Tignes Bike Park MTB Guide: Glacier Lifts, 220 km of Trails

Two interlinked resorts, 220 km of marked trails and a cable car that climbs above 3,000 m. Tignes Bike Park is one of the few French Alpine networks where summer riding shares a mountain with a working glacier.

By the IMPT Travel desk · Published 2026-05-30

The first 500 vertical metres on Funky Tufs tell riders most of what they need to know about Tignes: a 3.2 km ribbon of bermed, machine-built flow that spits out near the lake at 2,100 m, with the white tongue of the Grande Motte glacier looming overhead at 3,032 m. Few European bike parks can match that vertical context, and even fewer pair a working summer ski area with a downhill network the size of the one shared between Tignes and Val d'Isère.

A linked network across two valleys

Tignes Bike Park sits inside the Espace Killy ski domain, the same lift-linked terrain that hosts World Cup ski racing each winter. In summer the area markets itself as a single network of more than 220 km of marked trails, with 21 dedicated downhill routes, 10 enduro lines and a further seven e-MTB enduro trails. The riding is split across two main sectors: the Tignes side, anchored by the Palafour and Tufs lifts above Tignes le Lac and Val Claret, and the Val d'Isère side, served by the Tovière gondola and Borsat chairlift. A single lift pass covers both.

Signature trails

Most visitors gravitate first to the red descents above Val Claret:

• Funky Tufs (red) — 3.2 km, roughly 500 m of vertical, a smooth manmade flow run with whoop sections, table-tops, big berms and a short freeride detour. The clearest gateway trail for confident intermediates.
• Gypsy (red) — 2.8 km and 500 m of drop, with narrower, steeper sections and tight bends that reward a more committed riding position.
• Black and double-black runs branch off the Tovière and Tufs corridors, with rougher natural surfaces, exposed rock slabs and steeper chutes for experienced riders.
• Blue and green trails off the Palafour chair give families and progressing riders a softer entry into the network.

For longer days, the enduro routes link lift-served descents with pedalled traverses around the Tignes lake and into the wider Vanoise foothills. Note that biking is not permitted inside the Vanoise National Park itself; riders should stay on the resort's marked enduro itineraries.

The lifts and how they run

The bike park typically operates from late June to the end of August — the 2026 season runs 27 June to 30 August. Trail availability at the start of the season depends on residual snow, so the first ten days are worth checking against the daily lift bulletin.

The bike-carrying lifts include the Olympique cable car and Borsat chair on the Tignes side, and the Tufs chair and Tovière gondola on the Val d'Isère side, with morning and afternoon windows broken by a midday pause. Above the park, the Funiculaire climbs to the Grande Motte glacier at 3,032 m — used by summer skiers and walkers rather than bikes, but it allows riders to spend a morning on snow and an afternoon on dirt from the same lift pass.

Getting there without flying

Tignes is one of the more train-accessible French resorts. The line ends at Bourg-Saint-Maurice, reached directly by TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon in about 4 hours 30 minutes, by Eurostar from London via Lille or Paris, and by overnight Intercités de Nuit in season. From the SNCF station, the Altibus S83 shuttle climbs to all four Tignes villages — Les Brévières, 1800, Le Lac and Val Claret — in roughly an hour, with single fares around €12. For riders weighing the carbon cost of an Alpine trip, the rail-plus-shuttle route is comfortably the lowest-impact option compared with flying into Geneva, Lyon or Chambéry and transferring by road.

Shoulder versus peak season

Opening week and the closing fortnight are the quietest, but also the most weather-sensitive: late June can still see snow patches on the upper Tovière trails, and late August brings the first afternoon thunderstorms off the glacier. Mid-July to mid-August is the reliable core, with long daylight, dry hardpack on the lower flow trails and the full lift roster running. Crowds peak in the first two weeks of August, when French school holidays overlap with European visitors.

Where to stay

Tignes has four distinct villages, each with a different feel. Val Claret, at 2,100 m, puts riders closest to the Funky Tufs and Grattalu lifts. Tignes le Lac is the social centre, with most of the bike-friendly hotels and after-ride bars. Tignes 1800 sits lower and quieter, useful for families. Les Brévières, the original village at 1,550 m, is the most traditionally Savoyard and a good base for combining bike park days with road or gravel riding into the Isère valley.

For a network of this scale, three to five nights is a sensible minimum — enough to settle into the lift rhythm, ride both sides of the valley, and keep a contingency day for weather.

A trail-by-trail guide to Tignes Bike Park, with run-throughs of the main red and black descents from the Tufs and Tovière lifts.