What’s Included?

What is included?
• Transfers from San Sebastián.
• Full Van Support and Unlimited Shuttles.
• All breakfasts and two lunches.
• 6 full days of riding.

Basically this trip includes everything apart from.
• Evening beers. A beer is around €2.
• Two Evening meals. One on Monday night in Benasque to let people go out and sample to town. Typical price would be €15-20 for dinner and drinks. Also the last night, because we are near to Hondarribia and San Sebastián and often people want to go out for pintos there.
• 4 Lunches. We offer to organise one big BBQ and typically we order picnics to let us enjoy the mountains and ride more. Total cost is around €60 for the week. We don’t include the lunches just to give us more flexibility for the rides we do.

How We Guide In The High Pyrenees

• We have 3 guides each day to let us manage the group better.
• We have a support team of 2 or 3 drivers with 4×4´s. They assist with lunches, run the shuttles, and assist in case of emergency
• If you are comparing us with other trips keep this in mind. With a support staff of 5-6 people we can adapt to groups, weather, emergencies much, much better.

What is the biking like in the High Pyrenees?

The Biking

Our rides take you through a mix of beautiful singletrack trails, from hand-built paths to loamy forest tracks and breathtaking high-alpine routes. Imagine crossing between Spain and France, exploring the hidden trails of Val d’Aran, Benasque, Bielsa Loudenville, Fabian, and Ens, all while soaking in the spectacular views. The trails suit very confident intermediate to expert riders

During the week we have two hike-a-bikes, one around 2h and the other around 40 minutes. You need a good level of fitness for these climbs but also to enjoy the quantity of descending there is each week.

Highlights

• Descending 4000m around Loudenville with 4 big uplifts.
• Crossing the pass between Benasque and Bielsa at almost 2500m and enjoying the endless descent on the other side.
• Riding the steep loam trails around Bielsa.

What Bike Do I Need?

A capable trail bike with 140mm of travel or more is the minimum. The guides will be riding 150mm/160mm Enduro bikes.

Arrival

• Airports: Bilbao, Biarritz or San Sebastián.
• Times: You can arrive any time between 08:00 and 19:00, later arrivals can be accommodated on request.
• Transfers: Transfers are from San Sebastián or Biarritz. From Bilbao there is a very easy transfer link to San Sebastián.
• Car: You can get the ferry to Bilbao or Santander from the UK.
• Train: There are big train stations in San Sebastián and Biarritz.From Paris you can take the TGV direct to Hendaye.

Departure

Departures are very flexible. We can usually get you to San Sebastian in time to get a flight around 10:30am from Bilbao. For early departures please contact us before booking flights.

Locally Owned

We stay in different hotels during this trip and as always we aim to use quality, locally owned accommodation. Each stop is different but all hotels have Wifi, Bike Storage and are right next to the trails!

TRIP DATES | HIGH PYRENEES MOUNTAIN BIKE TOUR

This trip will run in September, October, and November. For a detailed schedule please check out our calendar.

If you want other dates we can easily organise a private tour for your group.

It is essential that you organise your own insurance to cover yourselves and your personal belongings. This should specifically cover mountain biking. We need you to pass us a copy of the insurance for all members of your group. No insurance means no ride.

We recommend that your insurance should cover:

• Trip cancellation. We won’t cancel, but you might have to due to injury etc.
• Your bike for theft and damage.
• Your luggage.
• Emergency medical cover.
• Rescue, including helicopter.
• Getting you back home if needed. This is a big one, if you have a broken leg for example you might not be allowed on a commercial flight.
• We will be riding marked trails, with a guide, the Pyrenees trips get up to almost 3000m and the Basque Coast 2000m.

We have a deal with Yellow Jersey, using the code BASQUE10 for UK residents.

For non-UK residents our guests say good things about World Nomads World Nomads.

• What weather can I expect?
• The weather in the Spanish Pyrenees allows year round mountain biking. In winter the days are generally cold, however the skies are generally clear and this is a very dry part of Spain with around 330 days of sunshine a year. Temperatures are higher in autumn and spring, but you can expect general temperatures of around 10-20degC.
• I’m vegetarian / vegan / pescatarian.
• If you eat fish it is easy. If you are vegetarian it needs a bit more management just to make sure we coordinate menus to get some variety. If you are vegan there are going to be some limitations for you but we can totally do it. Please let us know when you book.
• What are the minimum numbers, and can I book as an individual?
• No problems to book as an individual. We don’t have minimum numbers to confirm trips.
• How much riding is there?
• We don’t limit the riding. We aim to be finished by 6pm, but sometimes offer more riding to those who want it. There are multiple shuttles each day.
• What is the difference between the High Pyrenees and the Backcountry Pyrenees?
• The High Pyrenees is in Autumn when there is no snow up high and rides in the higher mountains. There is some hike-a-bike.
• The BCPyr is lower, with long descents but no hike-a-bike. This is wild riding, amazing natural flow, big rocky slabs and technical.
• High Pyrenees – Rides in Val d´Aran, Benaque, Bielsa, Ens and Loudenville.
• Backcountry Pyrenees – Rides in Tremp, Castejon de Sos, Ainsa and Guara.
• Why don’t you offer heli-biking on this trip any more?
• The descent we loved is no longer allowed for heli-biking. There is only one descent and we don’t rate it highly. It just doesn’t make sense to us when you can get more, and better, descending with 4×4 vans.