Driving to Gstaad

[s500]

Anyone got a reccommendation for the quickest route to Gstaad, Switzerland from the chunnel?

[dazren]

My PC satnav software is saying:

Autoroute: Tunnel - Reims - Troyes - Dijon - Besancon

Then: N57 south - A9 - Lausanne - Montreux - Off the A9 at junction 18 then head upto Gstaad.


537 miles. 9 hours driving.

[2something]

Not that there's been a lot of snow in the Swiss mountains yet , but I assume you know it's compulsory to have snow chains with you in the winter.

[s500]

2something said:

Not that there's been a lot of snow in the Swiss mountains yet , but I assume you know it's compulsory to have snow chains with you in the winter.

I didn't, thanks for the info!

[pugwash4x4]

i used to drive this route about 5-6 times a year- actually to a small place called les Diablerets which is the galcier on the other side of the mountain to Gstaad.

anyway whoever said A9- Lausanne was spot on- it's certainly the quickest.

however one huge piece of advice which you must take- if you drive over a weekend then you will find that all the french garages shut at 5! I almost ended up in a huge amount of trouble because of this. It was mid january on a late saturday night and i passed a petrol station in besancon at 5- i assumed that others would be open. However by the time we started climbing the alps i was down to 40 miles of petrol left- we hit the top of the alpine pass with 10 miles of petrol left- it was -23degrees and starting to snow heavily. I had all 4 snow chains (on an audi quattro) on by the time we hit empty in the tank- frankly i was shitting myself. If the car stops in the middle of the night in winter you could easily die in -23degrees and heavy snow. There wasn't another sole about- we crawled to the border and found that there was a swiss petrol station jsut over the border- i kid you not the car died 20 m from the petrol station and we rolled to the pump. an A8 alledgedly takes 80litres and i fitted in 83l!! The reason you have to be careful of french petrol stations is that they all go to automatic supply (ie you use a card at the pump) however they can't read Visa cards or anything we have over here- they only use EURO cards. Swiss pumps take actual cash notes.

So, when you go, make sure you have:

Your snow gear handy (in case you break down) and need warm weather gear
High energy food
Tea lights with holders which will raise the temp of a car interior just enough
snow chains HANDY (ie the last thing in the boot with nothing on top)
gloves and plastic bags for kneeling on

Also make sure you fill up before 5pm at a french petrol station no matter how much fuel you have at that time- you really want to be crossing the ALPs in winter with a FULL tank or as near as possible- you will be amazed how much fuel you will use climbing mountain passes- we used to average 28mpg on the motorway and 8mpg climbing the mountain passes.

Practise putting on your snow chains at least once before you go- doing it in -20 snow storms is NOT fun- one word of caution the alps doesn't feel as cold as the uk usually becuase the air is very dry (unlike our dewy climate), however if you get your hands or body wet then you will get incredibly cold incredibly quickly. it's amazing how quick hypothermia can set in.

HTH

JIm


P.S. junction 9 is the Aigle junction and takes you right up the valley.

p.p.s door to door from Taunton to Les Diablerets record is 11.5 hours (although that was doing a fair lick on the french side). Door to door by pubic transport best was 14.5 hours! Although you are less tired frmo pubic transport i found.

Edited by pugwash4x4 on Wednesday 27th December 22:58

[ferrari_fan99]

If your going to be using the Swiss Motorways then dont forget the 50CHF (is that right?) to buy the Motorway Tax Sticker for your windshield. When you cross the border, park up and go buy one from a little building nearby, an absolute necessity, without you will be stopped by Swiss Police.

Take notes for petrol, many swiss staions only take coins and dont forget notes for parking. I went through Zurich when we drove from Germany, big mistake in an afetrnoon the traffic is horrendous and they don't have a ring road

Hope this might be of some help to you!

[s500]

Thanks for all the valueable advice guys, I now have been told I will be picking up a vehicle to drive back to the UK from Bern airport, same conditions Jim or am I out of the Mountainous areas?

[2something]

Bern airport is tiny, if you're not flying into it (twice daily from London city) or driving, it's a bit of a pain to get to (by Swiss standards.) It's not in the mountains and very close to the A6 motorway.

If it does snow the Swiss are extremely efficient at keeping the main roads clear. Depending on the car/tyres don't try and keep up with the locals if it snows, as they're all on winter tyres.

Not sure which way you were thinking of driving back, but if you are going to take the motorway through Bern I wouldn't recommend speeding in the 80 km/h zones and if you take the A2 north to Basel, there are some speed cameras there as well.