Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
I'm fairly used to self drive to France, so don't tend to fly and organise transfers or hire car, albeit have done the hire car option a couple of times when in a big group and it's worked fairly well.
What are people's thoughts on transfer vs hire car? We're off for 4 days in Jan, and looking at it, the price difference isn't huge between a shared plus type transfer vs hiring a car. We're not planning on driving around once we get to resort, so I'm leaning towards just going down the transfer route.
Any views on those who have done either or both - what would you do? FYI, we'd probably be heading to a resort within 1-2 hours from Geneva.
Cheers
Olly
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If the choice is cost neutral, then its a no brainer - Transfer.
This way you can have a couple of quiet scoops at the airport arrivals while waiting for the other people on your shared transfer.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Depends where you are going. Chamonix? Defo car hire. Avoriaz? Defo transfer.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@maidstone98, If snow conditions stay as they are or don't really get much better then a car will give you more options for skiing.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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- what makes you say Chamonix via car but Avoriaz on transfer out of interest?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Cham is slightly better with your own transport. Avoriaz is car free (you didn't know that?)
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I wouldn't decide without knowing where you are going. Very few resorts are within an hour of Geneva, incidentally. As mentioned above, it might be worth putting off a decision until some snow falls. Currently, for example, one resort close to Geneva, Megeve, has no pistes open. None.
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Yes I was aware about Avoriaz being car free (Went there years ago) - just didn't know if your advice was based on that, or whether it was a tricky journey up the mountain roads!
Indeed we're thinking we will put off deciding until towards the end of next week - just don't want to leave it too late and then miss out on a transfer!
Equally though, transfers seem to be coming in cheaper than car hire, so thinking may be best just to book something with them on understanding we can tweak the resort next week.
Decisions decisions!
Ol
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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maidstone98 wrote: |
a shared plus type transfer
Olly |
What is "shared plus"?
WindOfChange wrote: |
If the choice is cost neutral, then its a no brainer - Transfer.
This way you can have a couple of quiet scoops at the airport arrivals while waiting for the other people on your shared transfer. |
I would have said the opposite. Cost neutral - hire car. Flexibility plus you can leave when you want, not hours before your flight when it suits the transfer company.
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Anyone got any good recommendations on car hire places then at Geneva airport? Swiss side i hear is best as cars come with winter tyres and you avoid the faff of having to get over to French side of terminal, but any best places to arrange via? (i.e. money supermarkets or similar, or companies to avoid?)
Cheers and Happy NY!
Ol
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I use rentalcars.com. It says which company the rental is through. Then I check that companies actual website to see if I can get the same price. If so, I'd rather have the booking direct than through an intermediary. But I've gone through rentalcars.com several times. From Geneva I had Unirent, which is part of Europcar. It also says if winterisation is included (which I presume means winter tyres). Usually free cancellation etc, so you can book anyway and see if a good transfer option comes up in the meantime. Swiss side is easier by all accounts both in terms of time (you have to go through some village apartently to get round to the French side of the airport), winter tyres, and Swiss motorway vignette. There was a discussion on this forum about taking a Swiss registered hire car into the EU (France) due to some crazy EU rule, and it seemed some companies were applying it http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2967310&highlight=#2967310.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I rented from Hertz (Swiss side) recently and they advised there is no issue taking the car into France. I have rented from Avis before but never again. they forgot to register that I had returned the car and then rented it to someone else. I ended up with the other persons speeding fine. It took me many phone calls and providing evidence that I was on a plane at the time of the infringement to sort it out. Even after they had agreed they made an error once they still failed to advise Swiss police setting off another round of phone calls.
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@J9, what a total nightmare, but I think you were unlucky.
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You know it makes sense.
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For me the big advantage of hiring is that you can stop off at a supermarket in the valley before climbing up to the resort. Prices much cheaper and much more selection. (I am assuming the OP is self catering.) There is a supermarket at GVA (Migros, follow signs for the rail station) but, being in Switzerland, it is quite expensive compared to French supermarkets.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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If you are going to Switzerland then another option is to use public transport for some of the resorts in the Vaud and Valais. Generally, this is cheaper for 1-2, borderline for 3 and a car is better for 4+. We go to La Tzoumaz (Verbier 4 Vallées) and use the train/gondola about a third of the time. What I like is that returning, once you're on the train in Martigny (in our case) you can relax all the way into Geneva Airport. None of that hassle searching for a fill-up, navigating the Palexpo and Airport, returning it to the car park, bus transfer, and worry that the nutter assistant who drove off at 80Kph is going to scratch it and give you the bill.
If your group is arriving from multiple destinations, you can also leave delayed people to make their own way by train. A couple of times we've had one person in the group on a delayed flight and been hanging 'round for hours waiting for them to turn up.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html gives you a good idea of trains/gondolas/buses for the main resorts and usually also has some combined rail+skipass offers as well. Just a thought.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Transfer every time - no agro at the car hire queues, no finding parking spaces and as some else mentioned a few beverages at the airport.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@LaForet,
We are making that trip in April - Geneva to La Tzoumaz, 2 families incl 6 kids aged 11-15.
Considering one hire car, and half the group going on the train. That way we can collect them from the station and have use of the car for supermarket runs and have more flexibility for return times.
But I hadn't thought of using a gondola - does it run from from Riddes up the mountain to La Tzoumaz?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I seem to be against the consensus but for price neutrality I'd hire a car for a long weekend, indeed I always do.
If you are organised it seems to work out quicker than a transfer and means you can often squeeze in more skiing on the day of arrival and/or departure (especially if you have your own kit and don't need to mess with hire shops).
We tend to send one person on to get the hire car while the other(s) grabs the luggage. These days I am usually flying hand luggage only (ski gear lives in the Alps) but we used to do it when two of us were travelling with skis and boots (one double ski bag and one holdall). This means you avoid the car hire queue.
The real time saving is that you always seem to be able to leave later from resort when you are not giving a margin for the transfer turning up late.
This is partly influenced by the fact that I tend to ski in places where a car might be handy in resort. If you are going somewhere purpose built and largely pedestrianised (Avoriaz is a good example) the case would be weaker.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hiring a car seems like a great idea right up to the point it hammers down with snow and the roads are icy and you've got to put chains on up some mountain road at 10pm in the snow. Sitting in a transfer bus while someone else does that is worth a quite significant difference in price to me, in addition to the mental stress of driving through potentially a lot of weather getting up or down the mountain. Most of the time no issue, but also most of the time rental cars are not 4x4 and things like chains can be an extra cost to rent.
Oh, and everybody can sleep on the transfer.
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