Bike Holiday Accommodation, Food and Travel

Bike Holiday Accommodation         The Food       Rest Day       Getting Here       Insurance

The luxury new BikeVillage bike holiday accommodation since 2021 is a beautiful French farmhouse called Maison Caramel, near Les Arcs. It has been lovingly converted into a 4-star guesthouse by our awesome hosts Kerry and Serge. This is not just a random ski chalet – you really can make yourselves at home in our accommodation. You can also enjoy great home-cooked, locally sourced food.

By the time you leave you’ll have a totally new concept of what makes a truly great mountain bike trail. Plus you’ll have some new riding friends to help you through the post-holiday riding blues!

Village in The French Alps

Our MTB holiday accommodation, Maison Caramel, is a beautifully renovated old farmhouse on the forested edge of a village called Landry, which is in the French Alps.

Nestled in-between the ski mountains of Les Arcs and La Plagne, Landry is a traditional Savoie village. It comes complete with a beautiful baroque church, a couple of bars and and two friendly local restaurants.

A white water rafting centre and café is also just a stones throw away.

The village also features a wide selection of toothless octogenarians chasing all sorts of farm animals around the streets with walking sticks. We’re still not sure why they do that. Being at the bottom of the valley is

something you will come to appreciate. It’s always downhill at the end of the day’s mountain biking!

Bourg St Maurice is just a short ride along the bike path if you ever fancy a slightly more cosmopolitan drinking/eating environment.

The other direction is the plan d’eau swimming lake, a top spot to swim, eat, sunbathe and people/mountain watch after a ride.

Bike Holiday Accommodation in The French Alps

BikeVillage’s MTB holiday accommodation sits on the edge of Landry. One of the best trails down from Les Arcs passes right by the back door of the guesthouse. It really is a ride-in, ride-out kind of a place.

The soft, mountain summit warming evening light also helps warm the hot tub and terrace, where aperitifs and canapés are served each evening. This is a holiday after all!

The guesthouse is a very nice place indeed. It has everything you need for a bike holiday. From the bike garage with full workshop, bike storage and compressor for tubeless time saving. To the large open plan lounge with comfy chairs and an open fire for night-time loafing.

There are seven guest bedrooms. Three are en-suite twin/doubles, three more en-suite twin/triples and one is a duplex with two twin rooms sharing a bathroom and kitchen area. The latter is ideal for families and larger groups of friends. This enables us to cater for single travellers, groups and couples alike. If you’d like to book a single room there is a €395 option to do so.

Outside you’ll find a lovely terraced garden. It is planted out with many of the herbs and aromatics you’ll find garnishing your meals. You might well find yourself drawn to the appeal of the hot tub – the perfect way to enjoy an alpine sunset!

The guesthouse is much more homely than your average chalet. When we get in from riding you’ll have the run of the place.

You could pour a cup of tea, eat some home baked cake or fix bikes on the patio whilst recounting the day’s adventures.

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The Food

One of the best things about mountain biking is the appetite it gives you!

Kerry and Serge are passionate about using locally sourced and grown ingredients to create truly delicious meals. Many guests have requested a BV cook book. If Serge ever stops cycling and paragliding long enough then it might just happen…

Every day you’ll wake up to the smell of warm, fresh bread delivered each morning from the best bakery in the valley.

Roll downstairs and chomp as much cereal, porridge (go on, it makes you strong!) and freshly chopped fruit as you can. Then move onto a boiled egg and soldiers followed by some still steaming bread and local organic jam. Wash the whole lot down with plenty of fresh coffee or tea of course. Then start
some early moring banter as you get excited about the day’s riding.

As if by magic, your lunch is waiting for you to pop into your pack. There’ll be 2 fresh baguette sandwiches, cereal bars and fruit.

Out of site is the stash of Haribos, choccy biccies and madeleine cakes that the guides always carry, just to keep themselves popular.

We’ll probably stop twice for lunch, partly ‘cos we love eating in beautiful alpine meadows and also so that our legs don’t feel too heavy when we have to get moving again!

When we get back from riding we’ll pop the kettle on and you can tuck into a mug of tea or maybe a sly cold beer from the beer fridge. Then add some home-made cake or flapjack and things are feeling very good indeed.

By the time you’ve showered and had a drink and a post-ride natter in the garden, Kerry will be ready to talk you through the evenings’ delights. It’ll be time to enjoy a quick canapé and maybe a pre-dinner aperitif in the evening sun. In the meantime, Serge will be busy in the kitchen.

Soon it will be time to sit down in the evening sun and enjoy some of the best food you will ever have eaten. Doing it in great company is a bonus too!

…All that remains is the wine!

France truly is the home of great wine. Whether you fancy a cheeky rosé in the hot tub or a velvety glass of côtes du Rhône on the terrace, we’re not exactly shy with it so get stuck in!

Tea, coffee or an infusion picked fresh from the herb garden next to the dining table will finish things off whilst you sit back and look at the stars over the moonlit mountains.

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Rest Day Activities

Even the keenest of riding beans will have pretty tired legs by the time Wednesday and the rest-day rolls around, so you may well be in good company!

We can easily arrange a ton off stuff to do.

We can book a massage with Massage Me for you to enjoy in your room. Or we can send you on a whitewater rafting or paragliding adventure!

You could roll down the riverside bike path to the huge swimming lake and grab lunch at the café.

Maybe you would like to head into Bourg St Maurice for a coffee or a beer.

Or lie you could simply lie in a reclining chair and read a book in the shade.

After all that stroll into the village for an evening meal.

Getting Here

The BikeVillage chalet, Maison Caramel (click here for directions), is right next to les Arcs, in the heart of the French Alps:

Flying: Just make sure you arrive at Geneva on a Saturday before about 4pm local time and that your return flight departs after 12.30 and we’ll book airport transfers with our partner transfer company (€80 each way). If you need to fly outside these times then private transfers can also be arranged with our partner transfer company but might cost a bit more.

Tips on packing your big can be found on the FAQs page . Once you land at Geneva, the trollies take €2 coins, supermarket trolly tokens or (don’t tell them we told you) good old 2p coins, which you’re probably more likely to have jingling around in your pockets.

Driving: More and more guests are now driving out to us in the summer. Landry/Les Arcs is a steady 9 hours from the channel ports and this is a good way to travel if there is a convenient group of you. Autoroute tolls will be about €80 each way and fuel is a little cheaper than at home.

Train: Just book a Eurostar service to Paris and then the TGV to Bourg St Maurice. The train actually stops at Landry, about 2 mins from the BV farmhouse! If you are interested in this option then visit RailEurope.

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Insurance – get a 10% discount on insurance with Yellow Jersey!!

Us mountain bikers do like to crash from time to time. As such, insurance is vital, along with your EHIC card if you’re lucky enough to be a European national.

Just make sure the policy covers you for mountain biking in the Alps and that you bring out your policy details.

We recommend Yellow Jersey Insurance. They just do insurance for bikers, it’s super easy to book and you get 10% off as a BikeVillage client! Just quote the reference BVillage10 to qualify for your discount.

You might also want to insure your bike against theft or damage whilst it’s out here. If so, this is probably best done under your house insurance or through Yellow Jersey – the BV house insurance does not cover your bike!