Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari & Queyras Trail Delights

The Hautes-Alpes are a mountain bikers paradise. The stuff dreams are made of. Endless fast-flowing singletrack through wild landscapes. Spectacular glaciers, majestic towering rocky peaks and deep unspoiled valleys, mountain pastures and vast forests, riddled with a huge concentration of the finest quality natural trails. Add to this the fact that the area receives over 300 days of sunshine a year on average and it’s our idea of mountain biker heaven!

Situated between Provence and the Alpes du Nord, this region is the highest mountainous Department in France, and an incredible destination for year-round outdoor activities, yet it is still relatively quiet compared to the busy resorts of the Savoie and Haute-Savoie further North.

We’ve been visiting the area for the last 20 years, initially for mountaineering and backcountry ski trips, but over the last decade, our interest has shifted to mountain biking and the potential in this area. Exploratory trips and journeys through these mountains have allowed us to explore more and more of the fantastic trails here, as well as touching on this area whilst guiding for other companies over the last few years. It’s certainly our favourite part of the the whole of the French Alps to ride in, and we’ve visited a lot of places!

We ran our first trips here in July 2019, and they were a huge hit with our guests. We love coming back to this spectacular area again and again, and it’s always a pleasure to share it with more riders! The video below was put together by one of our 2019 guests from Norway, Ole Kristian, and shows a little glimpse of the scenery and riding you can expect during the Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari trip.

Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari

This is our original 6 day trip in the area, on which you'll sample a little taste of a few of the best areas within this region. A Safari tour if you like, combining what we think is the best way to experience the riding here. It’s a great introduction to the area and often what most guests join us for the first time they head to the Hautes-Alpes.

We’ve aimed to include as much as we can to make a complete holiday package, so that once you arrive you can leave the logistics, guiding, and organisation to us and simply enjoy your holiday and 6 days of great riding!

We stay at several different hotels during the week, each chosen for their spectacular location, friendly hospitality, and quality of accommodation, service and food (and their proximity to awesome riding!).

Our first hotel is where we spend the most time, 2 nights at the start of the week, and 2 at the end. We’ve been staying here for many years now, and love the friendly welcome we always receive from the owners, as well as the amazing food and great wine and gin menu!

Our other hotels are all equally as fantastic, and we’ve tested the food and room comfort at all of them to ensure they meet our high standard of requirements.

Each hotel has secure bike storage, and most have bike-washing facilities, should we need them.

Breakfasts at all the hotels are a buffet style and will include plenty of fresh breads, pastries, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, cheeses, meats, often eggs, juices and tea/coffee.

Dinners are 3-courses, and are either a set-menu, or sometimes a choice of a few dishes. Everywhere we are staying knows we will need biker-sized portions! All the hotels can cater for most dietary requirements, but please let us know these at the time of booking so we can let them know in advance.

We will provide lunches each day, including buffet style salads, meats, cheeses, fruit and bread, or sometimes a large baguette-style sandwich with differing fillings, fruit, crisps, bars, and trail snacks if we are not meeting the van during the day.

where will we be riding?

The Hautes-Alpes is vast, and with only a week we cannot explore every corner of it, so we’ve focused on a corridor of the area we like best.

We’ll begin in La Grave, a small town best known for it’s legendary big-mountain skiing terrain. From here we have access to an iconic lift which takes us up to a spot where it almost feels like you can touch the glacier. Several incredible high alpine descents of up to 2000m are possible from here.

The sunny south-facing side of the same valley also contains some fantastic varied singletrack riding through stunning scenery, with a relatively small amount of effort to get there, and we’ll spend a day exploring the options around here.

Moving South-East, we have a day of riding in the delightful Serre-Chevalier valley, working our way towards Briancon. Beautiful balcony trails, fast-flowy singletrack, switchbacking trails through steep wooded hillsides, and some loose, rocky, technical trails mean this day has a bit of everything, all mostly achieved by shuttling with minimal climbing!

From here we’ll start to enter the Queyras regional natural park, where we’ll be spending the second half of the week. Covering an area of 65,000 hectares, this incredible mountain playground is full of beautiful flora and fauna, unspoilt scenery, and trails that will leave you grinning from ear-to-ear.

There'll be days where we shuttle up to high cols to descend grin-inducing epic long trails to the valley, and others where we head out for backcountry days to access places and trails we can only reach under our own steam.

Queyras Trail Delights

After several years operating the Enduro Safari, we started to find we were getting enquiries from guests keen to return and spend more time riding the magical trails of the Queyras regional natural park. It’s not hard to see why, as once you’ve ridden here most people seem to fall under it’s spell! There is something special about the wild unspoilt nature of the scenery and the unrivalled quality, and sheer number of incredible trails, all of which seem so perfectly suited for bikes.

We first ran this trip in 2022, and it’s popularity has grown as word gets out on how fantastic the area is for riding!

The trip differs from our other holidays in that we stay in one central location for the whole week, allowing us a base to travel from each day, and giving access to more of the area that we just don’t have time to visit during our Enduro Safari.

The hotel we use is the perfect place to relax and unwind after long days in the mountains, with comfortable rooms, a pool, sauna and jacuzzi, a sunny garden to enjoy outdoor drinks, a great restaurant serving delicious meals and a fantastic breakfast to start each day.

In order to reach the best trails in the area, we need to climb a little more under our own steam than during the Enduro Safari. This means between 800-1200m climbing a day, some of which is pedalling, but also a significant amount of pushing and hike-a-bike. We promise you it’s worth it! As a result we’ll gain access to unbelievably good trails which just can’t be reached using the van alone, and even more long, flowing descents where you are guaranteed to have forgotten the effort of the climb by the time you reach the bottom!

e-bike week

We ran our first E-bike version of the Mont Blanc Enduro Tour in 2023. It was a great week that worked really well and we’re keen to continue catering for the growing number of E-bikers who want to join our trips.

The Queyras Trail Delights E-Bike week uses the same hotel as our regular trip in this area, and the landscapes and trails of the region are ideally suited to E-Bikes.

You’ll need to factor in driving or travelling by train to either our start point in Arvieux or our pick up at Nice, as it is not possible to fly with an E-Bike battery currently. Although it is possible to rent bikes from the local area (we can provide you with contact details but this will be up to individuals to arrange personally).

All the regular trip information applies, including experience level and fitness to tackle long days in the mountains on physically demanding trails. Contact us if you want to chat about this!

We suggest an E-Bike with a 600-750Wh battery, but if you have a lightweight E-Bike with a range extender and good fitness this can work too! (We’ll be riding 45-55km per day with 800-1200m climbing to give you an idea of whether you’ll need this or not!). There won’t be an option to charge the batteries during the day, just overnight at the hotel.

Please contact us if you have a group who would like to book this week as an e-bike trip.

Female-friendly week

Whilst all our trips are always open to all and often led by a lead female guide, we recognise that it can often feel intimidating for individuals who haven’t joined a trip like this before to sign up, and there may be a preconception that the group will consist of mostly male riders with years of experience and the confidence that brings.

No-one wants to come on a holiday and feel anxiety that there will be a significant difference in the riding ability and fitness in the group, or that there’ll be the kind of banter that a rowdy group of guys might enjoy. We can ensure you after many years of running trips, that we don’t tend to get these kind of riders on our trips! Our returning guests are universally lovely, friendly folks who are looking for great riding, an adventure in the beautiful mountains, and good times amongst like-minded riders, they are also completely unphased by the fact the lead guide is a woman ;)

However, we are super keen to attract more of the women we know are out there who would love the kind of riding adventures we organise, hence the introduction of a female-friendly week!

During this trip, we’re hoping to bring together a group of rad women, keen to experience this adventure amongst other like-minded riders, knowing they’ll be in a supportive, un-pressured and fun group to enjoy it with! After feedback from our women’s-only week in 2023, we realised that many women wanted to join a similar trip but with their partners, especially when holiday time together can be limited, so we’ve decided to open up this week to male partners and friends (as well as people from the trans and non-binary community and anyone who acknowledges the barriers minority groups face in accessing and stepping up to trips like this, and is down with supporting them to do so!)

With a female guide and the emphasis on boosting confidence, having fun, and leaving the egos at home, plus the usual epic trails, comfy hotels and great food and drink, we can’t wait for the great times we are sure will be had on and off the trails on this week!

dates available

13/7/24 - 20/7/24 - Deviate Clan week - enquire for details

20/7/24 - 27/7/24 - SOLD OUT

31/8/24 - 7/9/24 Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari - fly in/out of Geneva (SOLD OUT)

8/9/24 - 15/9/24 Queyras Trail Delights - fly in/out of Nice - SOLD OUT

15/9/24 - 22/9/24 Queyras Trail Delights (open to private group bookings)

what’s included

• Geneva or Nice airport pick-up/drop-off

• 7 nights comfortable hotel accommodation in twin or triple rooms

• Delicious breakfasts, biker-sized packed lunches, hearty 3-course dinners

• 6 days guiding

• Any lift passes required during the week

• Van and trailer shuttles and support

• Trail snacks

what’s not included

• Flights/Travel to Geneva/Nice

• Alcoholic and soft drinks with evening meals

• Food/drinks bought at cafes during the day

• Personal travel insurance (See FAQs for further information on what this should cover)

trip details

pick-up/drop-off

Included in the price of each of the trips is pick-up and drop-off at either Geneva or Nice airport. In order to take advantage of this you will need to ensure you book flights which arrive no later than 12:00 on the day you arrive, and leave no earlier than 14:00 on the day you leave. (Trips run either Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday, make sure you book the correct travel day for the trip you are joining!)

On the day you arrive, you’ll be met at an agreed point and time (communicated to you via email after booking) by our driver and van, ready for the drive to the hotel. There is no need to assemble your bikes, please leave them in their bike bags and we can do this at the hotel with a beer in hand!

The transfer takes about 3 hours on the Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari, and 4 hours on the Queyras Trail Delights. Unfortunately the airports closest to our destination are relatively small and do not have many flight options during the Summer months. Arranging collection from Geneva and Nice means most people will be able to find flights easily, wherever they are flying from.

Should you wish to drive, there is parking in the villages where each trip starts/finishes where you can leave your vehicle for the week.

On the day of your departure, we will make aim to be dropping you off at Geneva/Nice airport by 12:00, hence the reason for not booking a flight any earlier than 14:00.

Guiding and Transport

You'll have two guides for the week; one of these will be Julia, an experienced and highly qualified guide who has spent over 8 years guiding and riding all over the Alps, and is one of a small number of British mountain bike guides to hold a French Carte Professionnelle, allowing her the full and legal right to guide in France. Our other guide may vary week to week, but will be an experienced, qualified and professional guide.

We use clean comfortable minibuses fully equipped with seatbelts as well as a specific bike trailer.

How fit/experienced do i need to be?

During both of these trips we travel through some fairly remote areas and encounter a full variety of riding, not all, but some of it technical, steep, exposed and committing. You should be an advanced and experienced rider, used to riding natural mountainous trails with confidence. You should ideally have had some previous experience of riding technical singletrack in the Alps, or at least high mountain technical trails in areas of Scotland like Torridon or the Cairngorms, steep natural Tweed Valley singletrack, or in the Lake District, trails such as those on Helvellyn, Nan Bield pass, or the Four passes route. If you are unsure about your level of experience or riding ability, please get in touch for a chat.

A good quality modern Enduro style bike (ie a 29er with 130-140mm + of travel, or a 27.5” bike with 150-160mm + of travel), tyres of at least 2.3"+ and knee pads are required for these trips.

A very good level of endurance fitness is essential for you to enjoy these trips. We will be moving at a steady pace for up to 8 hours some days, and descents are long and physically tiring. We will climb between 500-800m (Enduro Safari) and 800-1200m (Trail Delights) each day, trying to alternate tougher days with relatively easier ones. Some of this climbing will involve pushing and carrying your bike so you should be prepared and fit enough for this. Remember the climbs here are often at altitudes of between 2500 and 3000m, which makes things a little harder than at sea level!

The Hautes-Alpes Enduro Safari contains slightly less climbing and descending than the Queyras Trail Delights trip.

There are 6 days of guided riding, so no day off, on this trip, but obviously you are always welcome to join the driver in the van should you need a rest. On the Queyras Trail Delights trip there is also the option to take a rest day and remain at the hotel by the pool!

If you are interested in joining either of the trips but unsure about your fitness or experience level, please contact us to discuss before booking.

peace of mind

Booking an expensive holiday such as the one we are offering can often come with many questions beforehand. Your safety and enjoyment are our ultimate priorities, and as such, you can rest assured that we are a professional operation, holding comprehensive Tour Operator Liability Insurance, as well as financial failure protection to ensure our clients’ money is protected, and to comply with the UK Government Package Tour Regulations Act.

Our guides are qualified, experienced, first-aid trained, insured, and licensed to guide in France. We carry state of the art Satellite tracking equipment, our trips are fully risk-assessed and have robust bail-out plans and emergency procedures.

any Questions?

We are happy to answer any further questions you might have on either of these trips, and you can also find a section on overseas holidays on our FAQs page. The best way to contact us for any other questions is via the form on our contact page.

how do i book a place?

Bookings are being taken now and are limited to 7 people per trip.

Please contact us via clicking on the button below (which will link to our contact page), indicating which date and trip you are interested in, and we will send you our booking form, terms and conditions, and deposit details.