Ryanair Mountain Bike Trip - Suggestions

650Ginge

4 of us want to get away somewhere France, Italy, Spain or where ever.

Thinking of flying out for 4 days, likely bring our pedals but rent bikes out there.

Anyone any ideas on somewhere handy to get to with cheapish flights?

TopCat01

Might be worth looking at other airlines. Tickets might be a bit more expensive up front, but you might pay less then on transport of the bike. We used KLM before, cost nothing to bring the bikes! It'll depend on location obviously. We were going to Ghana. One of the guys coming from the US paid $200, each way, for his bike! :eek:

monkeyslayer

I'd reccomend Andalucia / Serria Nevadas in the south of Spain in the off season. Really depends on where you fly to. Ronda is a great
place to be based, about half way between Malaga and Seville, 2 odd hours on the bus. Google cycleronda
they're very nice guys. Though more geared toward the road end of things they do provide offroad guides
and trails etc. Cordoba and Granada have a pretty big MTB scene too, worth checking, though
kind of hard to get a lot of these rental places online, a lot of rural andulician tourism hasn't made it onto
the net yet.

Transporting

check out Aer Lingus flights into Malaga from Dublin. Then contact Mike at http://www.switch-backs.com/, if your into your mountain biking, you will come away with a huge grin on your face..

Sean02

Bilbao seems generaly cheaper airfares and Picos on doorstep. Also Look at Via Verde bike routes. 4 days is short bring your own bike saves time,money and enevitable disapointment with hire bikes.

MREGAN

650Ginge wrote: »

4 of us want to get away somewhere France, Italy, Spain or where ever.

Thinking of flying out for 4 days, likely bring our pedals but rent bikes out there.

Anyone any ideas on somewhere handy to get to with cheapish flights?

Fly to Barcelona. You'd be surprised at the trails leading out of the city. Then if you want more DH you can drive north or train to the Catalan Pyrenees. The ski resorts are all Open for mountain biking.

Chips Lovell

Surely Ryanair is the best bet for an MTB trip? They always fly to an airport that's in the middle of nowhere.

blorg

Ryanair are fine for bikes. Most carriers you have to pay for short-haul routes in Europe. Certainly you do with Aer Lingus which together with Ryanair are most of the routes out of this country.

crashoveroid

Dont fly with Ryanair last time i brought the bike with me they screwed for an extra weight because of the bike which i had prebooked online. Aerlingus i never had an issue with them the bike has been on many a trip and never been overcharged.

Eamonnator

Ryanair allow 30k for a bike. If you keep it under that weight, they won't
charge overweight.
Weigh your bike before you go to the Airport.
I've been using Ryanair for years with my bike. If you are prepared to abide by their rules, you won't have a problem. Just don't expect any favours from them.

Dano954

Would defo recommend the French Alps, I was there twice. I flew into Lyon (Aer Lingus) and stayed here http://chaletribot.com/ on the Alpe d'Huez, Dan knows all the trails ! Theres loads of trails and bikes can be rented in Bourg d'Oisans at the base of the mountain or at any ski/bike shop in Huez up top, I rented from these guys http://www.rocky-sports.com/blogOLD/en/summer-bikes . Depending on what you want to do theres plenty of choice, go trail riding or if your into downhill jump on a ski lift and try some of the Megavalanche course or les2alpes for a bit more adventure. I did the etape in July so if you fancy a time trial up the alp d'huez theres plenty road bikes available to hire too! Or just pop down to us on the Ballyhouras !!!

Hope it gives you a few ideas !!!

Caroline_ie

Eamonnator wrote: »

Ryanair allow 30k for a bike. If you keep it under that weight, they won't
charge overweight.

Are you sure? I fly Ryan air with my bike twice a year and they always charge over 20kg. They allow you to carry a max of 30kg, but you'd pay over 20kg.

Unless that's changed, but I really don't think so.

kincsem

I'm not a fan of the airline you mention. If I post a negative comment about my experiences their staff will be flocking to the cycling forum to tell you how wonderful they are.

Eamonnator

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Are you sure? I fly Ryan air with my bike twice a year and they always charge over 20kg. They allow you to carry a max of 30kg, but you'd pay over 20kg.

Unless that's changed, but I really don't think so.

Here you go, sports equipment 20k, except bikes,which are 30k.

http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/can-i-bring-my-sports-equipment-or-bike

C3PO

Eamonnator wrote: »

Here you go, sports equipment 20k, except bikes,which are 30k.

http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/can-i-bring-my-sports-equipment-or-bike

"Any item of sports equipment weighing over 20 kilos will be charged for the excess weight at the applicable rate per kilo. Bikes have an weight limit of 30 kilos"

Don't fly Ryanair with my bike but that could easily be read like Caroline suggests!

Eamonnator

RPL1 wrote: »

"Any item of sports equipment weighing over 20 kilos will be charged for the excess weight at the applicable rate per kilo. Bikes have an weight limit of 30 kilos"

Don't fly Ryanair with my bike but that could easily be read like Caroline suggests!

My bike, bike box and bits and pieces(track pump, cycling clothes, shoes, helmet etc.) weigh 23k. I have NEVER paid Ryanair forexcess weight. Once, they tried to say, that the limit was 20K. I showed them a print out of the page from their website. My argument was accepted.

at1withmyself

Does anyone know what the weight limit is for Aer Lingus on the Short haul flights in Europe?

C3PO

at1withmyself wrote: »

Does anyone know what the weight limit is for Aer Lingus on the Short haul flights in Europe?

15kgs but they are usually ok about it! A big gang of us go to an MTB race in the South of France and none of us have had any grief so far and our bags would always be over 15kgs! On the other hand they were really stick about gas canisters in Dublin this year!

boomdocker

+ 1 for the Sierra Nevadas, been there a couple of times - http://www.ridesierranevada.com/

also been to fuengirola (fly to malaga), believe it or not there is some awesome mtb in the hills behind fuengirola http://www.sierracycling.com/ these guys also have a good reliable fleet of bikes

however, if I was going somewhere now i'd go to Gran Canaria, supposed to be fab for mtb

incidentally I just brought my bike back from poland before xmas with ryanair, the limit is 30kgs, and i had no problems. the limit was 20 kgs, but they changed it for bikes around autumn last year. Just make sure you pack it properly

at1withmyself

RPL1 wrote: »

15kgs but they are usually ok about it! A big gang of us go to an MTB race in the South of France and none of us have had any grief so far and our bags would always be over 15kgs! On the other hand they were really stick about gas canisters in Dublin this year!

Thanks, I'm heading to Lyon for the L'etape so I reckon it will come in around 18kg for Bike and Box so hopefully they'll be ok about it!

Sean02

Is this a standard procedure now with bike weight/charges. In all my trips up to last year I never had any issues with boxed or unboxed bikes with RA or AL.