Monthly Archives: July 2018

Finale Ligure enduro MTB trip 2018

This year we swapped the EuroBikeTrip for an EnduroBikeTrip and the destination to conquer was Finale Ligure, Italy.

Known for its white sand beaches and its views, but more important for its infinite trail possibilities, Finale Ligure is located near the Rock of Caprazoppa, a steep limestone mountain on the southwest, and much of the town extends up hill slopes.

We find out about Finale from EWS, the enduro world series and after some quick search and some quality content that is out there, it wasn’t too hard to chose this year Eurobiketrip destination :D.

It’s flat out mtb trails are starting way up high in the mountains above Finale Ligure at around 1200m elevation and descending all the way down to the Ligurian Sea.

There are endless possibilities to descent (over exaggerating here but you wont be dissapointed), and the terrain is changing with the same speed that you are descending with :D.

In the upper part of the trails, where the shuttle lets you off, you have more grippy trails, with lots of berms and a bit more handmade work put into them. There you have the best of flow and you can carry speed on each corner. As you go down the terrain changes and also the vegetation so you have more rocky terrain, with sharper and more loose ground, a bit more natural and technical.

In less words, you have it all, maybe not much mud but who wants that :))).

And also you get lots of sun in this period so I wont call it the best period for riding those trails but if you want to combine a nice sea and beach vacation with a bit of awesome trail riding, this is the perfect location and time. If you only are interested in riding, you can go there in the off season, it will be cooler and you can do some nice climbs if you want.

We tried first 2 days to do the trails on our own power but the heath killed us so starting with day 3 we took some shuttles up the mountain. We did around 4-5 different trails per day and only in last day we repeat some of the trails we liked most.

We stayed there 6 days and spend another 2 on the road. We traveld by car, a group of four people from Romania to Finale Ligure and back. Its over 4000km trip and a bit hard to do it in one piece without an intermediate stop. Next time if we go back there by car I think we will make a stop in Sloveia to visit some bike trails there.

We initially wanted to go also to Sospel, France, which is 1.5h drive from Finale, and is another trail and enduro bike paradise but after we’ve seen what it’s in Finale, we decided too remain here and ride more trails, and do another dedicated trip to Sospel in the future.

So, the best trails we ridden in the exact order of awesomeness will be:

  1. Extasy & Isallo extasy;
  2. Iginerere;
  3. Toboga trail;
  4. Rollercoaster;
  5. Maria della guardia;
  6. DH men;
  7. Crestino;
  8. Sentiero H;
  9. Nato base;
  10. the others πŸ˜€

In terms of expenses, we could say that we spend around 500-550 EUR/person from witch we can detail the following:

  • 600 EUR for gas and car insurance;
  • 535 EUR for accommodation thru AIR BNB in Finale;
  • 150 EUR road taxes;
  • 500 EUR food and bavarage;
  • 120 EUR shuttle services;
  • 80 EUR our insurances.

In terms of riding, we probably ridden around 200 km of trails :D, but that is not even half of the amount of trail you will find there, so if you have second thoughts, we hope this argument killed them :))).

So much for the details and talk, we leave you bellow some evidences, video and photos so you could convince yourself. We will definitely go back there some day! For tracks and trails, just look up Trail forks by region Finale Ligure and you will find everything you need. For shuttle, just ask around Finale, there are lots of shuttle services all having the same prices ;).

Enough said, enjoy!