Best destination - French Alps with non-bikers

hunta

A group of us is planning a trip to France this summer. It'll be a booze-cruise for some, an Alpine retreat for others and a chance to spend a good portion of the week hitting some trails for me

Does anyone have any recommendations for good places to head to? Needs to be high to get that feeling of being up in the mountains and for easy access to trails for me, but with enough to keep everyone else entertained as well. Do places like Portes du Soleil have much going on for other halves etc. for instance?

DXG82

Hi there

Are the non-bikers in your group sporty or active at all?

I have been to both Chamonix and Les Gets in the summer and both offer other activities besides mountain biking, including road cycling, hiking, climbing, tennis, kayaking, rafting, hydro speeding, canoeing, canyoning, horse riding, via ferrata, parapenting. I also think some resorts in the Alps (maybe Tignes?) have all year round skiing on a glacier.

Most of the resorts in the Alps also have plenty of leisurely/family cycle routes if they are interested in doing some cycling but don't want to do anything too hardcore. A lot of the Alps resorts also have swimming pools or lakes for swimming in the summer months, so if the weather was good its possible just to relax with a book.

We booked our holidays through Alpine Elements (cheap and cheerful!) so maybe check out their websites for ideas of the activities available in the various resorts.

Also bear in mind that in the summer months some of the mountain bike trails (eg in Chamonix) which are also used for hikers are closed to mountain bikers (I think they are closed for a few weeks in July and August) so I would double check this.

Overall I would say that if the people you are going with are active /enjoy the great outdoors then they will love the Alps in summer, but if the are completely inactive and have no interest in the outdoors and just want to booze and party then I would probably not recommend a week in the Alps (maybe Ibiza would suit them better)!

hunta

Thanks DGX. They're definitely going for the great outdoors. How 'hardcore' active they are is another matter. Walking, swimming, bit of family-type cycling maybe, possibly horse-riding... Not kayaking or climbing, for instance. But certainly not the types to party all night and sleep all day, though I'm sure a nice outdoor pool and a stack of books might be appealing.

Are the resorts pretty standard along these lines during the summer, or are some better catered than others? I've spent many weeks all around the place during the winter, but never seen what they have to offer during the summer months.

DXG82

Well in that case I think they will love the Alps in summer, you don't have to be a hardcore mountain biker to appreciate the Alps as long as you are someone who appreciates the great outdoors and doesn't want to spend the whole holiday in a pub I think you will have a great time.

I think most of the main resorts have basic things like tennis courts and somewhere to swim, but obviously things like summer glacier skiing are only available at specific places (Tignes I think). I would check out Alpine Elements' website www.alpineelements.co.uk which has details of the different resorts. I booked both my Alps holidays with Alpine Elements - they're pretty basic cheap 'n' cheerful type holidays but they tend to be really good value for money and the package I got to Les Gets included a free activity pass which included free tennis, a white water rafting morning, and free bike hire for 3/4 days (the bikes were just basic Kona hardtails, not top of the range or anything but would be fine if your friends just wanted to do some leisurely riding/family trails).