best route to Leysin CH by car Friday night???

A snowHead

Hi all,

We're driving down to Leysin from Calais after work Friday night.
I'm always nervous about following Google maps in case it takes me over a ridiculous pass during winter.

What easy/safe route should I take??

cheers

Rich

A snowHead

Do it 2 or 3 times a year to near-by Villars. Go over the Jura - it is a main road and we have never known a problem (but have never done it when it is snowing hard). Take the autoroute past Troyes, Reims and then past Dijon veer left onto the A36 to Besancon. Come off the motorway once there and head for Pontarlier and the Swiss border (Vallorbe). From there its the motorway past Lausanne (signed Sion - Grand St Bernard pass) - along the lakeside past Montreux. Come off at Aigle and turn right as you get into the town. You are there.
It is an easy route - and clips off the Geneva bit. Good luck.

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

thanks so much
that's exactly what i'm looking for.

was considering bottling it and going via Geneva and the lake

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@hors et en piste, that's the best route imo too!
You can get traffic round the lake, but you should be good as you are going late.

Make sure you have chains or winters or both ideally as i have needed them when it snowed once going up from Aigle on the Route Des Ormonts

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Its due to be snowing down to around 700 metres Friday evening, but Aigle - Leysin is straightforward enough, albeit there are a fair few hairpins. Friday night can be catastrophic for traffic on the A1 around Lausanne as well....but it's usually pretty clear by about 20H...Enjoy, conditions should be fairly optimal when you arrive!

You'll need to Register first of course.

In a couple of weeks, we will be driving the same way from Calais, but carrying on a bit further on the A9 past Leysin to Martigny i.e.

Troyes→ Besançon→ Pontarlier→ Le Creux (F/CH Border)→ around Vallorbe→ Lausanne

If our SatNav is anything to go by, you may need to do as we have to, and individually set the following destinations (at)→Destination

(Troyes)→ Besançon
(Besançon)→ Pontarlier
(Pontarlier)→ Lausanne/Leysin

Otherwise the SatNav can send you all sorts of circuitous, albeit marginally shorter routes that aren't good in winter and snow.

There's a ring-road around Besançon but not all the way. You approach the town along a straight road through the superstore/commercial/tower block area (looks a bit like Crawley) and after about 3-4Kms need to keep a sharp look-out for the turn-off to the right that links you to the new by-pass. Not particularly tricky but perhaps worth taking a pre-look using Google Maps and streetview.

Also my satnav is determined to take us through the centre of Pontarlier every time, rather than use the signposted ring road. Perhaps because we tend to stop at the SuperU on the Pontarlier ring-road, buy groceries and fill up with fuelbefore crossing into Switzerland.

You'll need a Vignette for the CH which you can get at the Border station or the BP garage on the Swiss side, or order online before you use any autoroutes (CHF 40). You must have one - the traffic police are really hot on this. Worst case e.g. if you're late at night and everything is closed, then you should stop at the Restotoute de Bavois on the A9 to Lausanne, and buy one at the petrol station.

And be careful on the long downhill road after the border that drops down from near Vallorbe to the Lausanne autoroute. It's motorway-standard road but the speed limit is (or was, last summer) 80Kph and very easy to miss the signs.
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There is an all-motorway alternative route from Troyes (this is often the one suggested by a SatNav set to 'prefer motorways') via Bourg en Bresse. It's 55 miles longer, but the section from Bourg to Geneva is quite impressive. If I didn't have winter tyres on, I might prefer this as it's at a lower altitude than the above. But it can still be snowy and slushy, with slush the worst conditions for someone on summer tyres as it's neither tarmac or snow (so chains or socks are infeasible). Note that some route planners will then take you along the French side of Lake Geneva - I wouldn't do this, it'll take forever - you need to drive via Geneva Airport and around the north side of the lake on the A9, signposted 'Lausanne' and then 'Gd.St.Bernard'

Note that Swiss Autoroute signs are green, not blue. Easy to miss as you move from F to CH and can cause confusion.
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Here's a map of the Lake Geneva routes I did for my own apartment clients who are driving to the 4 Valleys. Note - I disclaim all liability! It's just a quick sketch of the main routes for people to orient themselves ... Note that you'll be getting off the A9 somewhere near Aigle for Leysin - you'll need to SatNav/ViaMichelin the exact exit etc.for yourselves. And if you opt for the Bourg-en-Bresse route, you'll be entering the map via the Geneva Airport autoroute (bottom left).

Help!!

best route to Leysin CH by car Friday night???

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