Is This The Best Place To Ride Your Bike In Europe？

Morzine, Les Gets, Châtel, and Champéry, these all form parts of the Porte du Soleil. Whilst this small area of the Alps might be hidden in the shadow of Mont Blanc, they have been in the mountain bike spotlight for over 30 years. How did this small slice of the mountains build such a legendary reputation? Why do people keep coming back here year after year, and should it be on your mountain biking bucket list? Well, we're here to find out. Tucked away in the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps sits Morzine, and more importantly, the Porte du Soleil, home to some of the most historic racing we've ever seen, combined with these amazing bike parks and an ambiance that most music festivals would be jealous of. It is for this reason that we have loved coming here at GMBN for so many years. Even after all this time, it finds new and exciting ways for us to enjoy our mountain Thanks to the guys at Atlas Ride Co, we are back and we are insistent to find out exactly what makes this area so special for mountain biking. A little over 10 years ago, a long time before I was a presenter here on GMBN, I found myself living and riding here in Morzine. I love the riding and I love the community. However, I was what some would consider a bit of a park rat. Not a single pedal stroke in sight and I loved every bit of the chairlifts and, of course, Morzine's finest downhill trails. Whilst I was lapping up the bike park, Ben, who's one of my friends, was out exploring the amazing backcountry here in Morzine. Was I missing out? Well, today, whilst Rich and James are off exploring the bike park, I'm going to go on my first backcountry mission here in Morzine. Let's get underway. This is Ben Richards of Atlas Ride Co., a local legend that has called Morzine his home for over 20 years. Throughout my time in Morzine, Ben was constantly trying to encourage me to get out of the park and explore some of the hidden singletrack. If I'm honest, for For years, I ignored him. Ben, you have finally dragged me away from the bike park. What is the plan for today? We've got a bit of a pedal just to get out of Morzine. Probably about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how your legs are going. Might be less on this, but there you go. I probably should have brought my e-bike. Then we're going to go out and do some proper alpine single track, bit in the forest, bit out in the open. I've got a bite to eat at a cool local spot that I've found. It's just nice to get out of the park for a little bit. I do more of this probably now than I do the bike park myself, even though I love it. This is where I go to find a bit of peace and quiet. I'm pretty excited to ride some brand new trails, actually. It feels weird coming to Morzine and having the thought that I'm not going to know the tracks we're going to ride. Well, this is what you get when you explore a little bit. Finally. What do you think mate? Hungry? Yes. Let's go. Got a good spot for you. Let's do it. Ben, you've brought me to somewhere pretty unique. I've never been here before, and it's pretty unreal. What have we got in terms of food? What have you got for me? We've got two lovely little assiettes here. That's what they call a sharing plate in France. We've got some beignets here, some little fried crispy treats. We've got some local charcuterie, some local cheese. We're actually not far from a dairy farm, which is just up there, where they're making cheese. They're getting the cows out in the fields. This is what happens when you get outside of the bike park. Get exploring. When I leave my trusty burgers. Nothing wrong with a penny burger, but sometimes you've got to treat yourself to something different. Yes, this is definitely much more civilized and look at this view, it's pretty stunning. Yes, it's a pretty special place to be. Ben, you've lived here in Morzine for over 20 years now. How has mountain biking changed in that time? Changed a bunch. From the first days when I was here in the early 2000s, we had a handful of trails in every resort, whereas now you can go to Les Gets, Morzine, Avoriaz, Châtel, Morzine, Champéry, and they've all got these really good developed bike parks, different levels of progressivity throughout the trails as well. You've got your greens, your blues, your reds, but you've got different types of all of them, flow trails, jump trails. Over the years, you might have seen that The popularity of Morzine has just gone up and up and up, and the bike parks have all, one by one, kind of responded to that with all these different trail networks. The towns as well, you know, there's bike shops everywhere. You can get whatever you need, wherever you need it. Basically, it's got everything you'd want for a mountain biker, and you've seen that year by year just keep progressing, and it continues to do so. I don't see any reason why we're not gonna continue progressing for the next few years onwards. What is your favorite bit about Morzine? What makes it such a special place? Definitely the variety, like you can come here as a family, you can come here with your kids, you can go and ride some really good stuff doing that. You can come here with your e-bike, you can go out and explore like we're going to do today, or your enduro bike. You can come here as a bunch of downhill bros or downhill girls and just shred plenty all day. You can ride jump lines in Châtel. You can do everything. It's really close to the airport. It's easy to get to. It's the center of mountain biking in Europe, isn't it? You see elite level downhill pros coming here in between World Cups because it just has everything. You've got really facilities and people that can help you out, a really big community. Like I said before, the bike shops, the restaurants, the cafes, it all feels like a place that welcomes mountain bikers. Has the heritage and culture of Morzine changed with this increase in tourism and, I guess, increase in mountain biking? Has that affected the way the heritage of the town has become? Yes. I think like anywhere, there's There's obviously positives and negatives between you get an influx of tourism like Morzine's had over the summers. There's a few challenges in how you deal with having so many people find a spot really popular without having necessarily all of that infrastructure in place immediately. It's not like Morzine was built for mountain bikers. It was built and then mountain bikers came. Putting those two things together has caused your challenge over the years. Overall, you'd have to say it's been a really positive impact. One final question before we get back on the bikes, where do you see Morzine in, let's say, another 10 years? That'll be 30 years for you here in Morzine. Where do you see it in the next 10 years? I think in 10 years' time, let's just say this is what I'd like to see. I reckon there's going to be a lot more easy, good, green, Family-oriented flow. There's going to be a lot more world-class level jump trails and there's going to be more techie flow enduro type stuff where you can spend big days out on the bike. I don't think the chairlifts are going anywhere. The ski industry is huge. It's massive. It does dwarf the summer industry in terms of the length of time, but also the financial income these resorts have from it. Mountain biking and summer resorts in general, summer sports in general, I'm are getting more and more a part of what makes every single mountain resort work. There are resorts lower down that just simply don't run anymore in the winter. It's definitely a thing that's coming, this transition between maybe a more year-round economy. If it's not already there, I think Morzine would be one of the leaders in that. I think it'd be really cool to see families be able to come to a place like this instead of a beach holiday and bring their kids out and ride some really cool safe stuff like you can do in the UK. And I mean, look at this view, it's pretty stunning. Yeah, it's a pretty special place to be. Yeah, I need to fuel up and then we've got some more pedaling to do, haven't we? Let's go. Yeah, let's do it. This is absolutely insane, mate. This is the truest form of mountain biking. Maybe it's just me getting older. I might actually like this more than the bike park. It's nice to get out there, isn't it? It is indeed. Heading up there now. Up there? No, there's no way. I'll leave that. That can be for James and Rich. Let's do some downhill now, yeah? E-bikes I need out there then. Yes. As much as I like a pedal, not that much of a pedal. Let's keep going down the hill, shall we? All right. All right, then. Like old times. Keep going, mate. Whoa-ho-ho! Focus on the e-bikes. Yes. While Ferg takes three to five working days to catch his breath, I thought I'd actually explain a little bit more about what makes this town so special. It's not just the bike parks and epic rides, it's about the culture and the heritage that surrounds this beautiful town. I've come to Les Gets just a few kilometers from Morzine which is all linked by chairlifts. Now this region has played host to five world cup events from 1996 to 2002 and also world championships in 2004. The world cups then took a hiatus from Les Gets before returning in 2019 bringing us some of the closest and most exciting racing we've seen in modern times. From locked out French podiums to riots on the finish line, this region knows how to race. It's not just mountain biking either. Avoriaz has played host to the Tour de France 35 times. But this amazing racing pedigree hasn't just come from the brilliant tracks. It has evolved from the passion for all things mountain biking coming from this area and the importance of winning at such a prestigious venue. While thousands of people come to this area for the racing every year, there's much more to this place than just that. There is something for everyone in the Portes du Soleil. Whilst James and Ferg are out exploring the culture and the landscape of Morzine and its surrounding area, there is one main reason that draws bikers into Port de Soleil area, and that is, of course, the bike park. Hey, buddy. The Port de Soleil is the biggest bike park in the world with 650 kilometers of marked official trails spanning across 25 different resorts and two countries. The options really are endless. It's the reason people come to Morzine year on year. You can get a brand new experience every single time, whether you're on holiday or working on your riding. There's absolutely everything from steep rowdy berms to loose technical terrain. Oh, God. The Port de Soleil then. It's got the perfect syndicate of bike parks all working and connected together. Essentially, each zone has got different types of riding, different surface types, and their own different building styles, meaning you can have a different experience every time using 25 actively running connected lifts. What really brings people here? Is this your first time in Morzine? It is. It is? Yes. What drew you to this place? Downhills. Is it? Just laps on laps? Yes, man. No way. Where have you come from? Utah. Oh, quite a way. Yes. We're over here with six of us. Yes, no way. Big groups come over there. Yes. Is it mostly the downhill? Have you explored outside of Morzine and around the region? Yes, we got over to Champéry and all by lift. Yes, all Châtel, Morzine, all that kind of way? Yes. Really making the most of the area. It's amazing. Would you come back? 100%, we're coming back. Are you booked up already sort of thing? Yes, we're planning it right now. No. Yes, you got to plan before you leave. Flipping out. Well, there we go. He loves it. My wife better not be watching this ----. Yes. I then caught up with Neil Sharp, a trail builder here in the Port de Soleil. All right, Neil, thank you for joining me, mate. First question I want to know is, do you take inspiration from other resorts in the Port de Soleil or do you try and keep your own identity? I'd like to say no, but it's not true. Really? Well, we've got the advantage here that it's a big area, so there's 12 other resorts. They don't all have full-on bike parks, but Les Gets, Morzine, Châtel, the guys over in Champéry, Morzine, everyone's got their own little style of things. I think it's hard not to take inspiration from the other people. You might see something. You go right there, you see, oh, that's a wicked way of building something or the way they've done it and go, take that back. Exactly, yes. It could be a cool feature you haven't thought of. a tip of the way to shape something, to make it more durable, that kind of thing. It's hard. We have our own style, certainly. Sometimes it's defined by what dirt you've got. Here, the dirt's great. You can dig for hours straight down. Really? Before you get to Australia, you don't hit bedrock. You don't even get that many rocks. Really? Then you go to Lindaree side, you can dig this much, three centimeters, and then you've hit bedrock. And so yeah, That often defines what you can do in a different area as well, but it just defines what you can do with the tracks. We try and keep our own style of things. Okay, Neil. Super Morzine is famous for party laps and having a good old train down it. Would you say the bike part then is- trying to gear up more between a vast variety of trails that we were just talking about, or are you, there's some good pro lines here, trying to develop the more top-end type of trails? I think for us, it's more the variety. If you go too specific, then you're missing out on a lot of clientele. There needs to be something for everyone because there is the There is riders of all abilities. Yes. It's probably more difficult to build a good track for good riders as well, I'd say. If you look at World Cup tracks now, they're very fast. Oh, yes. Flat out. Yes. Flat out, long corners, some quite technical bits, but some big features as well. For your general public, if you start mixing that kind of thing in with the rest of what we offer, Then it's sometimes hard to keep people away from that track that possibly shouldn't be there because they haven't got the level to be riding that. Awesome. Neil, great to catch up. Thank you for some insights on the region and keep up the good work. Great chatting. Cheers. Thanks, mate. It's clear then the legacy and popularity of Morzine is ever evolving and changing as is the hopes of our region. What do those in charge think? Well, for that, James caught up with the Deputy Mayor. There's a lot of famous resorts in the area that maybe haven't adopted mountain biking, quite like Morzine. Morzine were one of the earliest back in the 1990s. Were they as open to adopting mountain biking as early, and was it supported as much initially? I think at the beginning, nobody realized what would become mountain biking. We know now, but back in the days, they just thought, oh, good idea. These people want to go down our mountains on mountain bikes. So in 1995, I think Pleney opened the gondola and opened the first permanent slope. And it was probably just a few people doing it at the beginning. So they didn't realize. There was support from the mayor, from the ski lift companies at this time. But yeah, nobody realized what was coming. And then it grew, it grew. Portes du Soleil really started in the 20s. And to compare in terms of figures, there was only 100,000 lift rides in the 2000s. And then now in 2025, we're reaching 2 million lift rides. So it's really increased a lot. It became very important for the town, as important that we have also to start, since COVID, manage a little bit more. Where bikes can go, where can't they go and then but then makes things evolve in the good In a good way for both the bikers and the rest of the users. Do you see the shortening winter season with climate change and stuff affecting the future of Morzine? Or do you think something can be managed? We're a 1,000-metre resort. We've got the chance to have a Vorea, to have the Portes du Soleil, so also ski-shore resorts. But it will affect the lower slopes. Investments are being made, are being planned. for the next 20 years and those investments are planned to be combined with the evolution of skis availability higher up in the mountains, but also combined with what we need for summer to find more space for mountain bikers. As an example, the Pléney has accelerated their development in the Charnier area, some new slopes are coming. Um... There's loads of things moving, so to try to balance the winter and the summer, and summer also becoming longer. That's also another point that is very important. It was already July and August before and it became more like June to the end of September. And it's because the weather as well has changed and it's nicer for longer months. So it's really the strategy. Yeah, perfect. And finally, where do you see the future of Morzine in 10 years time? What's sort of the Portes du Soleil and Morzine area looking like, do you think? In 10 years time? Difficult to say if you don't have a crystal ball. Yeah. I think, yeah, summer would take more importance in the activity of the resorts. I see also more... More, um... year-round inhabitants because i think people are escaping a bit the heat waves they're like finding finding a nice finding nicer less areas to live in um and a better quality of life with the surrounding environment so um i hope we're still gonna have uh small or winters uh in 10 years time i think it's okay with the higher slopes but also longer summers and mountain bikers Thank you. Like a more diverse offer for mountain bikers from downhill, enduro, family, slopes, everything. Something that covers all the range of... Ben, as much as I pretend that I know Morzine, I'm completely lost right now. Whereabouts are we in relation to the Alps and in relation to Portes du Soleil? Yes. If you look at the far side of the view over there, you've got Avoriaz tucked away on the cliff band. Just next to that, you've got Super Morzine and all the trails of the bike park there. You can just see the top of the Pleney. You've got Moncherie there, which has got the World Cup track on the other side of it. Then going down into Léger itself and then below us, you can just about make out the town of Morzine. Amazing. We've got the views and, of course, the trails. What type of trails are we riding today? This is going to be an alpine-style, quite open single track through tight, techy sections, a bit of rock, a bit of flow, that kind of thing. It is one of those shared use paths, so we've got to be a bit conscious of walkers and sharing the trail properly, but we can certainly go down and have some fun. You better look after me. I'm an old man these days. Mate, you'll be right. Don't worry about that. You won't be finding dirt and trails like this in the bike park. Just look at that prime loam on a mountainside. I'm loving it. Well, that's kind of it. I'll give you that then. That's my kind of trail ride. That's not bad, eh? I can see why you only ride the backcountry now. My God. What started as little shepherd-like trails, much like the one Ferg's on now, have grown and developed over the years into these meticulously crafted and planned tracks that we get to ride now. What was a place that holiday makers and mountain bikers would come to as a ski resort, if you like, in the summer, well, the development in the industry here has morphed into what it's A great example of this is the famous Pleney Main Line that finishes just behind me, built by Morzine local Roger Mandin. It's one of Europe's first purpose-built mountain bike trails and is synonymous the world over. In fact, Fer caught up with the man himself, Roger. With the king of ambiance, Roger Mandan, when did you first come up with the idea to build Plenny Main Line? So I had the idea of starting on this track for VTT players. Just for the VTTists, in 1997. How have you seen the trails evolve from what you originally built? The evolution in Morzine, in 30 years, from 1997 to now, it has evolved enormously. A lot, a lot of people. Last year, there were 1,991,000 passes on the Morzine-Avoriaz commune. In 1998, the first track, the main line, was finished. After 10 years, there was a second track. There are only four now, but the evolution has been around these two tracks. Freeride, freeride, freeride, small tracks, singles, a lot of singles, shaped with just small tools and it's Kiwis, English, a lot of them shaped all these tracks on Le Pleney, on Super Morzine and on Nyon. The evolution is huge, huge. First of all, I started, I started, I fought to get the VTT accepted in Morzine. I created this track that was reserved for the VTT players. And it's the Anglo-Saxon VTT players who came in first and who made the VTT evolve. And the first year, the first few years, I didn't have my bar. There was the Robinson, the Robinson bar. And it was VTT, Robinson, VTT, Robinson. Then I opened my bar, the Rogers bar, and the Rogers bar was the place to be. Big atmosphere. Do you remember the t-shirt? I have. Big atmosphere. I still have it. At Roger's, it was the place to be. I sold it two years ago. But there is still an atmosphere in Morzine. But it's the Anglo-Saxon atmosphere that makes it the VTT, the ride of the day and the pre-VTT, the pre-bike, the after. And it's very linked, it's one thing. Mountain bike, atmosphere, bar, mountain bike. And Morzine is a station, it's a village, which is very pretty. And it gives a lot of possibilities, very easily, with the mechanical mountings, to ride out of the apartment or the chalet, to come back, eat lunch, and to come back for the aperitif, the pre-bike. It's very easy because it's quite small, and it's very well surrounded, and VTT ambiance, it goes together. Oh my God, oh that was actually unbelievable. Thank you so much for dragging me outside the park. Honestly, I can't believe that trails like that exist and that I haven't ridden before. That was just insane. That's what you can do when you get out of the park and next time you're here, get yourself a guide and you can ride all sorts of stuff like that all day. Yeah, honestly mate, thank you so much and obviously it's been one hell of a day. I mean, even the charcuterie board up the top, I love that. Not bad, eh, not a bad life. I reckon we should, I'm quite thirsty, should we go get a beer? Beer? I know just the place. Let's go. You had a good day? Yes, I have actually. Coursing the course at Léger. Nice. It's been nice. How about you? A bit of culture. A bit of culture around Morzine. It's an all right place, isn't it? A bit of culture. Yes, I've had a similar day. I've been up doing some park laps, exploring around, met one of the trail builders, spoke to a few people on the hillside about what makes this place so special. It's been nice to get some different insights. What about you, boys? Well, we had an amazing day. Ben, He's finally managed to drag me away from the bike park. I know, Rich, you've been in my bag. Yes, we swapped roles, didn't we? Yes, exactly. I actually had a fantastic time. Ben, you showed me the finest little single tracks, didn't you? Yes, it's been great having you back out in resort. Good to see you again. Boys, it's been great to meet you all. Nice work, chaps. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much again, Atlas. It's been a dream. Let us know what you think in the comments down below. We're going to enjoy our beers now and finally get out of this riding kit. Nice one. Yes, it's going to be a big day. Cheers. Cheers all. Cheers. Cheers.