Cost of driving to Val Thorens from London

A snowHead

Any ideas?

One people carrier carrying 5 people and lots of luggage!

How much are the tolls and likely estimate for fuel if anyone has done it...?

Thanks.

A snowHead

Diesel, petrol, roofbox???? All will have an impact on your costs.

Try this link as it gives an estimate of both fuel costs and tolls:-

http://tinyurl.com/letmedoitforyou

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

.. plus the cost of getting across the channel.

You then probably need to double is as I expect you'll be coming back too...

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Assuming you go Calais - Reims - Lyon - Chambery route: €161.80 for return trip

Based on invoice for Tag on last trip

Fuel depends on MPG

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Including everything for normal fuel economy, £400 return - includes ferry, fuel and tolls. You can cut the cost a bit by avoiding the toll roads, but that can make the journey significantly longer.

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As above. Almost exactly £400

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Thanks guys, just wanted an approx idea. £400 +/- sounds good.

After all it is free

Hawko, worth bearing in mind the hidden costs - if you don't have snowchains you will need them, and you need spare bulbs for France, GB sticker, warning triangle etc. These aren't expensive but worth considering if you've not done it before.

and you will put a lot of mileage on your car, which definitely has a cost! Depending on where you are staying, and the weather, you might need to pay for parking too. And depending on timing, an overnight hotel.

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You also need to consider the extra cost of additional insurance premium for driving in Europe and European breakdown cover, maybe even the cost of an overnight stop if you don't fancy doing the journey in one go.
Don't think anybody has mentioned headlight beam deflectors either.

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skichampcouk, my standard insurance and breakdown cover are valid in much of Europe. But I agree there are costs which are often overlooked. I always drive because I go for too long to make renting a car economic - but I don't kid myself it's cheap, even though my car does 50 mpg if I don't cane it.

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pam w, My current insurance now provides me with the same cover in Europe as the UK but on my previous policy (direct line) it only covered me for 3rd party cover, I used to have to pay extra if I wanted to take out comprehensive cover for travel in Europe.

Last Easter, parking in Val T's P2 car park for the week cost me approx €60 .

You know it makes sense.

Thanks everyone. It does seem to add up to a fair bit, all things considered. I think I'll fly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I normally budget around £320 excluding channel crossing

A snowHead

Cost me £150 for the tunnel return subsidised with tesco clubcard, £200ish in Fuel, plus the tolls but still waiting on the Tag payment. To the Swiss alps, so we also had 40CHF for the motorway vignette, but with enough use we essentially dont add this on. Winter tyres are a big cost if you want to do it properly. I had no problems with them on on the mountain roads to Saas Fee in a 3l rear wheel drive automatic beemer, which isnt the most suitable car for snow driving if i'm honest, but we've never been stuck. I use them in the UK and we do 2-3 trips out a year now so I dont see it as a cost of the trip per se, but t can add a fair whack to a one off trip, same with chains.

For us compared to flying, at Christmas, 3 people we'd fly, 4 we'd drive. At feb half term, even for a couple it works out cheaper to drive... Plus you dont have to faff with packing, pay for ski carriage, get your skis left at your home airport, get a transfer bus/train/taxi. Depends on your travel priorities I suppose

A snowHead

We're off again over pre-Easter: this will be the third trip to the Alps this winter, and self-drive is definitely the best way. It's less to do with the actual costs of getting there, but the flexibility if gives you once you are there: you can stock up with supplies the valley, choose which nights you eat in or out, and generally adjust your own itinerary rather that getting one imposed by a tour operator.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

With a family of 4, and sometimes one of the kids' friends, and company paid fuel in a company car, we always drive! We stayed in a chalet a few years back and some of the other guests asked us why we drove, when we told them we'd got 5 people to Chamonix and back for £300 they stopped querying it!
Plus if value for money from a week's holiday is more important than the actual final bill, if you drive you can get 7.5-8 days skiing instead of 6 by driving down over Friday night, then skiing most of the last Saturday as well and staying somewhere en route home. It adds 2 days to the lift pass and the hotel cost, but you get up to a third more skiing.
However, we are about to fly to spend a week staying in the chalet that our son is running this winter, because the Inghams reduction for self drive is almost non-existent, so as you are paying for the flight anyway, you might as well use it.

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Tesco club points certainly save on the tunnel. We tend to pick early morning trains as they are the cheapest. They have made it easier to swap points for your train now. I think last Christmas it only cost us £45 plus tesco points. I dont think there is an upper limit you can exchange.

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I'd pretty much echo what others have said (Use Tesco for the crossing, get an extra day skiing etc.) However, we have self-catered the last few times, so driving also gives us the opportunity to take extra food.

e.g. The first night's meal is cooked in UK, frozen, and thaws on the way out. We take a cake, that sort of thing.

A week's breakdown cover is quite expensive, but this year for the first time we've taken a whole year's cover. Since we are back to France on 2 other occasions later in the year I think we'll end ahead.

LR

After all it is free

pam w, skichampcouk, who are you insured with? I'm getting pretty p'd off with the charges my insurer makes for 'foreign use extension' to preserve fully comp cover while abroad.

bobski62, LV for me. Was a good price, too.

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Hawko

I'd imagine you'd need to allow for a tank and a half of fuel each way for Val Thorens plus the tolls and the tunnel or ferry.

We also purchased winter tyres and chains. Whilst the winter tyres can also be used in the UK you need to allow for the cost of changing them twice a year if you don't buy extra wheel hubs. There is the additional wear and tear on the car from a long drive to the Alps which is hard to quantify (plus miles on the clock) - not that this has ever put us off driving.

We book overnight hotels each way which is around £100 per night for a family of four in a Novotel plus meals - obviously there are cheaper options eg. formula 1. However we did not pay any extra for car insurance/breakdown cover. I think driving in Europe is covered under our normal policies.

Now we have invested in the winter tyres our costs will be less for future holidays.

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bobski62, Saga for me, but you have to be a 'a more mature person' (old git) to benefit from it.

musher, figure of speech - buying booze at a different and lower rate of duty then wink

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I've drove twice and I've come to the conclusion I will never do it again, I really don't see the advantage and I don't think it costs less to do so anyway. Flying is so cheap these days, I fly out from Liverpool to Geneva Sunday, returning Friday. With pre booked seats, 1 hold bag between us the total cost was £150 for the 2 of us. Granted that's cheaper than I normally pay but if you add up every single £ on the driving v flying debate, there really can't be much in it, and your there much much quicker when flying. The only time it may be cheaper is in a school holiday when flights are more expensive, but then so is the ferry, hotel en route etc.

A snowHead

Ricklovesthepowder, It's very much an individual thing. Flying isn't always cheap, and transfers are always expensive. Some people hate airports, some people hate the long drive. I've done it today - quite enjoyed the journey once the fog cleared. Lovely warm sunny day, very little traffic on the French motorways. I drove across the Jura from just south of Dole down to Geneva - saved tolls and fuel, took very little longer as it's a shorter route. Listened to a couple of excellent audio books. Bought loads of stuff.

Hotels en route aren't more expensive in the school holidays, and if you book in advance neither need the ferries or tunnel be any more expensive.

With four in a car it will generally be cheaper to drive and with several drivers it's not much of a chore (though I do it alone without drama). But I'll be here at least five weeks; if I were coming for just a week, on my own, I would fly and rent a car.

A snowHead

Just got my Sanef bill for the drive Calais-Grenoble and back: £128.86

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Ricklovesthepowder, With five people and equipment (especially skis), driving will be cheaper. I've driven to the Alps many times with a roof box and 3 or 4 pairs of skis. Sometimes three of us, sometimes four. Even two might be cheaper Saturday to Saturday if taking skis.

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Having just returned from two weeks in Italy I'd probably drive again as I've done it several time in the past however if it was a catered holiday then I'd fly.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Do not underestimate the value of stopping off in Champagne on the way home and buying a few crates of the good stuff direct from a small manufacturers cellar (or garage, or front room) - the most expensive bottles we could find were 25 euros, a crate of decent stuff was 12 euros a bottle including a tasting session where they talked through their own product and staying overnight in a big old vintage champagne house (70 euros inc mahoosive breakfast)

Same for stopping into supermarket and buying bargain wine, if we'd done the sums we would have bought a lot more of the 2 euro wine we got in Carrefour last year. This year is going to be different. The big UK supermarkets and wine clubs must be making a killing at £5 for a decent bottle of wine.

But we only tend to do this on self catered holidays, where taking a box of useful kitchen stuff and critical ingredients does make a big difference. But we drove out in December and having the car meant we didn't need to catch buses around the Arlberg, going where conditions were best in any given day, while others were stuck with 20-30 mins on the bus to get around.

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Tolls are £142 return exactly wink

that's what my bill was that just came in from Calais to Tignes

After all it is free

The Michelin route planner is great for working out fuel costs. You plan your destination as normal but also add fuel type and type of vehicle / engine size etc

It'll also factor in the tolls

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/

pam w, basically went onto Booking.com and searched in Ay and Epernee. We are staying in La Marotiere on the way back from EoSB this year, but there are quite a few similar places in the area - lots of old money trying to make ends meet.

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What's the milage on that trip?

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Cost of driving to Val Thorens from London

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