I figure this board is as good of a place as anywhere else to enquire:
My oldest son (doesn't ride bikes and is on the spectrum) is graduating. He loves food, food culture, etc.. and has always wanted to go to Italy but also Europe in general. We are looking at a European trip in early July (hopefully won't run into too much Olympic insanity). My younger son (very into bikes) and I are wanting to get some riding in as well. Needs:
1) We like smaller village-style destinations where my wife and non-riding son can sort of laze around, hike, hang in cafes on the days where my younger son and I go ride.
2) Warmer preferred but not too warm. Beach preferred.
3) I know there's no such thing as a "cheap" European vacation, but Zermatt or somewhere like that isn't of interest.
So right now we're looking at Finale Ligure. Probably fly into Nice then train over to Finale, possibly seeing some sights along the way and on the return (my wife would like to see the Matisse museum in Nice). Likely would only stay in Finale Ligure for 3-4 days. Will there be enough to keep my wife and non-riding son entertained (once again, they like slow pace, hiking, eating, hanging out, not fast-paced museum/site-based tourism).
Anyone have experiences of suggestions or opinions? I'm not totally set on Finale Ligure, but it does seem to check a lot of boxes. Madeira also looks awesome, obviously, but I don't think it would scratch the "european" itch in the same way.
Man, that sounds like an awesome family trip! I had been considering joining my wife in Portugal this spring, but her training class was cancelled. We were planning to meet in Lisbon, which seems like it would meet all your needs- not sure about the heat in July, though. It is on the coast, but I understand that it can get fairly hot.
Oh lordy. Now I just saw that there's a full World Cup XC/DH/EDR with an open-entry enduro (the youngest's discipline) in Haute Savoie right in that travel window...
Dang... could be spendy, but what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
I spent a week in Morzine last year and would definitely recommend it. The riding is insane, and really well varied. From raw Pleney steeps, to bike park berms on Avoriaz, to big jumps at Chatel, to Alpine days traversing the lifts over to Les Crosetes, it's got a bit of everything. Pleney Black might be the best trail I've ridden to date.
I did 6 days of bike park riding, and then spent a couple of days hiking with my dad, who's a non-rider. The lift tickets were surprisingly inexpensive coming from North America. The level of lift access in the Portes du Soleil is also mind boggling for my coming from Canada. Both for hiking and riding, the amount of ground you can cover in a day is wild.
There were definitely some good food options, though being a pretty tourist heavy area, there were a surprising amount of burger places. I did get some good fondue (not really a summer dish but hey), and some excellent sandwiches. I was also definitely aiming for cheaper places to eat, so I may have missed out on some other good food.
I did the same trip with my grandmother! Stayed in Nice and then traveled to Finale Ligure. I think it will fulfill your requirements. The beach is nice, it's temperate, and there are nice cafes and museums for people to stroll around in.
Also the riding was pretty fun. One really cool thing is that some of the trails are old paths built during the Roman Empire, so it feels very special riding on them and passing by old ruins.
Madeira, hands down!!!
Finale will be absolutely perfect for what you're after! Any normal tourist could go and love the place and have no idea about the bike trails.
It's a proper little Italian town, not just a full-on tourist trap like many other places. My girlfriend loves it there and she doesn't ride MTB.
Finale definitely has this culture and food culture thing going on while being an amazing resort to ride bikes. Morzine and Portes du soleil in general is great too but lacking the culture part. It's a typcial alpine resort "culture" means lots of kitsch and money sucking.
Around Finale are some cool places to go to, Genua, Monte Carlo, Cinque terre is just around the corner so is San Remo, Mollini and Sospel for riding bikes. Plus the airport is pretty close too.
I live in Nice so am quite biased!
Depends how much moving around you want to do but:
Finale is obviously the go to for foreign bikers, a ton of companies operating shuttles straight from downtown, so the non-bikers can hang out near the beach, you guys can pedal to the uplift van which usually includes a guide (~50$ per person for the day).
I have not actually ridden there, but Molini di Trioria looks amazing, it is halfway between Nice and Finale, you can stay in San Remo which is effectively the Italian Nice/Monaco with casinos and lots of glamour. I believe there is a shuttle service from San Remo that takes you up into the hills.
But the main reason I am writing is to say: if you fly into Nice consider trying to plan a day of riding in that area of France: bike parks are Auron, Isola 2000, Valberg and Allos (a bit further away), local guide would be 1001sentiers if you want a big mountain adventure.
If you wanted to leave the coast and still get some good biking: Turin will be much cheaper than Milan or Florence, and has amazing trails about an hour away in Sauze D'Oulx.
I've done a number of trips to Morzine and a trip to Finale in summer 2021. Very different flavours of both biking and places to be. Morzine is superb if you're a semi-alcoholic rowdy 18-late 20's bloke due to its abundance of other semi-alcoholic rowdy 18-late 20's blokes; as previously stated the riding is very good and having a lift pass in the Portes du Soleil gives you access to Morzine, Les Gets, Lindarets, Chatel and Les Crossets (among some other places I'm sure?). You can also access Morgins (sublime riding) and Champery although the lift passes are seperate from the PdS. On a short holiday, you can barely scratch the surface in terms of riding there but as a general rule a lot of it is man made and you may struggle to find the more natural off-piste stuff without a guide/local knowledge. In a nutshell, great for party laps and a general party vibe. It's kind of like an adult Disneyland for mountain biking.
Finale on the other hand is far less of a tourist trap as stated above and an absolutely lovely place to be, the town itself has lots of history and culture. I found the locals much more friendly and seem to be not only accepting but welcoming of mountain bikers (the native locals in Morzine seemed less tolerant, probable due to rowdy blokes riding secret trails that finished in their back gardens). The food is incredible and cheap, the ice cream is world class and you've got some nice beaches very close by. The biking is incredible but very different to Morzine/PdS - think 80-90% natural trails/singletrack but with huge variety. I would 100% recommend getting a guide - we did 5 days of guided biking there and it was one of the best holidays I've ever had and not just biking holidays.
There's one small catch - from a conversation with our guide it seems the season there is spring/autumn/winter due to it just being too hot in June/July/August. We were there in early June and our guides said they normally drive up to Morzine to guide there in the summer months. I would say it was too hot to ride without an uplift there in early June (mid 30's deg C on the hotter days) so July would be an early morning bike/afternoon beach sort of vibe I guess. We went with Backcountry Finale and they were just brilliant, they planned every single day's route and included a lunch stop at local restaurants (and the Italians absolutely love their lunch, expect a 2hr break as a minimum :-D). They even booked us dinners and joined us when they could at their favourite local spots.
Wildcard option - I've heard very very good things about the Aosta valley in Italy but have never visited. I'm sure someone else could chime in.
As for Madeira, I've never been but have heard only good things and as an added bonus apparently the weather is the same all year round.
Good luck and enjoy your holiday, you'll have a great time wherever you end up.
check out massa marittima, can be combined with florence and toscana
Just a small correction, 2021 was still full on corona year and all of the lifts between France and Switzerland were closed hence the separate ticket. Now that corona is a thing of a past whole area is once again operating as usual Portes du Soleil and the ticket is again the same, you can ride from Morzine to Champery with the same ticket.
Everything else has already been said, Morzine is probably the best spot for full on DH smashing in the world with some top bikepark runs but its a pure tourist destination, decent alpine views, lake is also cool.
Finale is a nice old town (last year we stayed in Cadini appartment house which was apparently built before America was even discoved by Columbus), natural trails, lots of single track, accomodation was surprisingly cheap.
Both are great for different reasons, you simply have to pick yours.
lot what he said.
To Aosta valley: good but not comparable to Finale. If you've visited all the places: go to Aosta. La Thuille, in the very west of Aosta valley is superb. Probably the best Singletrack Bikepark around though.
Madeira is amazing nature whise. great and easy hikes (at least for Alpine standard) lots of different climate zones and villages etc. I'd even go as far and say: exploring the island is better than the biking itself. Cultural: Funchal is great, loveley old town with some art, some food, some garden, some markets. Definitely european mediterian vibes.
I can as well spit in Lenzerheide. Ticks a LOT of boxes (great riding, great nature, great alpine culture, plus city close, not to hot in summer) but definitly double the price of finale!
It really depends what kind of trails you are looking for. Portes du Soleil and Finale are miles away in terms of riding experience.
July might be really hot and busy with tourists in Finale Ligure. Bike business is usually running from autumn to end of spring (when it's raining/ snowing all over in Europe but not there). I'm not even sure that shuttle companies are operating in July/August. It worths a check.
Aosta (Italy) is also a cool place in Italy. I would highly recommend to go there for enduro riding, you will find a few shuttle/guiding companies, trails are more natural than in Finale. "Pila" and "La Thuile" are nice bikeparks additions to this area. Aosta city has an historical city center on which you could spend a day visiting. You will feel the Italian culture for sure but it hasn't the same charm as Finale in my opinion. I would recommend to visit Chamonix (France) too if your are passing by. Activities in this area are mostly related to hiking in the mountains for the rest of your familly. Closest Airport might be Geneva (Switzerland), beautifull city with a lot of cultural interests but expensive for a long stay.
Thanks so much for all the information. That’s a bummer on July being possibly shutdown for shuttles on Finale. We will definitely have to look into that. Thanks for all the information. Vital folks are the best.
Basically everywhere is nice and different than the USA.
Aosta- Super nice natural trails outside of the bike park. La Thuile is the best "bike park" I've ridden with natural terrain, Pila was good and the trails from the resort to the town are great too
PDS- Yeah it's a party, best illegal trails in Europe? We took a couple laps on the bike park trails before we diverted into the woods and rode some super steep trails, we never really took a lap on the mapped trails after that. Can speak english
Sospel - Super chill and small town, like 2 places to eat but the amount of trails in the area were crazy and all high quality
Finale- Went in early july it was hot and dusty but I'm use to that so not a big deal, made swimming better. Great trail infrastructure but liked all the above places more
Madeira- Maybe the most compact and varied riding location on the earth? I just did the race so cant comment on the towns. Every trail was good if not great.
Other places I haven't gone to but would like to check out-
Borg saint marie/Les Arcs/Tignes area
Molini
Val di fassa
Champrey
Crans-montana
Lousa
Well, if you have never been to Finale and Italy, I can't suggest more to come here... Food, people, and Trails are second to none here! I suggest also taking a guide, because Finale has more than 220 Single trails, and it's easy to lose the right Trail, (at least the first days), if you want more info we can chat on WhatsApp or email, please contact us and we'll be more than happy to give you info about our amazing region! www.localmtbguide.com
Went to Finale late last year and really rate it. Great trails, nice place, awesome food, good vibes.
If you go there, make sure you head to the Finale Workspace - it's Misspent Summers' HQ and has so much cool stuff in it!
Finale is good fun for a few days, food, beach scenery etc is mint.
Other places not too far Petra ligure, Pila (Aosta valley offpiste).
Millini do triora, lovely old town. Couple other good riding spots close to their with beaches not too far too.
Finale is also close to some smaller bike parks near the Piemonte/Liguria border. It would also be possible to go to many different places within half or a full day of driving. It's only within 3 hours driving from Aosta, Milan, and Florence to give you a rough idea.
why do british and americans always need to butcher foreign town names?
it‘s Molini di Triora
Sorry I thought i spelt it wrong but couldn't be bothered to check.
P.s Sam remo is good for a day too but stake spares it's a bike batterer
Your plan is splendid. I've done some variation of a Nice ---> Finale trip multiple times and always have fun. I like exploring, and pedaling huge days, so I never get a guide and use TrailForks. Sometimes I'll simply find an old EWS route and follow that (they are usually gnarly and I thank the Lord I am not chasing that sort of thing any more).
If I was trying to maximize high quality trails throughout my trip, or even for part of it, I'd certainly hire a guide.
Food = Amazing.
Italians are the best.
Can't wait to go back...
If you go to Finale definitely also go check out Molini (the Molini MTB guys are great! https://www.molinimtb.com/). Did a couple guided rides with them that included a great variety of riding (everything from Alpine ridge lines to loamy flow and rocky tech and a touch of ancient urban 🤪) and fantastic lunch stops! Pietra Ligure is right next door to Finale and also work checking out.
I went in October though and while we had some rain and cooler temps it was nice and quiet tourist wise so not sure how it would be in the summer.
Okay… we’ve bought tickets to fly into Nice on 6/3. Now my question:
we are debating on flying with our bikes, shipping our bikes or just renting bikes. I’m leaning toward flying with our bikes at this point.
My question: how much of a pain will the bikes be as we travel by train? Planning on going to a few other places besides just Finale (which is why I’m leaning toward having our own bikes instead of depending on rentals). It’s also complicated because we won’t ALL have bikes. Only two of us will and other two won’t.
I know Europe is way better set up for bike travel than us, and I backpacked around Europe in my younger days, but I didn’t ever travel with or by bike back then, so not sure on the experience.
Italy is mediocre at best in terms of public transport. definitely possible but also possible they just turn you down right before a train ride (been there done that)
always make sure you have the right reservation. and do it in person at a counter . reservation through website? yea sure, registration will land on nofucksgiven@customerservice.it
if you have your reservation tough, it's all good!
switzerland pretty much is the only great public transport experience.
Bumping this thread to see if anyone knows of any bike parks currently open mid week in Europe? I’m currently in Finale and driving up to the UK and looking for any parks open Monday-Wednesday next week. Small or big, doesn’t matter, just want to go hammer some DH bike laps. Unfortunately I don’t think I can head as far east as Schladming.
Google lac blanc bike park. Its great but check the page if its open
Viola St Gree should be open on mondays, check their IG. It's a short drive from Finale. Monte Alpet is close by but might only be open on weekends this time of the year, also check their IG.
Thanks, it’s on the radar but fairly sure Lac Blanc and La Bresse are both weekends only right now, otherwise we’d be there for sure.
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