By Matt W. · Last updated June 2026
1200 m vertical drop. High mountain and forest terrain. Nice town.
Apart from a few berms, it’s all natural terrain.
Elevation
Summit
Vertical Drop
Base
Lift
Total
Cable-Cars
Chairlifts
MTB Trail Highlights
XC
Downhill
eMTB
Total Riding
Bike Park
Bike Wash
Beginner Trails
Intermediate Trails
Advanced Trails
Expert Trails
Plan Your Trip
Everything you need to book your Luchon mountain biking trip — bike-friendly accommodation, the gear to pack, how to get there, and activities to book.
Practical Information
Opening times
Resort prices
Nearest airport
Tourist Office
Note: the Superbagnères gondola’s combined “Piéton/VTT” (pedestrian/MTB) day pass is the ticket you need to carry a bike uphill — the gondola replaced the town’s historic rack railway in December 2023 and takes about eight minutes. Away from the lift, the much bigger Pays de Luchon VTT network is pedal-access and needs no pass at all.
Luchon Accommodation
Base yourself in Luchon town, not up at Superbagnères. The mountain station has a handful of on-slope apartments built for the ski season, but the real infrastructure — hotels, restaurants, bike shops, the thermal baths, the gondola station itself — sits in town, and the Crémaillère Express puts the mountain eight minutes away whenever you want it. That’s a very different equation from an Alpine bike-park village where you’re wheeling a muddy bike to a lift on foot every morning; here you ride into town, load the gondola, and you’re up.
Because the riding splits between lift-served descents and long pedal days on the valley network, prioritise a place with secure bike storage and somewhere to hose down a genuinely muddy bike — Pyrenean forest trails hold water longer than you’d expect, and you’ll be glad of a proper wash point after a Kbour or Soulan lap. A car is worth having if you plan to ride the wider Pays de Luchon circuits or drive up to start points at Bourg-d’Oueil and Granges d’Astau rather than pedalling out from town every time. If you’re coming purely for the gondola-served descents, staying central near the Crémaillère Express station and the Allées d’Étigny keeps the lift, bike shops, restaurants and baths all within walking distance.
Use the live map below to compare prices and find places to stay in Luchon, from hotels near the lifts to self-catered apartments and chalets.
Luchon Guide
Luchon is a spa town, not a bike resort, and that shapes everything about riding here. Bagnères-de-Luchon sits at 630m in a wide Pyrenean valley, a Belle Époque thermal town that’s spent two centuries treating rheumatism with sulphur water, not building bike infrastructure. Above it, reached in eight minutes by the Crémaillère Express gondola, is Superbagnères, a 1,800m plateau with panoramic views over the valley and the 3,000m peaks behind it, including the Maladeta massif across the Spanish border. The gondola — which replaced the town’s historic rack railway in 2023 — is the one genuine lift-served gravity option in the area: three marked descents dropping the full 1,200m back to town. That’s a small, honest gravity offer, not a bike park in the Alpine sense, and the lift-served offer is growing for 2026 — treat it as one good tool in a much bigger toolbox.
The bigger picture is the valley itself. The Pays de Luchon VTT network is an FFC-labelled space of 17 waymarked circuits covering over 269km, running from gentle valley-floor family rides to black-graded high-mountain enduro, with start points at Luchon, Superbagnères, Bourg-d’Oueil and Granges d’Astau. Zoom out to the wider Pyrénées-Comminges area and that grows to 33 circuits and 600km-plus. This is pedal-it-yourself, natural-terrain riding through beech forest, alpine pasture and the Vallée du Lys, not machine-shaped flow. Add the classic road cols on the doorstep — the Portillon and Peyresourde both climb straight out of town — and Luchon reads less like a bike-park weekend and more like a base for a week of varied Pyrenean riding, with one proper gravity fix at the top of the gondola when you want it.
Whatever else you pack for Luchon, make sure your travel insurance covers mountain biking — see our travel insurance guide for what to check before you go.
It doesn’t matter if you’re here purely for the gondola laps or building a week around the natural network — Luchon offers a genuine mix of gravity and XC riding for all levels. Here’s the lowdown on the riding, trails and facilities.
The Riding in Luchon
Plan your trip around two distinct products: a gondola-served descent morning at Superbagnères, and pedal days out on the valley network. A rest day at the thermal baths earns its place on the itinerary here in a way it wouldn’t at a purpose-built bike resort.
Beginner
Ride the valley floor first. The Pays de Luchon network includes genuine family-graded circuits along the valley bottom around Luchon and out toward Bourg-d’Oueil, flat and wide enough that nobody’s fighting for balance, and they’re the right place to find your feet before you touch the gondola. If you want a first taste of the mountain without commitment, the Crémaillère Express carries pedestrians as well as riders, so you can go up, look at the view, and decide whether the descent looks like your day.
At Superbagnères itself, the Sahage blue is the beginner’s route down: a long, gentle descent of around 10km, losing roughly 1,200m of the mountain’s full drop at a forgiving gradient that stays closer to a forest doubletrack than singletrack for most of its length. It’s graded blue for a reason — you’re still coming down a real mountain, on a real trail, with real rocks and roots underfoot, so don’t mistake “beginner” here for “manicured.” If you’re properly new to a mountain bike, spend a morning with a local shop or instructor before you load onto the gondola, and treat your first lap of Sahage as an exploratory ride, not a race to the bottom.
Intermediate
Kbour is the trail that defines a Luchon riding day for most visitors: a red-graded descent of around 8km, dropping close to 1,200m through forest and along old forest tracks, technical enough to demand real attention through its hairpins without tipping into expert-only territory. It’s the natural step up from Sahage, and because both trails share the same top station, you can lap the gondola and compare the two directly — ride Sahage to warm in, then Kbour once your hands remember what a mountain descent asks of them.
Beyond the lift, this is where the valley’s bigger network earns its keep. The Pays de Luchon’s waymarked circuits include a real stack of intermediate riding — singletrack and forest doubletrack linking Luchon, Bourg-d’Oueil and the lower Vallée du Lys — and because it’s a pedal network rather than a shuttle one, you choose your own distance and vertical rather than being limited to what a gondola serves. Treat a Luchon week as half gondola laps, half self-supported valley riding, and you’ll see far more of the Pyrenees than a bike-park-only visit ever shows you.
Advanced
Soulan is the black at the top of Superbagnères’ small trail list: around 6km, dropping close to 1,200m, the most technical of the three descents, finishing with a long straight run to the valley floor that lets you open up after a tight, technical upper section. It shares its start with Kbour at the plateau, so you can walk the top section on foot first if you want to read the technical ground before committing at speed.
The valley’s hardest riding isn’t lift-served at all. The Pays de Luchon network includes genuine black-graded high-mountain circuits reaching well up into the range, natural and exposed in the way Pyrenean riding always is — rockier and rawer than anything a machine has shaped, closer in character to the natural-terrain riding you’d find in the high Alps than to a groomed bike park. If your week is built around Superbagnères, treat Soulan as your warm-up for a bigger natural day out on the high circuits, not the final word on how hard Luchon rides.
eMTB
An e-bike changes Luchon more than it changes most resorts, because so much of the best riding here is pedal-access. The Pays de Luchon’s 269km of natural circuits, the Vallée du Lys, and the climbs to Bourg-d’Oueil and Granges d’Astau all open up properly once the climbing stops being the limiting factor, and a motor turns a long valley tour into a comfortable half-day rather than a fitness test. It also makes the classic road cols realistic additions to a bike week: the Portillon and Peyresourde both climb straight from town, and an e-bike puts them within reach of riders who’d otherwise save them for a dedicated road day. On the gondola side, the Crémaillère Express’s combined Piéton/VTT ticketing makes no distinction between acoustic and electric bikes, so lapping Kbour and Soulan on an e-MTB works exactly the same way it does on a normal bike — you’re just recovering faster between runs.
The Trails & Facilities for Mountain Bikers
Luchon’s riding splits cleanly into two products — a small lift-served gravity option and a much bigger natural network — and it’s worth keeping the two straight when you plan a week. Here’s what you’ll find between them:
- Ride three named descents from Superbagnères — Sahage (blue), Kbour (red) and Soulan (black) — each dropping close to the mountain’s full 1,200m, served by the Crémaillère Express gondola.
- Plug into the Pays de Luchon VTT network beyond the lift: 17 FFC-labelled waymarked circuits covering 269km+, from valley-floor family rides to black-graded high-mountain enduro.
- Zoom out to the wider Pyrénées-Comminges label for 33 circuits and 600km+ if you’re basing a longer trip here.
- Start valley rides from four trailheads — Luchon, Superbagnères, Bourg-d’Oueil and Granges d’Astau — through beech forest, alpine pasture and the Vallée du Lys.
- Add the classic Col du Portillon and Col de Peyresourde as road or gravel return legs straight out of town.
On the facilities side:
- The Crémaillère Express gondola (opened December 2023, replacing the town’s historic rack railway) takes about eight minutes and carries a combined “Piéton/VTT” pedestrian/MTB day pass.
- Almost every trail off the mountain ends up back in town, so you’re never far from a café, restaurant or bike shop between laps.
- Luchon’s thermal baths give riders a genuine recovery option most bike resorts don’t have — a soak after a big day on the bike.
Bike Hire & Repairs
Luchon’s hire scene is small and town-based — there’s no dedicated bike-park rental hut at Superbagnères, so sort your bike before you head up the gondola.
- Luchon Mountain Bike — the specialist option, renting full-suspension trail bikes (Scott Spark), hardtails (Massi Trax) and kids’ bikes, with helmet and repair kit included. Best for a proper trail bike set up for the Superbagnères descents. (4 Place du Comminges, 31110 Bagnères-de-Luchon.)
- Intersport Luchon — the town’s general sports shop, with rental and a sideline in secondhand downhill and enduro bikes. Best for straightforward hire alongside other gear, or picking up a used gravity bike if you’re equipping for a return trip. (8 Allée d’Étigny, 31110 Bagnères-de-Luchon.)
- Appel d’Air — road, mountain and electric-assist bike rental with instructor-led activities alongside. Best for e-MTB hire if you’re planning valley touring rather than gondola laps. (21 Avenue du Maréchal Foch, 31110 Bagnères-de-Luchon.)
Food, Après & Events
Luchon feeds you like the spa town it is — long lunches, market produce, and a slower pace than a purpose-built bike resort. The Pyrenean staples are worth seeking out specifically: garbure, a thick cabbage-and-confit soup that started as farmhouse food and still turns up on menus across the valley, and mountain trout from the rivers and lakes above town, often served simply with almonds. Pair either with a glass of something from the nearby Comminges vineyards and you’ve eaten the region rather than a generic French menu.
The Allées d’Étigny, Luchon’s grand tree-lined main avenue, is where you’ll do most of your eating and drinking — a strip of restaurant terraces and bars built for the belle-époque cure crowd that now serves riders just as well. L’Arbesquens is the local high-volume favourite for grilled, unfussy French cooking, busy most nights and a safe bet after a long day on the bike. For something more contemporary, Le Lova does inventive, produce-led cooking with a terrace a short walk from the centre. If pizza’s what you want after a technical Soulan lap, La Telia does proper Neapolitan-style pies in town. For a drink, the hotel bars along the Allées d’Étigny — several with river-facing terraces — are the natural spot to land once the bikes are washed down; there’s no lift-station après culture here, because there’s no lift-base village, so the social centre of gravity is the town itself.
Coupe de France Enduro Series — Luchon, 19–20 September 2026
Luchon’s flagship MTB date is a round of the French Cup Enduro Series, confirmed on the official FFC national competition calendar for 19–20 September 2026. It’s a serious fixture — the town hosted the same round in September 2025 alongside the final of the European e-MTB Enduro Tour, drawing national-level VTT and VTTAE (e-MTB) riders across age and gender categories from U17 to Masters. Riding here the same week means a town full of race vans and a good chance to watch elite enduro racing on trails you’ve ridden yourself. If you’d rather have Kbour and Soulan to yourself, plan around the weekend rather than into it; the wider valley network stays quiet regardless, since the race concentrates on the Superbagnères descents.
Luchon MTB Videos
Luchon Mountain Biking FAQs
The Luchon bike park is open from 27 June to 30 August. Dates shift each year, so check the resort’s official site before you book.
Lift pass prices at Luchon are around Day pass: 19.00 €, Half-day pass: 14.00 €. They change each season, so confirm on the official resort site before you travel.
The nearest airport to Luchon is Toulouse (1 hour 37 mins). Shared and private transfers run from the airport, and most will carry your bike for a small fee.
Luchon rides from a base around 590 m up to 1830 m, giving roughly 1240 m of vertical drop.
Luchon has 1 bike-carrying lift, so you can lap the descents without the climb back up.
Yes — Luchon has a lift-served bike park, so you can session the jumps and berms and lap the descents all day.
Luchon has 2 dedicated beginner trails plus easier blue runs, so newcomers can find their feet — but a lot of the riding suits confident intermediates and above, so build up gradually.
Bring a capable bike: a 150mm-travel enduro bike is a sensible minimum for Luchon’s descents, ideally on tough dual-ply tyres, with full downhill bikes at home in the bike park. The long, rough descents are hard on brakes and tyres, so arrive with everything in good order.
Luchon is a summer-only bike destination, open across roughly 27 June to 30 August. Late June and late August into early September are usually quieter and better value than the mid-July to mid-August peak.
Yes — check your policy explicitly covers mountain biking and downhill riding, as many standard travel policies exclude them. It is cheap protection against an expensive mountain rescue.
Please leave a comment below if you need specific advice for your mountain biking holiday to Luchon, or if you have any recommendations to help us improve this guide. Happy holidays!
