Hi there,

Was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice please.

We are a group of 4, myself, good intermediate boarder, girlfriend, skiier, who has 3 weeks under her belt but is still a little nervous, can manage blues, nice wide open runs seem to be an understandable favourite, and also two complete beginners (ski) who have done the ‘Learn to Ski in a Day’ at Milton Keynes but have no real mountain experience.

My g/f and I have been to Val Thoren a couple of times, which we’ve enjoyed immensely, I had some great off piste and there were some nice big wide runs for her to cruise down too, but this time we’re looking to drive to the Alps for the first time and feel that this may be a bit too far?

I’ve looked at some of the other posts on here which say that the resorts of Flaine or Alpe D’Huez would be good resorts for beginners, and intermediates, me, I’m happy anywhere as long as there’s snow.

Are these resorts easy to drive to? If not what kind of resort would you recommend that could tick the boxes of varied ability, ideally geared more towards the beginners, and have easy access for first time alpine drivers!

Many thanks in advance.

Gareth

I drive down to Les Arcs a couple times a year and it is not much of an ordeal. The worst part is always getting to Dover. You can relax once you get to the other side of the channel and let the miles fly by. From Calais it is motorway or dual carriageway all the way to Moutier. look at http://www.mappy.fr for times, tolls, speed cameras etc.

Les Arcs usually takes about 9 to 9 and a half hours keeping below the speed limit. I imagine VT will be slightly shorter. Depending on when in the season you are planning to go Flaine may be an excellent choice and if the snow is good somewhere like Avoriaz may also be good. Alpe d’Huez is a similar length of journey to VT.

We estimate that fuel, tolls and ferry crossing come to about £400 in total

John

Don’t think there’s much in it in terms of overall distance from the UK - Les Gets is only about 80km closer to Calais than Val d’Isere, for instance.

I think the worst part, depending on conditions, is the drive from valley level up to the resort - but as long as you’ve got the gear, it shouldn’t be too bad. I’d simply pick a resort that suits your skiing requirements - given your group’s spread of abilities you can’t go far wrong with the Three Valleys.

The drive up to the resort is, of course always the best bit: the thrill of being almost there, the change from monotonous motorway, the speculation on the snow conditions and, of course, the improving view. Everyone wakes up at that point. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to get from Bourg st Maurice to Les Arcs. After about 10 winter trips I had to use the snow chains one Easter and after messing around for ages squeezing them over the minimum clearance wheels the drive up was smooth and easy. Hint: take a plastic sheet to sit on and strong rubber gloves that come above your wrists.

The drive to Calais takes between 3 and 4 hours, sometimes much more, it is in very heavy traffic and thwart with worry about actually catching the train/ferry and that van 3mm off your back bumper.

John

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied, all your advice is really appreciated and really puts our minds at rest about what I thought was going to be quite a daunting prospect.

All the aggro of airports, early morning check ins, getting ripped off by airlines on oversize baggage, hustle and bustle of queues, non stop waiting around, coach transfers, they will now be a thing of the past and we now have an extra dimension of excitement added to our holiday by driving.

Our first road trip proper, just want to get Christmas out of the way now and the car loaded up!!

Many thanks again.

Gareth

We did Southampton to Val d’Isere four up in a Fiesta last January. Left at 8pm, got to Bourg St Maurice about 2pm the following day. It was a bit of a slog, but we shared the driving between three and it was vastly cheaper than any other option. I’d do it again.

HI, I have driven down to the alps numerous times and as long as you plan it its great, it also gives you an extra day on the slopes.  The diference in price is incredible also compared with a package ski holiday that uses flights.  I can just about get away with a little over £1000 for my family of four including petrol, tolls, ski boot hire, lift passes and our accomodation, it wont be ritzy but it normally means I can try to get another mini ski break in the same season.  If your really looking at budget its a great idea to take 2 - 3 frozen meals with you for the week and also other groceries as resort shops will soon empty you wallet, in March we paid £27 for two cooked chickens in Montgenevre.  Another piece of advice I would give is stick to a resort that has motorway as near to the village as possible, sometimes what apears to be a short drive on a map can turn into hours on a single lane valley road, especially on change over day.  For example if you go via Grenoble to the Milky way area it will take around three hours via the valley for the last 100km, go via Champery and the Frejus tunnel and its 20 mins once you leave the motorway so be careful.  I would suggest sticking to France as you can do most resorts within 8-9 hours from Calais.  If you drive on motorways in Switzerland you need a one year licence costing around £30.  Some of the longer tunnels like Mont Blanc and Frejus can cost a fair bit £20-£30 also but can still be worth it,  Nearest major resorts are Flaine, la Clusaz, Les Gets, all at about 550 approx via Genevre.  Wherever you choose in France will not be much further, we often drive to Montgenevre ( great smaller resort with around 100km of piste that really suits beginers and interediates, very high and snowsure also), about 600 miles from Calais and can do it in 10 hours, some times we take an overnight stay near Dijon on the way down to break it up a bit.  Alp D’huez is a good resort not to far from Grenoble, word of warning, Saturdays getting from Grenoble to the ski resorts can be really hard with miles of queing traffic as the one road serves Alp D’huez, le Deux Alp. La grave, Sierre Chavalier and loads more resorts.  I did it a couple of years ago and will not do it again in a hurry.  Valloire and Valmeinier are close also and nearly motorway to the door of you apartment but a bit limited on the piste.  One final point, Ive found that the best system to use for driving is dont try and be a hero and do it all yourself, you just knacker yourself for the first couple of days in resort, myself and my wife now drive for two hours each and then stop and swap.  We only stop for 4 or 5 minutes but it makes it so much easier, from Calais it means you do 2 sessions each and your just about there.  Anyway enjoy it where ever you end up.

Did an Alps/Stelvio trip with 5 others last summer, our route was designed to limit driving to 5-6 hours a day - bear in mind it can get very tiring and stressful, especially Switzerland, where making progress is only a step away from manslaughter and far worse than hoarding Nazi gold. Our route was:

Day 1 Dover - Dijon (except the hotel in Dijon’s overnight check-in system had malfunctioned so Days 1 and 2 became one and the same)
Day 2 Dijon - St Foy (near Val D’Isere) via Geneva and Mont Blanc - the tunnel’s as Clarkson described it and a nightmare if you’re lacking sleep!
Day 3 St Foy - Barcelonnette via Col D’Iserean, Col de Mont Cenis, Col D’Izoard and Col D’Vars
Day 4 Barcelonette - Vence via d902, Col De La Cayolle, Gorges de Daluis and N202
Day 5 Vence - Lake Como (mostly Autostrada plus outskirts of Turin!)
Day 6 Rest day
Day 7 Lake Como (Menaggio) - Stelvio via Passo Di Gavia
Day 8 Stelvio - Mulhouse (very long drive, though - 95% in car-hating Switzerland but some incredible scenery on the Furkapass and Grimselpass)
Day 9 Mulhouse - Reims (via the excellent Ballon D’Alsace)
Day 10 Reims - Dover (via the old GP Track)

It’s an excellent route and a rest stop was a definite must. Some of the days were shorter and these usually ended up at decent hotels (such as Vence), whereas longer days stopped at more basic accommodation where a bit of grub and kip were all that was needed (although we only ate in the same place we slept on 3 occasions).

What I would suggest, if you are travelling with others that are driving, is to do a few runs with them - there were a few disagreements on driving techniques on our trip, something that would get worse the longer the driving days.

However, I would recommend driving the Alps to any Elise owner as a must, I have some great memories of last summer.

john - 25 November 2009 06:03 PM

I drive down to Les Arcs a couple times a year and it is not much of an ordeal. The worst part is always getting to Dover. You can relax once you get to the other side of the channel and let the miles fly by. From Calais it is motorway or dual carriageway all the way to Moutier. look at http://www.mappy.fr for times, tolls, speed cameras etc.

Les Arcs usually takes about 9 to 9 and a half hours keeping below the speed limit. I imagine VT will be slightly shorter. Depending on when in the season you are planning to go Flaine may be an excellent choice and if the snow is good somewhere like Avoriaz may also be good. Alpe d’Huez is a similar length of journey to VT.

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We estimate that fuel, tolls and ferry crossing come to about £400 in total

John

Don’t think there’s much in it in terms of overall distance from the UK - Les Gets is only about 80km closer to Calais than Val d’Isere, for instance.

I think the worst part, depending on conditions, is the drive from valley level up to the resort - but as long as you’ve got the gear, it shouldn’t be too bad. I’d simply pick a resort that suits your skiing requirements - given your group’s spread of abilities you can’t go far wrong with the Three Valleys.