Campsite for alpine cycling and fam. holiday

pep.fermi

Any recommendations?
Any alpine country, Italy, France, Switzerland (expensive, tough), Austria.
Even better if there's a lake or something, not everyone in the family is excited about mountains and cycling.
Thanks,

davebradswmb

We stayed here Val de Tamie

It's a bit south and up a bit of a climb from the southern end of Lake Annecy. The campsite is beautiful, there is lots of space and excellent facilities. There is some good climbing in the area, we did a route from the site to the lake and then up Mount Semnoz, down a stunning descent into Annecy for a sandwich and an ice cream and then down the other side of the lake back to the site. There is a mostly excellent bike path that goes around the lake, but Annecy itself and the main roads are very busy.

Lake Annecy is beautiful, it is a lot quieter at the south end but there is still plenty of boat hire places and swimming spots, and Annecy itself is beautiful with plenty to see and do, though as I said it is a very busy place.

pep.fermi

Thanks a lot.
Lake Annecy indeed was already high up on the list.

wallace_and_gromit

We've had some happy times at La Ravoire nr the south end of Lake Annecy. There's some good waterslides on site for the non-cyclists.

We've also had some happy times near Bourg d'Oisans. There are several campsites with pools in the valley (not sure about slides). Alpe D'Huez itself is very touristy (which may be good or bad!) with zip wires, a luge and various other summer activities for non-cyclists. There's also an outdoor pool and a leisure centre up there too. There's a few options for rafting and tree adventures in the area too.

wallace_and_gromit

Les Gets / Morzine probably the "mecca" for an area where you can do lots of cycling whilst still having lots of more traditional tourist infrastructure available. Lac Montriond is nearby, which is a great place for a day out. We've done open water swimming, paddle boarding, canoeing and (inadvertently) annoying early morning fishermen there. There's also an artificial lake in Les Gets itself, which is also very good.

jimmyjams

The suggestion by davebradswmb sounds good. I like the Annecy area and have camped about 7 km SE of the lake, at St. Ferreol, and even once in a small quiet campsite right in Annecy itself, near the NE corner of the lake. But I don't remember its name or exact location.

However, my suggestion is Camping Les Lacs de Maurienne, at St-Rémy-de-Maurienne.
https://www.campingleslacsdemaurienne.com/

The camping site has all the normal facilities, incl hot showers without extra charge, and is right next to a lake, accessible to the general public, about the size of 3 football pitches (see photos on website). The swimming end of the lake is supervised by lifeguards mid-June till end-Aug. There is a keep-fit trail around the lake, about 1 km in length.
Beside the lake there is a large grassy area with trees, some children's play equipment and a restaurant with a large outdoor terrace. There is also an outdoor stage there and in my experience a free pop-music concert takes place on it every second Saturday evening.

There is a good bakers and a small grocery shop in St. Remy, and a large supermarket about 6 km away, at Ste-Marie-de-Cuines, near La Chambre.
Ste-Marie-de-Cuines is at the foot of the Col du Glandon, to the SW, and La Chambre is at the foor of the Col de la Madeleine, to the NE. The Lacets de Montvernier are about 10 km away.

Dorset_Boy

I don't know about camp sites, but there are a large number on the shores of Lake Annecy. The area is beautiful and the lake is really warm in summer. Pedaloes, paddle boards, boats are all available to hire in many locations around the lake.

You have the bike path that goes all around the lake (about 40 kms), the western side of which is an old railway line and goes on towards Albertville. Sure the centre of Annecy is busy, but it is very pretty.

Plenty of good climbs - Semnoz from Annecy or the Leschaux, Col de la Forclaz (for the best views over the lake), Col de Tamie to name just a small number.

Also not far to drive to the Tarantaise for other climbs or to the likes of Beaufort for the Cormet de Roseland.

It ticks so many boxes, and I'd say doesn't get as humid and stuffy as the valleys of the Maurienne or around Bourg d'Oisians which is important if you're under 'canvas'.

webboo

wallace_and_gromit said:

Les Gets / Morzine probably the "mecca" for an area where you can do lots of cycling whilst still having lots of more traditional tourist infrastructure available. Lac Montriond is nearby, which is a great place for a day out. We've done open water swimming, paddle boarding, canoeing and (inadvertently) annoying early morning fishermen there. There's also an artificial lake in Les Gets itself, which is also very good.

Also in this region is Samoens which has a swimming pool, lake, rafting and a go ape thing plus one or two things to cycle up. I’m supposed to be heading out there in a few weeks but apparently we are too old to camp these days.

wallace_and_gromit

webboo said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Les Gets / Morzine probably the "mecca" for an area where you can do lots of cycling whilst still having lots of more traditional tourist infrastructure available. Lac Montriond is nearby, which is a great place for a day out. We've done open water swimming, paddle boarding, canoeing and (inadvertently) annoying early morning fishermen there. There's also an artificial lake in Les Gets itself, which is also very good.

Also in this region is...

I think the OP will be spoilt for choice tbh. The options are literally endless!

daniel_b

What a great post - we are heading off later this year to a campsite near Vannes which is in Brittany if I recall correctly.

It's got water park facilities, and flumes etc which will keep the rest of the family entertained for sure.
We'll have plenty of days out exploring, but they have a paddleboard with them as well, and I have my bike, so am planning a few routes out, but there seems to be very little in the way of serious climbs over there sadly.

Can anyone think of any areas closer to the northern coast that might have some semi decent climbs?

Dorset_Boy

daniel_b said:

What a great post - we are heading off later this year to a campsite near Vannes which is in Brittany if I recall correctly.

It's got water park facilities, and flumes etc which will keep the rest of the family entertained for sure.
We'll have plenty of days out exploring, but they have a paddleboard with them as well, and I have my bike, so am planning a few routes out, but there seems to be very little in the way of serious climbs over there sadly.

Can anyone think of any areas closer to the northern coast that might have some semi decent climbs?

I believe Brittany is lumpy with very little flat road, like SW England, but there are no climbs approaching Alpine lengths.

daniel_b

Yes I realise that now, just wondering if there was anywhere halfway down France that might have some bigger climbs.

mrb123

daniel_b said:

Yes I realise that now, just wondering if there was anywhere halfway down France that might have some bigger climbs.

The Vosges?

Dorset_Boy

daniel_b said:

Yes I realise that now, just wondering if there was anywhere halfway down France that might have some bigger climbs.

Massif Central - Chambon sur Lac area, not far from Clermont Ferrand. Tour and Tour de Femmes went though this summer.

daniel_b

Thanks both, will look those up :-)

pep.fermi

OP here.

Interesting that all the places mentioned are in France. Anyone has good knowledge of places in the other alpine countries?

I know the Dolomites well. If you're obsessed with mountains, cycling or not, anywhere in the Dolomites is fab.
If I'm forced to pick my fav I'd say the Sella group. But there's no much to enjoy apart from mountain activities.

Thanks everyone for contributing to this discussion.

daniel_b

Just to partly resurrect this excellent thread, I wanted to give a brief summary of our 12 night stay in Brittany, not far from Vannes.

We were fantastically lucky with the weather, one single day that had a bit of fig early on, which then cleared, and a bit of rain overnight a couple of times.
Aside from that, we had mostly full sunshine, and temperatures in the high 20s, early 30s.
Overnight was high teens at least, so it is the first time I have gone camping and not had to don at least 3 layers of clothing - this was like sleeping in a house, normal pyjamas, and I even had the sleeping bag open, it was a revelation.

Another fantastic discovery was that this campsite had a small building on each pair of pitches, one half of which was given over to each of the two pitches that it served.

In a nutshell, we had our own bathroom sink and very powerful shower in one part, complete with a towel radiator.
In the second part we had a kitchen sink & drainer, fridge, and place where we could store food, kind of a cupboard, but basically the space under the sink.
The final part had the toilet.

I had no idea this kind of accommodation was available on campsites, but as a not overly keen camper, this made things so much easier and pleasant.

Apologies if this is a known thing.

As an aside, I managed a few rides in the region, but didn't have an awful lot of time to explore - I stayed inland rather than head to the coast, and the riding was ok, precious little in the way of climbs as already known, but still lovely to ride on French roads in such good condition, beautiful scenery, and very little traffic.

I'm definitely going to have a look for next year at somewhere around Annecy, and maybe with the help of a roofbox we could take all 3 bikes as well.