mountain landscapes which parade one by one: Chablais, Mont-Blanc, Beaufortain, Haute Tarentaise and Haute Maurienne, Briançonnais, Queyras, Mercantour, Vésubie and the Sospel area in the hinterland of Nice. If you like singletrack descents and the Alps, our Alpissimo trip is for you.

Guided version: from 1695€ - DetailsSelf-guided version: from 1995€ - Details Duration : 8 days | Level : Customer satisfaction : - 0 reviews
+33 458 140 435 A dedicated team of travel specialists is available to offer you expert advice Monday to Friday from 9 to 12:30 AM and 13:30 to 6 PM (French time) on the phone, or by email.
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Highlights

  • The full Alpine experience: from the shores of Lake Geneva to the coast of the Med sea
  • The best singletrack descents of the French Alps in one trip (we have criss-crossed the Alps for a little over twenty years...)
  • The flexibility to adapt the routes thanks to the mini-bus with trailer at the group's disposal
  • The possibility of doing this tour in a guided version or on your own...

Description

Comments

  • This is a tour for experienced mountain bikers at ease on technical singletrack. If in doubt, don't hesitate to call us for a chat.
  • France Bike Trips Enduro means two to three times more descending than climbing thanks to uplifts by vehicle or cable-car

Distances and climbing

Thanks to our support vehicle, we have great flexibility on the daily stages. We can adapt the routes according to the level of the group, the trail conditions and the weather. For this reason, we do not provide mileages and altitude gain in the programme below, but only a range linked to the level of the circuit. Each day, we cover 35 to 50 kilometres, with a maximum of 1,000 metres of cumulated climbing and 1,500 to 3,000 metres of cumulated descents.

Day 1: Thonon-les-Bains - Les Gets

Itinerary start: You will meet our guide and the support vehicle on day 1 at 9h00 in Thonon-les-Bains. On request we can book extra nights prior to the tour. Transfers from Geneva airport are also available on request.

We meet up, load the mountain bikes on the trailer and off we go for the complete crossing of the French Alps, enduro-style! The best-of of Alpine single track awaits us during this certainly unforgettable week...
We start riding in the surroundings of Châtel to enter the not-to-be-missed area of the Portes du Soleil. The ski lifts allow us to maximise the descents for this first day of warming-up. From the heart of the Chablais mountains, we enjoy the first panoramic views of the Alps...

Day 2: Les Gets - Cormet d'Arêches

Morning transfer to the valley of Les Contamines where we take a ski lift which transports us to the natural balcony of the Col du Joly. Breathtaking views on her majesty, the Mont-Blanc. We begin with a technically demanding crossing to Les Saisies before plunging into a long and very playful descent to the village of Beaufort. After a short stop at the local cheese cooperative to stock up on beaufort cheese, we climb up in the direction of the Lac de Roselend to enjoy some more flowy and playful single track in the typical spruce forests of the Beaufortain. A final transfer takes us to the idyllic col of the Cormet d'Arêches, perched and lost in the middle of the mountain pastures.

Day 3: Cormet d'Arêches - Valloire-Galibier

An energetic start this morning with a 30 min hike-a-bike section across mountain pastures. But it is well worth the effort as we reach a magnificent 360° panoramic spot of the Northern Alps. Follows a descent of 2,000 meters in altitude, to the bottom of the Isère valley (called the Tarentaise): the discs will heat up hard! From the valley bottom, we transfer to the Vanoise massif. A 500 m climb (with a final hike-a-bike section) leads us to the Petit Col des Encombres. Another great viewpoint with the curious and impressive silhouettes of the Aiguilles d'Arves. We plunge into the Maurienne valley with, this time, 1,500 metres of descent! Final transfer to the pretty village of Valloire, at the foot of the famous Col du Galibier, where we spend the night.

Day 4: Valloire-Galibier - Cervières

Transfer to the mythical Galibier which symbolises our shift from the northern to the southern Alps (water divide between the Isère and the Durance). The view on the Ecrins massif with her majesty, La Meije, and the Barre des Ecrins, the southernmost 4,000 m peak of the Alps, is breathtaking. After a rolling but very panoramic descent, we climb on a single track in a beautiful larch forest to reach a balcony trail, the Chemin du Roy. After a fun, twisty roller coaster ride, we plunge down towards the valley of Serre-Chevalier. Transfer to the Col du Granon for another beautiful descent to Briançon. At the end of the day, transfer to the small village of Cervières, at the foot of Col d'Izoard, where we spend the night.

Day 5: Cervières - Jausiers

Transfer to the Izoard pass and its moon-like landscape. After an ascent on a single track followed by a short hike-a-bike section to the small lake of Souliers, we enjoy a first single track descent through the golden mountain pastures of the magnificent Queyras regional park. These give way to well-spaced larch forests as we lose altitude, with twisty flowy trails. From the village of Arvieux we transfer to the foot of the Col de Furfande. After an ascent of 300 metres, we enjoy the panorama of the chalets that lie scattered across the mountain pastures below. A single track which alternates flowy and technical sections leads us to the banks of the wild waters of the Guil (1,300 m of descent). Transfer to the Col de Vars before plunging into the Ubaye valley on a final long descent. Night in the village of Jausiers close to Barcelonnette.

Day 6: Jausiers - Beuil

Early morning transfer to the Col d'Allos. Here we are at the gates of the Mercantour National Park. Through the typical grey lands of this massif, we gain altitude on a narrow single track on a balcony. Under the eye of the mineral mountains of the Mercantour, we meander through the mountain pastures before reaching the village of Allos in the shade of the larch trees. After a short walk through the typical narrow streets, we transfer to the Col des Champs. We arrive on a vast and wild plateau of mountain pastures. We enjoy the second long single track descent of the day to the small, narrow valley of Entraunes. A short transfer allows us to reach the playful "black earth trails" of Saint-Martin-d'Entraunes, before finishing the day at the foot of the resort of Valberg where we spend the night.

Day 7: Beuil - Col du Turini

Transfer to the Col de la Couillole. From the first pedal strokes, we savour the beautiful pastoral atmosphere with the numerous herds that graze on these golden yellow expanses. We start the descent towards the Tinée valley. Passing through the cute perched village of Roubion, before a very nice section single track section that joins the surprisingly red rocks of the bed of the Tinée. We then transfer to the Col Saint-Martin where we set off on one of the routes that made the reputation of the famous Trans-Vésubienne marathon. We ride an outstandingly beautiful trail, both uphill and downhill, rolling at the beginning then technical and stony afterwards. The views over the valleys of the Vésubie to the east and the Tinée to the west are simply superb. Full north, the Mercantour remains omnipresent with its high mineral peaks. At the end of the day, transfer to the Col du Turini where we spend the night. The sea points its nose in the distance...

Day 8: Col du Turini - Menton (Côte d'Azur)

Last day of our Alpine crossing... A shorter stage in order to reach the coast by lunch time. We discover the single tracks of the hinterland of the Côte d'Azur: after a first section which brings us to Sospel, we make a last transfer on the heights of Menton and dive towards the sea. A short or longer dip is highly recommended!

Itinerary end: The tour ends in Menton at around 12h00. Possibility to have lunch with the group in a local restaurant (not included). On request we can book extra nights in Menton, or organise a transfer to Nice airport. Our vehicle leaves Menton around 14h00 for the return transfer to Thonon-les-Bains.

Distance and altitude gain are an indication only and may vary.

This tour has not yet received any reviews.