Getting to Val D'Isere

[russy01]

Afternoon Chaps,

We normally drive to Val however this year we are going to fly (everybody on the trip has 2 seater sports cars and it gets expensive if we all drive, plus we dont want to hire a bus!)

I have flown once (booked by a mate) and it was a nightmare, we flew via Zurich - Geneva and then got a 3hr transfer from Geneva - I wont be doing that route again.

Anyway, I have been looking at cheap flights directly to Geneva and I'll land at 10am, however any transfer I can find doesnt leave Geneva till 3pm (bensbus) meaning I wont be in the resort till at least 7pm ish.

Another option is getting the train from Geneva to Bourg Saint Maurice and getting a taxi for the last 20miles or so - anybody done this? Will get me to Val earlier but is a lot more effort.

Ideally id like to be in resort mid afternoon/early afternoon so I can go pick up my lift passes, grab some shopping and have a beer before I start flat out the next morning!

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations I'd be chuffed to hear them.

Thanks.

[bigandclever]

Friday evening st pancras eurostar to gare du nord; quick bite to eat; then sncf snow / ski train overnight, arrive val d'isere 10am Sat morning.

[russy01]

Sorry, I should add I am looking to travel from the west country (Bristol airport.)

If I was going to travel from the east id just stay with family in Kent the night before and get an earlier flight from LGW to Geneva for the 10.25am Bensbus transfer. I am trying to avoid this as I'll be doing this a couple weeks prior when heading off to USA and cant be bothered to drive to Kent again.

Edited by russy01 on Friday 4th January 14:17

[rsv gone!]

bigandclever said:

Friday evening st pancras eurostar to gare du nord; quick bite to eat; then sncf snow / ski train overnight, arrive val d'isere 10am Sat morning.

+1

I've always thought the Snow Train looked a very civilised way of getting there;

http://www.seat61.com/ski-by-train.htm#Skiing%20in...

[BluePurpleRed]

My friend has a small classic car club which has bought a Saab 9-5 with winter tyres just for this purpose that is based in Zurich. I imagine this would be v reasonable hire rates for the week. If you PM me I can let you know the details but it would be the quickest way to get there from Zurich if you had a place to park it at the resort.

I'm doing Val this year but the flights and transfers are included in the price of the Chalet. It is a proper faff getting there.

Edit: Ignore me. Its miles from Zurich. Prob not worth it unless going to a resort much closer.

The Snow Train is awesome. I did one that went direct but you dodn't get a sleeper. The chairs are like Business Class almost and we did a lot of drinking so it was fine :P

Edited by BluePurpleRed on Friday 4th January 18:03

[Marcellus]

How man of you are there?

If there are a few of you why not book with one of the private transfer companies who will leave when you want them to, not when their schedule says so.

Plus they will drop you off and pick you up at your apartment door..

[russ_a]

It is usually cheap to fly from Luton to Geneva.

There are lots of private transfer companies that will pick you up from Geneva.

I thought the snowtrain had been stopped.

[leyorkie]

Any flights to Chambrey? We have them from Leeds and only 1hour 30 to Val.

[Justin Cyder]

I've done this journey every which way over the years - driven, snow train & flown & I don't think there's much in it whichever way you go.

Obviously a car gives you total control over things - roads notwithstanding. The plane is an arse - the closest you will get is Geneva & the train although great on the way down what with the anticipation has been known to get stuck behind the local choo choos in the final couple of hundred miles & consequently trundle in at 30 mph. Also a bit of a hack on the way home in my experience when all you have to look forward to is Ashford International.

I would probably either fly Geneva & hire a car from there or look again at transfers. If there's a crowd of you, there's no shortage of people in resorts running little transfer buses as a cheeky business - best stay legit though for insurance purposes. Also, I'm fairly sure you'd find an earlier bus if you look again.

Autocars Martin or Altibus probably worth a peek. I'm fairly sure Altibus run a two hourly service on Saturdays althouogh the last time I used it, I was the sole passenger off at Brev & the tt driver forgot, so I had to sit there for an hour while we schlepped up to Val Claret & all the way back down again!

If I were doing the train again, I would definitely try for the overnight service. It is boring sitting on a train all day when all you want is to be on the mountain, but there are options for you. The other thing to mention is if you can, avoid Saturday, it's the worst day for getting up or down the mountain.

[russy01]

Thanks for your help chaps. To answer your questions

Probably only 4 travelling with me.

Struggling to get flights to chambery from any airport within 100miles of me.

I have since found a half decent directory of transfer/taxi firms that operate in the area so I have dropped some emails.

[jinkster]

I'd avoid Chambery and go via Geneva or Grenoble or even Lyon. The airport at Chambery can be really bad with low cloud, fog etc making a diversion to either Lyon or Grenoble and the day rather long.

[petemurphy]

i got the train last year to bsm and then a bus for the last 20 miles - was easy and cheap - train was double decker v cool! nice to see some countryside too.

[krunchkin]

I recently drove Geneva - Tignes and back and it was a fantastic drive, with nice places to stop on the way. The only pain in the arse is returning the car at Genecva as the signposting is atrocious and if you deliver the car to the wrong "side". (i.e the Swiss bit if you hired it in the French bit) they charge you a massive premium. I'm convinced the Car Rental Return signs are deliberately poor to facilitate this.