About us

A family run business driven by a passion for the great outdoors

  • Vincent started skiing almost at the same age he started to walk and never stopped practising outdoor sports like snowshoeing, ski touring, hiking, rock climbing cycling and mountain biking. Vincent holds an International Mountain leader licence- accompagnateur en moyenne montagne – and has a genuine passion for sharing his knowledge of the mountain and the different sport activities weather it is hiking, cycling or snowshoeing.
  • Florence geologist by background has a passion for nature, mountains and rocks. She also has fantastic organisation skills so vital to coordinate the trip logistics.
  • Vincent & Florence lived 8 years in Galway west of Ireland and in 2008 they decided to return back to France, to Breziers, south French Alps, and set France Outdoors up.
  • France Outdoors is still a family run business specialised in organising trips for groups (walking clubs and cycling clubs) and individuals, for passengers from Ireland, the UK, Australian, Canada and the US.
    Destinations initially were near to France Outdoors base in Queyras or Nevache valley in the South French Alps. Over the years, they expended to very many places in France (Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central, Corsica, French Riviera, Provence). From 2014, France Outdoors started to offer trips outside France in Europe (Italy, Spain, Crete, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland).
    More recently, after 2017, France Outdoors started to offer few long haul trips to Morocco, Nepal and Patagonia.
  • In addition to offer trips to individuals, France Outdoors is also local agent for some of the major actors of the industry like Exodus Travel (UK), HF holidays (UK), Senior Discovery tours (Canada), World Expeditions (Australia).
  • Impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 is a turning point for France Outdoors. The focus becomes then on trips in remote area of France, Italy and Spain, closer to home for our existing clientele.
    Furthermore, France Outdoors aims to offer trips to French clients combining outdoors activities and practice of English.
  • Vincent is an engineer as a background from INPG (Grenoble National Institute), and holds an executive MBA from NUIG (National University Ireland).
  • Florence has an Msc in geology (Grenoble university) and holds a certificate in tourism (GMIT – Galway Ireland).

Meet the team

Vincent
Co-Founder

Vincent is passionate has travelled extensively throughout the Alps from Slovenia to Nice, Pyrenees and also Crete, Nepal and Morocco. He is a keen mountain biker and takes part in many races. He loves the mountain in the winter.

Florence
CO-Founder

Florence loves nature, painting and walking among the spring meadows. She is always keen to help the travellers to make the right trip decision and will assist you to organise the perfect holiday!

Steve
IT & Cycling trips

Steve joined France Outdoors in 2014 and works at the office. He works on many fronts and in particular IT and cycling trips. He is also a talented musician and recently became a strong trail runners. He has completed the Iron man of Nice in 2019.

Yves
Cycling & walking guide

Yves is an independent guide and speaks perfect English. He loves the south French Alps and guides hiking trips in Provence & Queyras, Snowshoeing trips in Queyras and Nevache and cycling trips around Mont Ventoux. Yves is experienced and thorough in his approach and also likes technical and point to point trip.

Stephanie
Walking Guide

Stephanie is an independent guide who runs many trips for France Outdoors. She is fluent in English and Spanish and loves travelling. She then guides trips in many places in Europe for France Outdoors in Spain, Slovenia, and also Patagonia!

Isabelle
Walking Guide

Isabelle in an independent guide based in Provence. She loves to share her passion for the region, to talk about local food, meet with local producers and organise some tasting especially on the Monday morning market in Forcalquier!
She is very caring with people.

Thierry
Cycling & walking guide

Thierry is an independent globetrotter! All over Europe, USA and Canada and more recently in China where Thierry is a Ski School Director managing an international ski team, mainly Chinese. He guides walking and cycling trip for France Outdoors in France but also other places like Crete. More than anything, Thierry has a great sense of humour which is always appreciated.

Sandrine
WAlking Guide

Sandrine is a French – Italian independent guide living in the Roya valley near the Italian border. Sandrine has many skills between hiking, painting, her passion for Italian culture and olive picking in the winter. Sandrine guides many trip for France Outdoors in Italy.

Other guides

We at France Outdoors, work with many other guides, in Spain, Slovenia, Crete, Croatia and many other countries. Our aim is, group size permitting, to appoint a  local guide so you can get all the local knowledge and best routes possible, along with a second guide very familiar with France Outdoors clientele and trips. This way you can get the best experience.

values

Quality

Quality goes first with safety at France Outdoors. This means we make sure the routes are adapted to the group level, guides fully trained and experienced.
Then comes the hotel and food quality. We believe the personal touch from the hotels & restaurants staff, attention to details and quality of local cuisine contribute greatly to the enjoyment of a trip. We want you to feel at home and at the same time discover local culture. Finally transport is also an important factor. When possible we like to use to public transport and try to keep bus journeys short only to give you the opportunity to explore the best of each area.

Social Responsibility

We believe in the benefit of being in contact with nature and also human interaction. Learning from others in the group, the guide and all locals is a large of the holiday. We encourage transport by train to join the trips or during the trips to minimise our impact on climate change. Also we try to organise trips in quiet area to not contribute to over tourism. Finally we believe in working with small structure (hotels, transport companies, restaurants) in order to participate to the local economy using local products.