Mountain Bike Trails in Val Thorens — 5 of Our Favourites

The first of these is in Les Menuires and is a designated kids zone at the Plan d'eau des Bruyeres. With a total loop distance of just 4km and height gain and descent of 120m, this is a very easy trail and is perfect to test out your abilities before you move on to some of slightly harder trails. It has a technical skills area as well, which can help build confidence and balance.

The second green trail is the 'De Saint Martin au Chatelard' which is situated in the town of Saint Martin at an altitude of 1,400m. This is a 6km loop with a height gain and descent of 280m, so slightly more taxing that the kids zone but still a good family trail for those who want to start mountain biking with young children and enjoy time in the mountains together.

Beginning from the top of the télécabine Bruyeres 2, the red downhill trail named 'Le Pluviometre' is around 5km in length. A difficult and challenging ride that takes you from above the town of Val Thorens down towards Les Menuires with a descent of 650m. At the end of this trail you can pick up the red runs going towards Les Menuires and extend both the total length and descent.

Les Menuires
Joining on to 'Le Pluviometre' from Val Thorens you can take the 'Roc n' Ride' red trail to give you a further 4.5km with 500m descent down into Les Menuires. The other red downhill specific trail here is from the top of the Masse gondola, a fun trail for those who enjoy the thrill of downhill. It's 5km in length with 590m descent and skirting the forest on the way into town gives this trail a good variety of terrain. Also accessible from Les Menuires is a 2km stretch of cross country trail which leads you towards the long blue descent down into Saint Martin.

Val Thorens has been FCC (French Federation of Cycling) accredited and so trails are way marked and graded so you know what you are getting yourself into. They are marked green, blue, red and black to show difficulty rating (similar to that of ski pistes) with the downhill trails marked with a diamond shaped sign and differentiated from cross-country which are two spots with a triangle.

Crossing over into neighbouring Méribel is easy from the St Martin 2 chairlift or from near the top of the Bruyeres 2 lift in Val Thorens.

The free resort bus service runs from early July until end of August and coversthe length of valley from Val Thorens at the top down to Saint Martin de Belleville, so that you can move freely between the lifts with your bike without having to pedal! There are only around four each way per day, and only two on Saturdays, so be sure to check the timetables before you set out and plan your day to get the most riding out of it.

In addition to this, the chairlifts and gondolas operate on a fairly peculiar system with various lifts only open on certain days, thus reducing easy access from Méribel over to Val Thorens. See here for more details.

You can find details of both the lift openings and bus times on the Three Valleys trail map.

The downhill trail at a length of 19km and with an ascent of 250m, as well as the descent of 2,124m, is an endurance ride that will get the adrenaline and the heart pumping. Taking you all the way down into the town of Moutiers. 

You have to be sure to know not only where you are going, but also how to get back to your accommodation as there are no specific bike buses from Moutiers.

The cross-country trail 'au fil du Doron' is certainly no walk in the park either with a length of 35km, an ascent of 1,840m and the same in descent.

Val Thorens

There are blue downhill specific trails in the town of Val Thorens which are suitable for beginners to mountain biking. They both begin from the top of the Moutriere chairlift, are 3.5km in length and have a descent of 380m. These are great for practising technique and getting used to the style of riding as you can lap them both easily until you can ride both with confidence and are ready for the move to the next level.

Les Menuires

This area has the largest track selection in the Valley and the blue trails are all downhill specific, but of varying length. Under the Reberty chairlift you will find the short 1.3km long 'Descente des Boyes' which cover a descent of 150m in height. A great short trail to get you used to riding top to bottom in one go! The other trails run down the left side of the valley towards Les Menuires are 2.4 and 4km long with descents of 300m and 400m respectively.

Saint Martin de Belleville

The final and longest of the blue trails ends in Saint Martin at the base of the St Martin gondola. Since the run begins at the very top of Saint Martin chairlift the total length of the track is a fantastic 8.3km with a descent of 1,034m. Once you have mastered this trail you will be ready to move on to the reds.