Advice on Bikes and Trains in France/Switzerland

Edthorne
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Edthorne
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I go. The bike bag I'll be bringing it in is a bit bigger than the listed sizing from TGV Lyria (131x81 vs 120x90), so I was wondering if anyone here has first hand info on how rigorously that sizing might be enforced?

On a separate note, this will be my first time in Europe, and any recommendations on riding, food, or anything else I should see in the Portes du Soleil area would be appreciated! I've got 5 days of lift tickets booked, and I highly doubt I'll be able to ride everything in that time, so some recommendations would be appreciated!
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Mwood
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Mwood 7/25/2022 8:41am
7/25/2022 8:41am
Is it a hard sided case? If it's just a cardboard bike box, one option could be to just build the bike. Some of the trains in that area have bike storage areas. Or what I did was just bring the bike box to that portion of the train and sit with it, hope no one complains.
sethimus
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sethimus 7/25/2022 11:03am
7/25/2022 11:03am
there is no train station in morzine
1
Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 7/26/2022 2:20am
7/26/2022 2:20am
I used the Trainline app while in Europe to purchase train tickets. There's also Omio, which provides a similar service.
Karabuka 7/26/2022 6:51am
7/26/2022 6:51am
Edthorne wrote:
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I...
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I go. The bike bag I'll be bringing it in is a bit bigger than the listed sizing from TGV Lyria (131x81 vs 120x90), so I was wondering if anyone here has first hand info on how rigorously that sizing might be enforced?

On a separate note, this will be my first time in Europe, and any recommendations on riding, food, or anything else I should see in the Portes du Soleil area would be appreciated! I've got 5 days of lift tickets booked, and I highly doubt I'll be able to ride everything in that time, so some recommendations would be appreciated!
Best part about Portes du Soleil is that each resort has different crew so even though all of them are connected and use the same pass, they don't really feel as one huge park, Les Gets has a bit of everything but more on the bikeparky side, Morzine is natural/tech/steep AF heaven, Avoriaz is flowy, Chatel has huge everything. 5 days is really not enough time to explore everthing there though, because for example a trip to Champery pretty much takes one whole day to get there, do few laps and get back, so stick to the main resorts and have fun!
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Falcon
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Falcon 7/26/2022 8:17am
7/26/2022 8:17am
When you get back, post up a report! Switzerland is my bucket list destination.
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buckoW
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buckoW 7/26/2022 10:37am
7/26/2022 10:37am
Check out Morgins and Chatel.
Kusa
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Kusa 7/26/2022 7:21pm
7/26/2022 7:21pm
Edthorne wrote:
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I...
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I go. The bike bag I'll be bringing it in is a bit bigger than the listed sizing from TGV Lyria (131x81 vs 120x90), so I was wondering if anyone here has first hand info on how rigorously that sizing might be enforced?

On a separate note, this will be my first time in Europe, and any recommendations on riding, food, or anything else I should see in the Portes du Soleil area would be appreciated! I've got 5 days of lift tickets booked, and I highly doubt I'll be able to ride everything in that time, so some recommendations would be appreciated!
Karabuka wrote:
Best part about Portes du Soleil is that each resort has different crew so even though all of them are connected and use the same pass...
Best part about Portes du Soleil is that each resort has different crew so even though all of them are connected and use the same pass, they don't really feel as one huge park, Les Gets has a bit of everything but more on the bikeparky side, Morzine is natural/tech/steep AF heaven, Avoriaz is flowy, Chatel has huge everything. 5 days is really not enough time to explore everthing there though, because for example a trip to Champery pretty much takes one whole day to get there, do few laps and get back, so stick to the main resorts and have fun!
I would add Morgins to just make it extra spicy Wink Also you can go with the same lift ticket to Les Crosets, there is a couple of fun trails but maybe not worth it, except Champery DH course Wink
Edthorne
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Edthorne 7/30/2022 3:28pm
7/30/2022 3:28pm
sethimus wrote:
there is no train station in morzine
I'll be taking a shuttle from Geneva to Morzine. Should have made that more clear.
Edthorne
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Edthorne 7/30/2022 3:30pm
7/30/2022 3:30pm
Mwood wrote:
Is it a hard sided case? If it's just a cardboard bike box, one option could be to just build the bike. Some of the trains...
Is it a hard sided case? If it's just a cardboard bike box, one option could be to just build the bike. Some of the trains in that area have bike storage areas. Or what I did was just bring the bike box to that portion of the train and sit with it, hope no one complains.
Thanks for the info, it's a soft bike bag, so I would have to bring it with me either way, though I did think about seeing if there might be a way to store it in Paris and collect it when I fly back out. At least as a plan B.
Edthorne
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Edthorne 7/30/2022 3:34pm
7/30/2022 3:34pm
Edthorne wrote:
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I...
I'll be travelling from Paris to Morzine by train (via Geneva) at the beginning of August, and I will have my bike with me when I go. The bike bag I'll be bringing it in is a bit bigger than the listed sizing from TGV Lyria (131x81 vs 120x90), so I was wondering if anyone here has first hand info on how rigorously that sizing might be enforced?

On a separate note, this will be my first time in Europe, and any recommendations on riding, food, or anything else I should see in the Portes du Soleil area would be appreciated! I've got 5 days of lift tickets booked, and I highly doubt I'll be able to ride everything in that time, so some recommendations would be appreciated!
Karabuka wrote:
Best part about Portes du Soleil is that each resort has different crew so even though all of them are connected and use the same pass...
Best part about Portes du Soleil is that each resort has different crew so even though all of them are connected and use the same pass, they don't really feel as one huge park, Les Gets has a bit of everything but more on the bikeparky side, Morzine is natural/tech/steep AF heaven, Avoriaz is flowy, Chatel has huge everything. 5 days is really not enough time to explore everthing there though, because for example a trip to Champery pretty much takes one whole day to get there, do few laps and get back, so stick to the main resorts and have fun!
This is sort of what I was wondering! I want to explore a bit, I don't really have any idea how easy/feasible it is to just hop from say Morzine to Chatel etc. for a day. On top of that from what I can tell, Morzine alone seems to have enough random loamers and gully trails that I could spend the whole time there and not ride them all.

Being that I'll be sleeping in Morzine every night, which of the other resorts are easiest to get to?
buckoW
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buckoW 7/30/2022 6:52pm
7/30/2022 6:52pm
Chatel is easy to get to from Morzine but Les Gets is the easiest.
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Edthorne
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Edthorne 8/9/2022 6:24am
8/9/2022 6:24am
So, just a little update. I did get the bike on the train without any huge issues, though I stupidly chose an upstairs seat, and had to drag the bike up there. They also seemed a bit confused about what to do with it, and it wound up just sitting in the hall on the floor beside the baggage shelf.

I should also note the train manager was quite helpful in spite of my broken Canadian french.
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Falcon
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Falcon 8/24/2022 1:42pm
8/24/2022 1:42pm
^Do they speak German in Morzine at all, or is it just French? I'm not sure how society is structured there; is it both languages, like in Canada or...?

Someday, when I go to Switzerland, in situations wherein nobody speaks English, I'll be barely passable in German. I don't even know how to ask for a bathroom in French.
Edthorne
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Edthorne 8/25/2022 11:52am
8/25/2022 11:52am Edited Date/Time 8/25/2022 11:53am
Falcon wrote:
^Do they speak German in Morzine at all, or is it just French? I'm not sure how society is structured there; is it both languages, like...
^Do they speak German in Morzine at all, or is it just French? I'm not sure how society is structured there; is it both languages, like in Canada or...?

Someday, when I go to Switzerland, in situations wherein nobody speaks English, I'll be barely passable in German. I don't even know how to ask for a bathroom in French.
Pretty much everyone speaks some level of english there in my experience, though I do speak some french so it might have been less of an issue for me than others. There's almost and many Brits in the alps as there are Aussies in BC.

I wouldn't expect there to be much German language wise, since Morzine borders with the french speaking part of Switzerland. I did meet a good number of Germans there though.

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