Mountain Biking in the Pays Diois

The Diois and the Drôme Provençale is still relatively unknown for bikers outside France, but for those in the know the area offers epic terrain and superb year round mountain biking.

Drôme Provençale is the name given to this unique region that straddles Provence and the Alps. When you’re travelling south, you get a real feeling that this is the gateway to the south of France. The mountain biking backs that up; dry, rocky trails, ancient hilltop villages and stunning scenery.

Watch this: BiiVOUAC Pays Diois

The Mountain Biking

The Diois (Le Pays Diois) has a total of 686 km of FFC (Fédération Française de Cyclisme) waymarked trails which includes 29 XC circuits graded from green to black. Green and blue trails will be shorter, easier routes whilst red and black trails will be longer with greater vertical drop. Typically, a blue will be about 15 km in length over fairly open terrain with less than 1000 m vertical drop and a black could be over 40 km over more technical terrain and around 2000 m vertical drop.

You can access the trails from 4 different locations Die, Châtillon en Diois, Lus la Croix Haute and Valdrôme, which is the gateway to an epic 2 day circuit covering 83 km and over 5000 m vertical drop. Overnight at the Gîte d’Etapes Le Pilhon in Val-Maravel.

To get the most out of the steep mountainous terrain in the Diois you need to have a good level of fitness. There are some epic singletrack descents that go on and on, but there are some equally epic climbs to get to them..! The riding is mostly technical XC, but never overly difficult. There’s lots of switchbacks and the trails are sometimes smooth, often rocky but you rarely encounter boulder fields. Generally, the tracks are much smoother than those further north around Grenoble. If you’re fit you can also do a lot of the climbing here on singletrack.

Pays Diois Mountain Biking Holidays

France Bike Trips run several tours including a 7-day guided MTB itinerary covering the best all-mountain/enduro singletrack in the region. The holiday includes a qualified local mountain bike guide, 6 nights half-board accommodation and picnic lunches.

Pays Diois Mountain Biking Events

The Raid VTT Multi-Day Cross-Country Mountain Biking Event takes place each May in the area, with a stage start/finish each year in Die. The event takes in the best of the region’s celebrated Chemins du Soleil trails and covers 213 km and a vertical drop of more than 7500 m over 3 days as it makes its way through the Vercors, Diois, Buech and Gapençais areas.

Other activities

The Diois is also great for rock climbing (all levels) and canoeing (beginner to intermediate).