Driving to Méribel advice
Discussion
Yipper said:
Your best option is to fly to Chambery and rent a car with Winter tyres and chains for the final ~75min journey to Merihell.
If you are going to drive all the way from the UK, with an antsy partner or family, your best option is to leave home around 6pm Fri (after rush hour), drive to somewhere south of Paris, like Troyes, to knock the back out of it, and then depart early about 8am to arrive lunchtime'ish Sat. You can then spend the remaining daylight hours having a leisurely unpack and rest (or brief ski).
Three (very) important things to keep in mind:
1. You will need snowchains. Either to get the RWD Bimmer up a steep snowy hill, or just to placate the local gendarmes (who police snowy roads). Repeat, you must have snowchains, for snow or the law. Practise fitting them before leaving -- they are a pain to use.
2. Xmas / NY has seen some huge traffic chaos in the French Alps in recent years. There has been very little snow so far this season -- if it dumps snow on the day of your arrival, be prepared for potentially huge queues. See "Snowmageddon" from Xmas 2014 for an example:
http://pistehors.com/snowmageddon-leaves-thousands...
3. There is a high risk of robbery on the motorways and service stations on the way to the French ski resorts. It is France's little secret. Be very careful of cars trying to pull you over, and do not sleep or rest in quiet areas:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-185885/Fre...
1. Disagree. Snow tires on my RWD BMW have got me to Les Arc 2000 in similar conditions to your pic with no issues at all. I do carry snow socks but never had to use them.If you are going to drive all the way from the UK, with an antsy partner or family, your best option is to leave home around 6pm Fri (after rush hour), drive to somewhere south of Paris, like Troyes, to knock the back out of it, and then depart early about 8am to arrive lunchtime'ish Sat. You can then spend the remaining daylight hours having a leisurely unpack and rest (or brief ski).
Three (very) important things to keep in mind:
1. You will need snowchains. Either to get the RWD Bimmer up a steep snowy hill, or just to placate the local gendarmes (who police snowy roads). Repeat, you must have snowchains, for snow or the law. Practise fitting them before leaving -- they are a pain to use.
2. Xmas / NY has seen some huge traffic chaos in the French Alps in recent years. There has been very little snow so far this season -- if it dumps snow on the day of your arrival, be prepared for potentially huge queues. See "Snowmageddon" from Xmas 2014 for an example:
http://pistehors.com/snowmageddon-leaves-thousands...
3. There is a high risk of robbery on the motorways and service stations on the way to the French ski resorts. It is France's little secret. Be very careful of cars trying to pull you over, and do not sleep or rest in quiet areas:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-185885/Fre...
2. Agree, I also check the forecast before going. If it looks like a large snow dump I go later or earlier. This can catch you if flying though and you can't change your scheudle.
3. Scaremongering from the DM
Driving isn't for everyone, but works for me; cheaper and much more flexible.
WestyCarl said:
1. Disagree. Snow tires on my RWD BMW have got me to Les Arc 2000 in similar conditions to your pic with no issues at all. I do carry snow socks but never had to use them.
2. Agree, I also check the forecast before going. If it looks like a large snow dump I go later or earlier. This can catch you if flying though and you can't change your scheudle.
3. Scaremongering from the DM
Driving isn't for everyone, but works for me; cheaper and much more flexible.
1. Disagree. Read the Pistehors link. In bad snow, the French plod will not let you up (or down) the hill without snowchains or snowsocks. It is not worth being a hero for the sake of ~50 quid.2. Agree, I also check the forecast before going. If it looks like a large snow dump I go later or earlier. This can catch you if flying though and you can't change your scheudle.
3. Scaremongering from the DM
Driving isn't for everyone, but works for me; cheaper and much more flexible.
3. Disagree. French highway robbery, big and small, is very real and happening frequently. It is France's little secret. Lots of non-DM reports. The UK Camping and Caravanning Club advises Brit tourists not to sleep at motorway service stations...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/22/two-qat...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11068...
Yipper said:
WestyCarl said:
1. Disagree. Snow tires on my RWD BMW have got me to Les Arc 2000 in similar conditions to your pic with no issues at all. I do carry snow socks but never had to use them.
2. Agree, I also check the forecast before going. If it looks like a large snow dump I go later or earlier. This can catch you if flying though and you can't change your scheudle.
3. Scaremongering from the DM
Driving isn't for everyone, but works for me; cheaper and much more flexible.
1. Disagree. Read the Pistehors link. In bad snow, the French plod will not let you up (or down) the hill without snowchains or snowsocks. It is not worth being a hero for the sake of ~50 quid.2. Agree, I also check the forecast before going. If it looks like a large snow dump I go later or earlier. This can catch you if flying though and you can't change your scheudle.
3. Scaremongering from the DM
Driving isn't for everyone, but works for me; cheaper and much more flexible.
3. Disagree. French highway robbery, big and small, is very real and happening frequently. It is France's little secret. Lots of non-DM reports. The UK Camping and Caravanning Club advises Brit tourists not to sleep at motorway service stations...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/22/two-qat...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11068...
Regardless of whether you need them or not, however you are required to carry chains in the car.
3: Never had a problem, nor witnessed it, nor heard of it happening from any of my contacts. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't think it's as endemic as it's made out to be. The most common areas I see in the news reports tend to be around city areas.
Edited by feef on Friday 9th December 11:24
Yipper said:
There is a high risk of robbery on the motorways and service stations on the way to the French ski resorts.
No, no there is not. What planet are you on? Even your crazy DM link is 13 years old.You're less likely to be robbed on the roads up to the resorts than you are in almost anywhere in any city in the UK. If you're worried about robbery on French ski resort roads, I suggest you wrap yourself up in cotton wool and never leave the house.
Driving through the nasty bits of Johannesburg late at night - that's a high risk of robbery.
Utter claptrap.
Many of the robbery stories involve mention of being gassed. This has been debunked time and time again by anesthetists as simply not feasible.
Driving is my favoured way of getting out the Alps, especially when travelling with the family. We always get an 0800 ish tunnel crossing on the Friday morning and drive right down to within 20/30kms of the resort. Then have a leisurely breakfast before driving up to resort and hitting the slopes late Saturday morning. On the way back we often ski the Saturday morning before getting up to somewhere near Reims that night. This usually results in pretty traffic free motoring and at least an extra day on the slopes.
Never had to use chains (I do carry them). Do run winter tyres though. Take a shovel and if you are lucky enough to get a snowy week then recommend clearing the car regularly or better still sorting undercover parking. If your car uses diesel try and reach the Alps with a fairly empty tank and fill up locally. This will ensure you have enough winter additives in the fuel to stop it going waxy.
Driving is my favoured way of getting out the Alps, especially when travelling with the family. We always get an 0800 ish tunnel crossing on the Friday morning and drive right down to within 20/30kms of the resort. Then have a leisurely breakfast before driving up to resort and hitting the slopes late Saturday morning. On the way back we often ski the Saturday morning before getting up to somewhere near Reims that night. This usually results in pretty traffic free motoring and at least an extra day on the slopes.
Never had to use chains (I do carry them). Do run winter tyres though. Take a shovel and if you are lucky enough to get a snowy week then recommend clearing the car regularly or better still sorting undercover parking. If your car uses diesel try and reach the Alps with a fairly empty tank and fill up locally. This will ensure you have enough winter additives in the fuel to stop it going waxy.
Edited by ncjones on Saturday 10th December 21:14
Yipper said:
Your best option is to fly to Chambery and rent a car with Winter tyres and chains for the final ~75min journey to Merihell.
If you are going to drive all the way from the UK, with an antsy partner or family, your best option is to leave home around 6pm Fri (after rush hour), drive to somewhere south of Paris, like Troyes, to knock the back out of it, and then depart early about 8am to arrive lunchtime'ish Sat. You can then spend the remaining daylight hours having a leisurely unpack and rest (or brief ski).
Three (very) important things to keep in mind:
1. You will need snowchains. Either to get the RWD Bimmer up a steep snowy hill, or just to placate the local gendarmes (who police snowy roads). Repeat, you must have snowchains, for snow or the law. Practise fitting them before leaving -- they are a pain to use.
2. Xmas / NY has seen some huge traffic chaos in the French Alps in recent years. There has been very little snow so far this season -- if it dumps snow on the day of your arrival, be prepared for potentially huge queues. See "Snowmageddon" from Xmas 2014 for an example:
http://pistehors.com/snowmageddon-leaves-thousands...
3. There is a high risk of robbery on the motorways and service stations on the way to the French ski resorts. It is France's little secret. Be very careful of cars trying to pull you over, and do not sleep or rest in quiet areas:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-185885/Fre...
FYI Neither winter tyres or snow chains are mandatory in France. If you are going to drive all the way from the UK, with an antsy partner or family, your best option is to leave home around 6pm Fri (after rush hour), drive to somewhere south of Paris, like Troyes, to knock the back out of it, and then depart early about 8am to arrive lunchtime'ish Sat. You can then spend the remaining daylight hours having a leisurely unpack and rest (or brief ski).
Three (very) important things to keep in mind:
1. You will need snowchains. Either to get the RWD Bimmer up a steep snowy hill, or just to placate the local gendarmes (who police snowy roads). Repeat, you must have snowchains, for snow or the law. Practise fitting them before leaving -- they are a pain to use.
2. Xmas / NY has seen some huge traffic chaos in the French Alps in recent years. There has been very little snow so far this season -- if it dumps snow on the day of your arrival, be prepared for potentially huge queues. See "Snowmageddon" from Xmas 2014 for an example:
http://pistehors.com/snowmageddon-leaves-thousands...
3. There is a high risk of robbery on the motorways and service stations on the way to the French ski resorts. It is France's little secret. Be very careful of cars trying to pull you over, and do not sleep or rest in quiet areas:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-185885/Fre...
bulldong said:
FYI Neither winter tyres or snow chains are mandatory in France.
But if you go past a "B26 Sign" https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:France_road_... and then cause a blockage or accident then you are guaranteed an expensive ticket.Le TVR said:
bulldong said:
FYI Neither winter tyres or snow chains are mandatory in France.
But if you go past a "B26 Sign" https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:France_road_... and then cause a blockage or accident then you are guaranteed an expensive ticket.In my experience (I live in the alps) it is fairly self governing anyway. The OP would be mental to go to a ski resort with an RWD BMW without at least winter tyres because even with chains on the rear the front will do nothing anyway.
Aaaaand back to the OPs question....
I would personally aim to get further south than reims, if you get to lyon (6/7 hours) you will have really broken the back of the trip and you'll have lots of hotels to chose from.
Then the following day you can get up and have a relatively leisurely drive through chambery, albertville and moutiers and the up to Meribel, get your kit sorted in the afternoon and a good dinner before you start to ski the next day (yes if you must/are really hardcore you could get on the piste on the 1st day but why bother.
As this is a one off weeks holiday it doesn't merit the cost of Winter tyres on its' own however if you put winters on anyway for the uk then thats good but you will/must carry chains and for chrissake make sure you know how to put them on!
I would personally aim to get further south than reims, if you get to lyon (6/7 hours) you will have really broken the back of the trip and you'll have lots of hotels to chose from.
Then the following day you can get up and have a relatively leisurely drive through chambery, albertville and moutiers and the up to Meribel, get your kit sorted in the afternoon and a good dinner before you start to ski the next day (yes if you must/are really hardcore you could get on the piste on the 1st day but why bother.
As this is a one off weeks holiday it doesn't merit the cost of Winter tyres on its' own however if you put winters on anyway for the uk then thats good but you will/must carry chains and for chrissake make sure you know how to put them on!
Just to,add on the chains side of things..... If you decide not to source them in the UK then there's 2 really good places for chains in Moutiers; one is call "auto ?????" and is on the same inductrial estate as the carrefore, go past it on the right to the end of the road and turn left and then it'll be in front of you on the corner, the other is the garage on yoru right once you've left Moutiers before you cross the bridge and iirc before the football pitch.
CSLmarson said:
Hi there
we are going to Méribel for new years as a friend has a chalet down there,
looking at flights and transfers its all getting rather expensive so I thought we might just drive as we have a bit of time over xmas.
10h in one hit is a little heavy for the misses to be a passenger so I thought of stopping on the way there and doing it in one hit on the way home,
has anyone ever done this drive and could recommend anywhere to stop on the way down?
I have a 730d and im a little worried about the RWD being an issue on the roads as my BMW is rubbish here in the bad weather,
would I need snow chains there or are the roads looked after better.
cheers
Not quite Meribel, but have done Les Contamines (have also done London to northern Germany a couple of times - similar sort of distance). we are going to Méribel for new years as a friend has a chalet down there,
looking at flights and transfers its all getting rather expensive so I thought we might just drive as we have a bit of time over xmas.
10h in one hit is a little heavy for the misses to be a passenger so I thought of stopping on the way there and doing it in one hit on the way home,
has anyone ever done this drive and could recommend anywhere to stop on the way down?
I have a 730d and im a little worried about the RWD being an issue on the roads as my BMW is rubbish here in the bad weather,
would I need snow chains there or are the roads looked after better.
cheers
Planning. A few essentials: first, check the AA website for the "must carry" items in France. It's an odd old mix, but you can buy kits online. Secondly, buy a Sanef toll thingy that sticks on the inside of your windscreen. Whizzing through the fast lane at the tolls where you just slow down rather than stopping is bloody ace. Load up an ipod with music or an ipad with films for passengers, because French radio is f
kING st. Just in case that wasn't clear, French radio is fkING st. Luxuries: IME driving works out cheaper if there are 4 of you. Think about spending some of the saving on the business class Eurostar ticket. You get an empty road to a lounge, which is basically a prefab with a loo, but which will prepare you some pretty good food (lots of it too) as fast as you can ask for it. Then back in the car, turn the key and drive on another empty road straight onto the next train. Very fast and very stress free. Obv more expensive than standard but takes a lot of the ballache out of the Eurostar crossing.
Driving: it's fine. I flew into Heathrow at 9pm, drove to Dover, got the ferry (an aberration, but IIRC I couldn't be sure I'd get there for the last Eurostar crossing), then drove through the night. OK, not the classic definition of "fine" but doable. Lots of Red Bull and Diet Coke got me through the 7-9.30am spell, which was the hardest. Got to Les Contamines just before 11, chucked on our ski kit and went up the mountain. That worked really well and I slept *very* well that night.
I've punctuated the journey to N Germany with overnights in Belgium and it's s
t, because it takes great discipline to set off very early the next day and then you spend almost all of it driving anyway. Better to grind it out in one go IMO. Also better if you can share the driving, obviously. Set the cruise at 145kmh and you'll be fine in (dry) France. As for snow chains/winter tyres, the obvious thing is CHECK THE FORECAST. If it's going to be pissing down and cold, then the chances are you will hit fresh/falling snow once you come off the autoroute and start climbing. You might want winter tyres or chains then, depending how severe the weather is. But if the weather is fine, and there's no chance of fresh snow, don't bother. The roads will have been cleared since the last snowfall.
Also bear in mind in that there isn't a hire car in France that has winter tyres.
7 Series is an ideal car for this sort of trip - comfy, long legged and quiet. It's what it's built for. The trips I've done have been in the RR and the S8 and have been v comfortable. I hired a Golf GTi Clubsport earlier this year in Germany, and whilst it was a fun day out, it was noisy on the autobahn.
If, despite all this, you're determined to stop on the way, Reims is the obvious place. Very obvious. And a great spot to pick up a few bottles of champagne, obviously!
Practicality when there: are you going to drive from the chalet to the lifts? If so, you will need to get your skis in the car, which means through load or roof rack or some less optimal interior alternative. Worth spending 5 mins thinking about.
Things to have in the car for the journey:
- A kit with whatever the French are saying you must carry these days. Hi-viz jackets....breathalysers etc.
- Some kind of snow shovel (one of the fold up ones for ski touring is ideal)
- Tow rope
- Jump leads
- Rubber doormat or similar (for kneeling to put chains on, and also helpful for sticking under weeks if you get properly stuck
- iPod. As above, French radio is really st. Really, really st.
I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
- A kit with whatever the French are saying you must carry these days. Hi-viz jackets....breathalysers etc.
- Some kind of snow shovel (one of the fold up ones for ski touring is ideal)
- Tow rope
- Jump leads
- Rubber doormat or similar (for kneeling to put chains on, and also helpful for sticking under weeks if you get properly stuck
- iPod. As above, French radio is really s
t. Really, really st.I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
brickwall said:
Things to have in the car for the journey:
I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
It also stop's you having to reverse through the barriers to avoid waking your passenger in the night I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
ncjones said:
From our perspective the Telepeage doofer is worth it solely as you can keep the windows closed and therefore the car stays nice and toasty.
On the contrary, jumping out of the car and sprinting around to the passenger side, is a great way to keep alert when you're driving through the night. 
WestyCarl said:
brickwall said:
Things to have in the car for the journey:
I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
It also stop's you having to reverse through the barriers to avoid waking your passenger in the night I'm 50:50 on the sanef telepeage tag. If you're doing the journey regularly then absolutely get it, but for a one-off the queues in the credit card lanes are normally pretty ok
Swings and roundabouts...
Jarcy said:
On the contrary, jumping out of the car and sprinting around to the passenger side, is a great way to keep alert when you're driving through the night.
plus lets out the farts as well.Is someone able to give a rough cost guide though, assuming you have winters?
Or is is basically;
Peage £150 each way
Boat/Train X
Hotel (if required)
ncjones said:
Many of the robbery stories involve mention of being gassed. This has been debunked time and time again by anesthetists as simply not feasible.
The mennonites in Bolivia found a way of doing it, pretty effectively and horrific too with victims from the age of 3.http://www.vice.com/read/the-ghost-rapes-of-bolivi...
http://www.smh.com.au/world/reclusive-sects--rape-...
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