“The air is clear, the sky is blue…Plumes of white dust kick up…and warm, dry air feeds into your lungs…jump after jump, berm after berm…in to any of the multiple dusty, rocky, techy and flowy main trails and you have yourself a lot of options…everyone is having a great time on a perfectly graded, well maintained & modern mountainside.” Dirt Magazine on Singletrack Safari
If you want to visit the famous, incredible, huge Bike Park at Vallnord everyone knows there’s no better or cheaper way to do it than with Singletrack Safari!
We are the Official Holiday Partner to Vallnord, which means that we are able to offer you a fantastic package INCLUDING 4* accommodation, airport transfers and lift passes at a far, far cheaper rate than you could get by booking directly!
Arriving into Barcelona airport you meet the scheduled transfer bus which takes you direct to the door of your fantastic hotel in the the busy town of La Massana. This is Andorra’s most popular and best positioned summer town, situated just a few minutes outside the capital city, amidst towering tree lined mountains, directly at the foot of Vallnord Bike Park itself.
Vallnord was home to the World Championships in 2015, and regularly hosts World Cups – in fact it will host a round every year from 2016 to 2018! The annual Maxiavalanche races in June and September are sister events to the infamous Megavalanche, and are the opening and closing rounds of the Avalanche Cup. It is easy to understand why such huge events come here: there is over a vertical kilometre of descending from the top of the mountain back into town! The top of the park is open and flowing, but as you dip below the treeline the trails become much more steep, twisting tightly through the trees, occasionally bursting out into bright, sunlit clearings. Cedric Gracia was the mastermind behind much of the riding here, and you may well bump into him riding the park…
There is a broad variety of trails to enjoy – and lots of choice…there’s upwards of twenty separate DH routes here! Many of these cross one another, making it very easy to switch between trails on each run to keep things fresh. Not that you will get bored of course – there’s a lot of riding to be had, and due to their length each track will take you a lot of sessioning before you start to feel that you are hitting the optimum lines. We’d challenge anyone to feel that they know every turn of the super-bermy, dusty Commencal track without slamming out several dozen runs!
There’s great progression to be had by exploring the trails here – there are some great introductory singletrack trails to get you into the feel of the super-dusty surfaces. These prepare you perfectly to step up to trails like the rocky blue of “Skippy” which ploughs down the mountain from the midstation at high speed. Then there are trails such as Corpablanca; a tough, steep, twisting blue trail peppered with rocks, drop offs and even a mini road gap!
There’s a lot to satisfy more experienced riders of course: these are big mountains after all! From the peak at 2358m you have two amazing red trails: Cubil – which is a fast, flowing berm and tabletop infested run through dazzling sunlit meadows, or you can hook into the full Maxiavalanche descent right back to town…which grows more difficult the lower you drop down towards town – with the final few kilometres being a super-tough black graded tech fest of natural singletrack. If that’s not enough there are two north shore “Wood Parks” which are significantly different to one another – one being easier, the other being somewhat, well..nuts, quite frankly!
Finally, if you really want a challenge you can head onto the super-tough “Project One”, which mixes super tough natural trails with enormous rock drops, skinnies and more. And of course, we haven’t even mentioned the fearsome World Cup/ World Championship DH trail…2014 World Cup Series Winner and World Champ Manon Carpenter recently told us in person that it’s her favourite place in the World to ride, and we chatted to Rachel Atherton on the gondola in 2015 who told us she absolutely loves coming back to Vallnord!
After an amazing day on the trails you’ll be more than happy to head back to La Massana for a cold (and cheap!) – beer from a frosted glass! If you need spares there are lots of big, well stocked bike shops. Remember that Andorra is basically tax-free, so there are sometimes genuine bargains to be had! You can also rent high quality bikes here – unlike many shops in the Alps the machinery is top quality, well maintained and usually current season. You’ll find loads of brands including, of course, our sponsors Santa Cruz; the famous company are really pushing locally and seem to be taking over the town! We have a hire page elsewhere on the site for the hire partner with whom we work if you want to arrange a shiny V10 or other models for your visit too…
You’ll often bump into pro riders training around the park or in town – Remi Thirion and Myriam Nicole are very frequent visitors – as well as many other well known faces, such as the Athertons who we have bumped into in the past…and of course Andorra’s most famous biking celebrity Cedric Gracia, who can often be found in the park during daylight…and a succession of bars after dark!!
There are plenty of places to eat and drink in La Massana – and with tax-free, super low prices you can easily find food to suit any budget. For example, a nice, fresh, large pizza in a great italian along the street is only 9 euros (£6.50)! Even in the best restaurant in town you’ll find that the prices are low – treat yourself to the most expensive thing on the menu (a mahoossive T-Bone) is only about 20 euros, or £15! Our favourite bar, Mon Bohemi (Dirt called it “one of the best pubs I have been to” ) is run by bikers and serves a great choice of beer and food too….a large beer is around 3 euros, so half the price you pay in the Alps!
When you stay with us in the heart of La Massana you get an incredible deal, only possible due to our status as Vallnord’s Official Holiday Partner. We’re calling them Morzine Busting Prices” because the accommodation, transfer and lift pass packages we have designed blow a lot of traditional holiday in the Alps out of the water!
It’s due to our special status that we get silly prices on things, and we pass these savings onto you. Our total price for our lovely 4* Hotel, INCLUDING Airport Transfers, Lift Passes and Breakfasts is less than the very cheapest price you can get on booking.com for the room on it’s own – it’s a bona fide bargain! This gives you a really superb, recently-built family-run hotel, right in the centre of town next to the lift station, and you won’t believe how fantastic the rooms are for the money – it is a fantastic place! The 4* hotel has a bar, restaurant, lovely rooms, great bathrooms, a very secure bike store and a very modern, high-end feel throughout. Almost everyone who comes to Vallnord with us comes back the following year…
Our total price for our lovely 4* Hotel, INCLUDING Airport Transfers, Lift Passes and Breakfasts is often less than the very cheapest price you can get on booking.com for the room on it’s own – it’s a bona fide bargain! These prices are exclusive to Singletrack Safari as the Official Holiday Partner of Vallnord Bike Park.
Overview | Available Dates (commencing) |
7 Night Price | Short Break Price | Single Supplement | Special Offers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Official Holiday 2020 – 4* Hotel |
June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 After 6th September – Weekend Opening Only |
£525 Fully flexible – we can offer any number of nights available at similar rates – please ask for details
|
£395 Price is for 4 nights, but trips are fully flexible – we can offer any number of nights available at similar rates – please ask for details |
£140 – 7 nights |
Please request availability for: – MTB World Cup June 13th to June 21st
|
"..around midnight Cedric Gracia helped lead our jelly-legged heroes to an ultimate destination...."
Dirt Magazine
Read more reviews15th Jan 2021 Covid-19 News
We are fortunate to ride with guests from all over the planet every year – and whilst many are from the UK, we also have a large percentage of bookings from all over the World. Whilst we are ... Read More
11th Dec 2020 News
We have all been riding through a terrible storm in recent times – but now get ready for the holiday BOOM as predictions suggest that there is going to be the biggest surge in bookings EVER. And ... Read More
28th Oct 2020 News
NEW Day Guiding, Long Weekends and Holidays on our very finest local trails in NORTH WALES! Amazing hidden singletrack and big mountains… Did you know that our first ever guided week with our ... Read More
11th Mar 2020 News
Final Decision on Our 2020 Season – and 2021 is already 50% fully booked! PUBLISHED 05/06/20 Our heartfelt thanks once again to all of you for the incredible levels of support, belief and kindness ... Read More