Anyone driven to France for skiing

[G Man]

Has anyone driven to France/Swiss for a sking holiday, if so how long did it take, I know I could fly but my familly are not great in planes, bunch of pukey women

G Man

[abels]

Depends where abouts you want to go. I do the UK to Switzerland on a regular basis. Once of the ferry in Calais, to Zurich takes 8 hrs in moderate traffic, especially with all the road works at the moment.

[Mrr T]

I have several times. You can do it in a day but its a long day. Best bet is to do the channel crooss in the evening then stay at one of the French Travel Motels, these are basis but cheap then start early. Done side is on busy weekends there cand be long traffic jams into the high resorts in France. One other piece of advice if it snows and you do not use the car it is easy to get stuck in the car park. It happened to me and I could not move the car fortunetly a passing French JCB dricer kindly offered me a tow.

[abels]

Also, do not forget to get some proper winter tyres. The amount of Brits that you see in the winter in Switzerland sliding everywhere is amazing.

[chippy17]

I have driven to the French Alps a few times but not recentlyI recall it took about 10 hours from Calais to Courcheval, it is a boring drive but not too bad, I like the drive but I am sad!

[SlidingSideways]

You'll need snow chains. If the weather is bad, the French police shut the roads to the resort and will only let you through if you have them.

Top Tip: Practice putting them on before you leave. This is not a skill that is best learnt on the side of a mountain in a blizzard.

[krusty]

I've done La Plagna and La Clusaz. Both times the weather closed in as we got higher and added hours onto the already long journey. It's also worth asking if they have underground parking at the resort or you'll be digging your car out after a week.

[skibum]

I did it last year to Les Arcs and it is a doddle. Its a bit more tedious if you have to do all the driving but if it can be shared, then its fine. Took about 8-9 hours straight in France but if you can set off on the Friday at around mid morning and plan a stop over near Lyon/Annecy (depending on resort) in a Formula 1 motel type place then its a pleasant journey in to resort first thing the next morning.

People are right about the snow chains. I had a problem on my 182 Clio as there wasnt enough clearance around the tyre/wheel arch for chains so I got something called Autosocks - best thing I have ever bought - worked perfectly on the snow and are made of material that slips onto the tyre, just like a sock! Once finished, slip off, stick in washing machine to clean and store for next time...
www.roofbox.co.uk/autosock/main.html

Usual disclaimer - not associated with the above, just a very satisfied customer.

[mechsympathy]

SlidingSideways said:

You'll need snow chains. If the weather is bad, the French police shut the roads to the resort and will only let you through if you have them. Top Tip: Practice putting them on before you leave. This is not a skill that is best learnt on the side of a mountain in a blizzard.

And take some long, tough gloves. The cheapo plastic ones the give fall apart as you put them on and don't really keep the cold out

There are various advantages to driving (get there early and leave late) but unless you're pretty close to Dover (or the resort is more than 3 hours from the airport) it's probably slower.

[dds1]

Record time from Calais to Chamonix = 5 hours

[Zod]

I've done it a couple of times. You can do the drive in a day, but it's a long one. If you stop off for a night around Burgundy, it becomes very relaxed.

[G Man]

SlidingSideways said:

You'll need snow chains.

I don't know if they are an option ?

[Zod]

skibum said:

I did it last year to Les Arcs and it is a doddle. Its a bit more tedious if you have to do all the driving but if it can be shared, then its fine. Took about 8-9 hours straight in France but if you can set off on the Friday at around mid morning and plan a stop over near Lyon/Annecy (depending on resort) in a Formula 1 motel type place then its a pleasant journey in to resort first thing the next morning.

If you stop off at Aneecy, go and stay in a nice hotel there. It's a beautiful lakeside town with mountians all around and nice hotels and restaurants. Le Clos des Sens is fabulous.

Agree re snow chains btw. Not much point driving all the way and not being able to get up to the resort!

[KITT]

Done it three times now:

Dover to Flain
Dover to Meribel
La Harve to Andorra

Andorra being the longest at 16 hours, the other two about 10 hours. I'd probably not do it again as it's so boring and probably not much cheaper than flying when you factor in ferry, fuel, insurance, breakdown cover etc.

Never had to use snow chains, good set of winter tyres saw us drive through a pretty bad blizzard on the way to Andorra. RWD Volvo helped here

[cyberface]

I drove down to Verbier in the 993, swapped all my tyres for winter tyres and it was still lethal on the way down (uncleared packed snow / ice). Conditions were exceptionally dodgy but it's best to be prepared for it.

I'll certainly have a look at those socks, I couldn't get chains for the Porker due to wheel size / arch clearance.

Even a 4wd will be no good on packed snow/ice if you're running summer tyres... it gets worse the wider the tyres are.

It's good fun though, but very tiring if you have to do all the driving - you'll probably need a day to recover so not a great idea for long weekend ski trips!