Description
Champéry is a lift-served downhill bike park in the Swiss Alps, grouped with neighbouring Les Crosets and Morgins as the Bikepark Champéry, Les Crosets and Morgins, part of the wider Portes du Soleil network that also links across to Champoussin. Champéry's own share is the black-graded World Cup downhill course, a red-graded alternative and a village pump track, plus a waymarked gravel loop out into the valley.
The Trails
- World Cup (DH Track 1, Black): the 2.3km World Cup downhill course, dropping 684m from the top of the Croix-de-Culet cable car through technical roots, rocks and steep forest. This is the course used for UCI Downhill World Cup and World Championship rounds.
- Chevreuil (DH Track 2, Red): a shorter 0.5km flowing berm trail through loamy woods, pitched as an easier alternative to the World Cup track though steeper than it first looks in places.
- Grand-Paradis Pump Track: a looping pump track of bumps and banked turns right in the village at Route du Grand-Paradis, open to riders of all levels.
- A Portes du Soleil mountain bike lift pass is required for the cable car. The cable car usually runs daily from late June into late October, with a few pre-opening days earlier in the season, but the pattern varies from year to year, so check the regiondentsdumidi.ch bikepark page for the current timetable before you travel.
Gravel Riding
The waymarked Champéry to Val-d'Illiez e-bike route (Parcours 01) is a 15km loop of gravel 4x4 tracks and paved lanes, following the Vièze river down to Val-d'Illiez and back past the Frassenaye waterfall to Grand-Paradis. It is graded easy and passes cafes and restaurants along the way, so it also works well as a warm-up or rest-day ride away from the lift-served trails.
Guides, Shuttles and Hire
The Croix-de-Culet cable car is the uplift here, carrying bikes from the village centre to the top of the World Cup track and into the rest of the Swiss bike park, so there is no need for a van shuttle. Hire, lessons and guided rides are all available in the village, a short walk from the cable car.
- Expérience Champéry: private and group mountain bike lessons and guided rides for all levels, including sessions on the World Cup downhill track, plus electric mountain bike hire, based at the entrance to the village on Rue du Village.
- Le Vélociste: bike sales, repairs and hire, including electric mountain bikes, enduro and all-mountain bikes and child trailers, plus guided e-bike rides, with a shop in the village centre and a second shop at the cable car.
- Portes du Soleil Suisse SA: the lift company for the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil, running the Croix-de-Culet cable car and the bike park lifts and selling mountain bike lift passes, based at Route de la Fin in Champéry.
- Ride Switzerland: a bike school and guiding business run by Swiss Cycling qualified guides, offering guided rides, tailor-made tours and summer bike camps, including downhill camps for children in the Portes du Soleil, based in Champéry.
Getting There from the UK
Geneva is the nearest airport, around an hour and a half from Champéry by road, with the widest choice of flights from the UK. Shared and private transfers run from the airport, or you can take the train from Geneva Airport station, changing at Aigle for the mountain railway, which takes around two and a half to three hours in all. Lyon Saint-Exupéry is the next option, at around three hours by road.
By rail, take the Eurostar to Paris and a TGV Lyria to Geneva or Lausanne, then Swiss trains along Lake Geneva to Aigle, where the AOMC mountain railway climbs for around an hour through Monthey and Val-d'Illiez to its terminus next to the Champéry cable car. Bikes need planning: TGV Lyria only carries bikes that are dismantled and packed in a bike bag, and Eurostar has limited options, so bag your bike or book ahead. Swiss trains need a bike ticket, and some InterCity services need a bike reservation at weekends and in the main summer season. Check bike carriage on the AOMC with the operator, TPC, before you travel.
Driving from Calais or the Channel Tunnel is around 950km, roughly nine and a half to ten hours on toll motorways via Reims and Dijon towards Geneva. From Geneva, either follow the south shore of Lake Geneva through Thonon and Évian to Monthey, or take the Swiss motorway via Lausanne and leave the A9 at St-Triphon, which needs a Swiss motorway vignette. Having a car makes it easy to bring your own bikes and kit, and to reach the other Portes du Soleil resorts.
Once in the Val d'Illiez, road 21 climbs from Monthey through Troistorrents and Val-d'Illiez to Champéry. The main car park is on Route de la Fin, next to the cable car base station and the railway terminus in the village centre, with free parking in summer.
When to Go
The bike park lifts run from around late June into October, with a few pre-opening days from May in some years and reduced running at the start and end of the season, so check the lift timetable for the dates you have in mind. July to early September is the most reliable window, with every lift running. Early in the season the upper lines can still be wet or carrying late snow, and late September and October bring quieter trails, shorter days and fewer lifts.
The busiest weeks are mid-July to mid-August, when the Swiss and French school summer holidays overlap. The Pass'Portes du Soleil MTB, a big mass-participation ride with Champéry as one of its start villages, fills the area over a weekend at the end of June each year, so book early or avoid it if you want quiet lifts.
The cable car climbs from about 1,040m in the village to 1,936m at Croix-de-Culet, so it can be cool and windy up top even on a hot day in the valley. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in high summer and can pause the lifts, so start early, carry a waterproof layer and check the forecast each morning.
Where to Stay
Champéry village is the natural base for this side of the bike park: the cable car, the railway terminus, the bike shops and most of the restaurants are all within walking distance in the centre. Grand-Paradis, a hamlet a short way up the valley, is quieter, with the pump track, a campsite and the end of the gravel loop. Val-d'Illiez, further down the valley on the same railway line, is quieter again. Riders who want to be up in the heart of the bike park can stay at Les Crosets, or at Morgins for the other end of the Swiss sector.
Accommodation runs from hotels and self-catered chalets and apartments to the Grand-Paradis campsite, which also has a motorhome area in summer. Guests paying the local tourist tax get the Illiez Card, which gives discounted foot-passenger lift days and free or discounted entry to other activities in the valley, useful for non-riding family members, but it does not replace a mountain bike lift pass.
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