 Poster: A snowHead
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As per the title we are giving a driving Snow holiday a go, and I will use this thread as a place to ask questions, and also update on how we get on.
So far its been a case of plan, booking, prep.
The Plan
Leave early Friday Morning to get on the Eurotunnel for a 9:30 am crossing.
Drive down to Lyon or Chambery and stay somewhere (this bit is going to lead to my first question)
Saturday finish the journey on to Tignes.
A week of snowboarding and skiing Sunday to Friday
Saturday, the return journey. Leave Tignes around 7-8am to get to the Eurotunnel for an 8:30 pm crossing, then make our way home, or get a hotel if things don't go to plan.
The Prep
Accommodation: Airbnb Apartment
Crossing the Channel: Eurotunnel
Ski Passes
Accommodation Parking
Ski Lessons
Passports checked and plenty of dates left
International Drivers Permits obtained
Insurance Green Card
Travel Insurance including winter sports
Winter Tyres
Snow chains
All the additional France/EU required car kit (warning triangle, GB stickers, Hi-Vis etc)
Roofbox and bars for ski's and boards
Powered coolbox for a weeks worth of pre-cooked meals to make the most of our post slope evening time relaxation
Power outlet adapters for the car.
Thoughts
With a little over a week to go the adventure cant come soon enough, all we have to do now is pack and meal prep and hope everything fits in to the car. There is lots of planning to do, more then if going through a travel agent but the cost saving benefits will outweigh the additional time spent, and if it goes well the future savings will be significantly more (around £1k of one off spend this time around).
How will we get on with the driving, its a long old trip, while the outbound journey is less pressured the homeward journey is a little more time sensitive and after a week of slope activity will it be to much?
Thankfully a lot of the additional kit that has been brought will be useful for none snow holiday related trips so the cost/value of things like the roofbox and powered coolbox will really add up over the years.
Advice / Questions all welcome
I shall start with a couple of questions of my own.
Having real trouble deciding where to stay on the way down, nearer Lyon or nearer Chambery? (any recommendations welcome, budget up to around £100 for the night)
Getting to the France end of the Eurotunnel for around 11am what is realistic, also what is the best choice for making day 2 of the journey (Saturday and transfer day) easier?
When stopping overnight do people take all their stuff out of their roof box?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Enjoy, we have always self driven partly to reduce cost but also to have the freedom to take what we want and to be mobile once in resort if needed. The only thing we do different to you is use the ferry as that gives a natural break to driving and allows us to eat a decent meal (be that breakfast, lunch or dinner depending on schedule) and we have always had nightmares with the tunnel traffic compared to the ferry but appreciate most people prefer the tunnel for speed.
Ref your questions there are literally hundreds of options for hotels but I have always found HotelB&B to be good options with clean rooms and a decent breakfast and all the ones we have used have had secure car parks (at a good price) and have a variety of rooms, although the family rooms are booked well in advance during holiday periods (plenty near Lyons and Chambery). Where you stay is down to how far you think you can drive safely; obviously the further south the better for the Saturday to avoid the traffic. On the return trip we normally stop in Reims (Bezannes) or Arras to break the journey and get a sleep (we have a 3 1/2 hr drive UK side so have a lazy Sunday in France) which you may not need if you're closer to the tunnel. I leave everything in the roof boxes and have never had any issues; things like IPads etc always come out of the car in overnight bags, partly for security, partly to charge properly.
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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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| Quote: |
Having real trouble deciding where to stay on the way down, nearer Lyon or nearer Chambery? (any recommendations welcome, budget up to around £100 for the night)
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Really just depends on how far you want to drive. The trade-off is more time skiing on Saturday or a steak-frites (insert other menu choice if needed) on Friday. If you've driven all the way from home you'll be fairly tired anyway --- so as long as not too tired probably go on a bit longer to save time on Saturday.
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When stopping overnight do people take all their stuff out of their roof box?
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I don't know what is in your roofbox so could not comment. We certainly empty our car
As for the trip home -- certainly do-able. Our approach is to ski on Saturday, drive to Lyon and the do the rest Sunday. Means you aren't sweating to get down the hill for a specific time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I will check out Hotel B&B and see if they have anything.
Our lift passes don't start until Sunday and we cant get in to our accommodation until 5pm (earlier is possible but not guaranteed) so no slope time planned for Saturday anyway, more thinking on how best to avoid traffic stress on the Saturday.
The leave Saturday plan is actually a good approach so might do this.
Roof box will just be our boards and skis.
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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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Stay in Bourg St. Maurice, you'll be there by 9.30 p.m
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Sylas wrote: |
| Our lift passes don't start until Sunday and we cant get in to our accommodation until 5pm |
You could still ski. Put your gear on before you leave the Hotel and Saturday buy a pass on the day. You could even ski somewhere else that is on route - Ste Foy perhaps.
| Sylas wrote: |
| Roof box will just be our boards and skis. |
Our roofbox is stuffed - there is no way we could unload it or the rest of the stuff in the car.
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Have you got a doofer for the tolls?
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| Layne wrote: |
| You could still ski. Put your gear on before you leave the Hotel and Saturday buy a pass on the day. You could even ski somewhere else that is on route - Ste Foy perhaps. |
Its an option we will keep in mind, we don't have a hotel though so it would be a case of changing in to our gear in the carp park, and subsequently leaving a car full of everything also in the car park as well. As we are in one of the indoor car parks we might even have to remove the roof box. Not an issue when the have taken everything else in to the apartment but not possible before.
| Layne wrote: |
| Our roofbox is stuffed - there is no way we could unload it or the rest of the stuff in the car. |
This is good to hear, I am planning a potential extra lock for the box anyway but that might end up being a bit excessive.
| Layne wrote: |
| Have you got a doofer for the tolls? |
No but it was something we considered, however the extra faff and costs offset the benefit this time around.
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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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| Frank Spencer wrote: |
| Stay in Bourg St. Maurice, you'll be there by 9.30 p.m |
No viable hotel options due to the late planning and it being easter, also as there is 3 of use (me + wife and daughter 11) it means we need a room that sleeps more then 2, sadly this is forcing many Hotel B&B options off the table as well.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Looks to me as though you've done too much planning already 
I have the booking.com and Accor apps on my phone to locate a well priced room near to where I am or where I want to be. I aim for 7ish to find a decent restaurant, but if you're later, all the hotel clusters have a Courtpaille/Buffalo Grill nearby. Some Ibis serve food until 10.
Most Accor car parks are secured. I never remove my skis from the roof and they aren't locked.
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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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As we are in one of the indoor car parks we might even have to remove the roof box. Not an issue when the have taken everything else in to the apartment but not possible before.
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The car parks in Tignes are different heights so just check which one you have booked. We stay in Le Lac and book the Lac 3 for our SUV with boxes as it goes up to 2.30m. Other places we've skied I've had to remove them and put them in the car park behind the car after unloading.
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No viable hotel options due to the late planning and it being easter, also as there is 3 of use (me + wife and daughter 11) it means we need a room that sleeps more then 2, sadly this is forcing many Hotel B&B options off the table as well.
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That is the downside of late booking unfortunately, it's worth trying their search engine and seeing what options they have, say around Lyon. When it's busy we've booked 2 twins before, one for the girls (wife and daughter) and one for the boys (me and Jr) and it is still under Eu100 so you could do the same if your wife and daughter don't mind you having a room to yourself. 
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We once went into a car park in Tignes Le Lac where the height was too low for our roofboxed car. Fortunately we spotted before going to far in and were able to drive out and go to one of the others that could accommodate us.
Nothing wrong with changing into gear in a car park or leaving your gear in it whilst you ski. Just make sure no valuables on display and try to leave it anywhere unsecure and isolated.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Sylas, sounds like you’re in good shape to go. We use Accor app and booking.com as well. If you look on the map view you can see exactly where they are - we try and get somewhere very near to the motorway junction and avoid any towns. We come from the north so we usually plan on Reims or below, but if you are starting from further South in the UK you can get further.
We drove all the way back in one last year, ran into horrendous weather on UK side including thick fog and it took 18 hours- we won’t try that again as we were aware that our driving awareness was really getting compromised. We usually stop an hour or so from Calais now and get an early shuttle, drive the last 5 hours in the UK the next day.
We don’t have a doofer- the passenger just puts the credit card in. No issues.
It was a bit daunting the first time we did it as it was a mega blizzard, but with our 4WD and snow tyres we were fine, although we carried chains as well.
We enjoy it so much now we can’t imagine going back to flying. And you can bring as many pairs of skis that you want!!!
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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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Your planning sounds good. The trip is very similar to what I've done with my family several times so here's my thoughts:
- Stay in Albertville and you'll find an Ibis Budget that is inexpensive, very budget but handy. And it has the benefit of a 3 person layout: a single bunk bed over a double bed.
- I haven't bothered emptying our gear from the roof box and haven't worried about that.
- After a basic hotel breakfast, you have time to do a quick hypermarket shop in Albertville for food, wine & beer - and you can still easily be in resort by lunchtime. Pick up skis and get a half day extension to your passes, you can get a few hours slithering around to get your ski legs before starting in earnest in Sunday morning.
- Do your pre-cooking then freeze it; a lot of your food will still be frozen in the coolbox when you come to unpack it.
- We find it quite doable to drive back to Calais all in one go on the way home. The kids are v sleepy after a week of skiing!
- I have not experienced horrendous traffic driving to 3V at Easter. I get the impression it isn't at all like what it can be like at New Year or Feb half term.
- A toll doofer is worth it.
Have fun!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Sylas, I feel that your home journey is a little tight. For an 20:30 crossing you want to be there by 20:00, and leaving at 08:00 only gives you two hours more than the google maps estimate which you would eat up quite easily. Change drivers a couple of times, fill up on fuel, have lunch at a service station and all it will take is a bit of traffic to make you miss that crossing. French services can be really bad as well, it might not be as bad as you're outside of the main holiday season but in my experience the queues for food and the ladies toilets can add over 30 minutes for your stop compared to a service station stop in the UK. I would either want to be on the road before 07:00 or stay the night in Calais. Spending the night in Calais also gives you the opportunity to stock up on booze in the morning as well 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Sylas, with regard to where to stay on the way down, I've driven to Tignes/Val d'Isere a few times from Dundee. I usually overnight on the Friday at Hotel Palanbo in Aime or Hotel Le Petit St Bernard in Bourg St Maurice. A toll doofer is definitely worth it.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 2-04-19 0:46; edited 1 time in total
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Sylas wrote: |
| Its an option we will keep in mind, we don't have a hotel though so it would be a case of changing in to our gear in the carp park, and subsequently leaving a car full of everything also in the car park as well. As we are in one of the indoor car parks we might even have to remove the roof box. Not an issue when the have taken everything else in to the apartment but not possible before. |
Not 100% sure, but think Tignes has left luggage and changing facilities in the Maison de Tignes in Le Lac - ask on this thread for details:- https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=138772&start=960
If so, that would give you the option of getting to Tignes by approx. 9 or 10 am (could depend on where you spend Friday, how early you want to leave that accomm. etc) & skiing Saturday - the quietest day of the week in the EK - on a seven day pass. And by being that early on the roads you would avoid the traffic going 'up the valley'. 
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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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Before Google maps I drove to Tignes. Couldn’t believe how long it took to get down the mountain when I had to be in Brussels that evening.
Consider noise canceling headphones, set to NC only, not with music or speaking (mine need a physical cable plugged in to do this, even without sound signal, otherwise they auto-off). Cuts out road noise and thus reduces fatigue. In UK this is legal for drivers, in Portugal it’s illegal, so it would be the second driver who wears them as passenger. Don’t know the legality in France.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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check out Kyriad Chambery Centre...they do big family rooms, car park close by, nice bar just along the road and restaurant Le Twenty's close by too.
its a winner for us last two Feb HT's and booke dagin for next year
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Thanks for all the useful information, this weekend we will be choosing a hotel, going to aim for Chambery after all the feedback, and also going to look in to a toll doofer as just got an email through from Eurotunnel about one so might be able to get them to sort it.
Hitting the slopes on the Saturday is now also very much a consideration and yes the Maison de Tignes do have changing facilities.
Updates to follow once we have chosen somewhere to stay.
Oh and winter tyres have been fitted today  not long now!
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@Sylas, Have a great trip and let us know how you get on
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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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Don't waste a day driving.
Chambery to Tignes is less than 2 hours.
Drive straight there on Friday.
Ski Saturday.
Get 7 days of riding. Not 6.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
Don't waste a day driving.
Chambery to Tignes is less than 2 hours.
Drive straight there on Friday.
Ski Saturday.
Get 7 days of riding. Not 6. |
Can’t, apartment is booked with no option to do an extra night.
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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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Financial reasons aside, for me the benefit of driving down has been to maximise skiing ie 2 extra days. Generally these been both Saturdays -the quietest days of the week in Tignes / Val D as few local day trippers, though can be busy at other resorts eg PDS. First Saturday if following an overnight drive is always ‘difficult’ but the last Saturday feels like a real bonus! Ski until 2-3pm late lunch get changed in bar. Perhaps ski from Tignes les brev that day/ or ste Foy. Then drive 4-5 hours with a smile on your face!
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| retsil wrote: |
| Financial reasons aside, for me the benefit of driving down has been to maximise skiing ie 2 extra days. |
The financial reasons are actually not always clear cut... there are so many factors involved.
But the extra days skiing are guaranteed to be on offer if you wish to take them.
The other big plus for me is the nature of travel but that is subjective/personal.
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You know it makes sense.
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Overnight hotel booked in chambery, that’s one more thing ticked off the lists. Fortunately directly opposite a sizeable supermarket that we can grab some supplies from if we need them.
Food prep has also begun, 3 meals cooked and frozen, 2 more to do, and the options other evenings planned meals all ready (to be cooked there).
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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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ill be driving down to Tignes this same day but not be on the chunnel till 20.30. im going to drive right through the night and not stop till we get there taking in turns napping with my wife. My daughters are 5 and 3 so hoping theyll sleep most of the way
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Poster: A snowHead
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I used to do overnight each way. Leave home about 6pm on the friday straight after work and be at the resort ready to ski first thing next morning. Now we leave home about 5.30 in the morning and get to les arcs about 21.00. It all depends on the channel crossing, but if you get to the tunnel for the 9.25 crossing It's fine. For the return we leave about 11 and get home about 1 in the Midlands the next morning. It's not hard. Tbh I have never seen the point of stopping overnight on the way. However there are two of us to share the driving and we have our own apartment so arrival time is not a problem. Just download some good audio books and relax
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well that's it, our holiday has been and gone. We had an amazing time and driving was an experience, and we have not been put off repeating it, here is a breakdown of how the travel went and I am happy to follow it up later on with a total breakdown of costs, but I might do that in a separate post.
I did all the driving, and it went smoothly, also thanks to the advise given here we had some extra slope time on the Saturday and it was great.
Tignes 05/04/2019 - 13/04/2019Trip
Outward Journey
Annoyingly a very broken nights sleep for me, probably got 3.5 hours in total, probably due to not knowing what to expect with the journey to come. Thankfully we had pretty much completely packed up the car the night before so it was a quick and easy start to the day.
Up at 5am, left the house at 5:30.
125 miles and 2hours 10 mins later (7:40am) and we are at the channel tunnel terminal for our 9:36am train. We get offered a spot on an earlier train at 9:06, saving 30 minutes, and the journey so far was hassle and traffic free. We grab a coffee and a comfort break and we are back in the car and loading on to the train for 8:40am.
Off the Eurotunnel at 10.50 (time adjusted). First stop at 12:00, 80 miles in and back on the road at 12:05
2nd stop of the day 14:25 after 249 miles. Getting off the toll road for cheaper fuel to see if its worth it or not was a bit of an adventure in its self! Fun with the toll booth, we went to an autobooth by mistake. Followed up by 3 choices of unleaded at the petrol station, and a pay at the pump system that was disabled. Well we managed to fill up at least.
Then a refresh break at a McDonald’s, Coffees and a double cheese burger then back on the road by 15:00.
17:56, 473miles in France 601 in total. 3rd stop of the day for a quick comfort break and back on the road for 18:07.
W arrived in our hotel for the night in Chambery at 19:16, really we did nothing but have a wash, have some packed lunch dinner and went to bed.
Toll Tally for the day:
€81.40
Total Stoppage time:
1hr 51 minutes
(1 hour of which at the euro tunnel)
Day 2
A good nights sleep thankfully, up at 8:30 and out by 9:30 for a quick trip round the super market over the road and then a quick fuel stop and off we set.
10.15 on the road
Undecided on the plans for the day, should we get in an afternoon of boarding in or should we go straight to Tignes knowing we might not be able to get in to the apartment until 5pm, we saw the signs for Sainte Foy and they were just too tempting to ignore. So we took the detour and at 12:15 we have our afternoon passes and now our arrival in tignes can wait another few hours as we get in some unplanned snowboarding. The benefits of self-driving are starting to really show.
16:00 and we are back on the way to Tignes now for checking in to the apartment
Arrived at Tignes for 16:45 and the snow fun week begins
Toll Tally for the day:
€5.40
no journey travel time as such, well unless you count 3 hours or so of boarding
Return journey
Up at 6:15am after a much better night’s sleep, eating breakfast, cleaning the apartment and packing the final bits in to the car. We are all done and on leave by 7:25am.
10:04 our first pit stop, annoyingly missed the petrol station for normal vehicles so will need to stop again sooner then would have liked.
10:11 back on the move
12:50 stop number 2, fill up with petrol and coffee and back on the move at 13:20
Hit Reims after 460miles our first bit of queuing traffic, delay roughly 20 mins
16:00 break number 3 for a quick toilet break before the last leg to the tunnel, and back on the move by 16:12
10hrs 08minutes of travel time, add on our breaks and we have arrived at the Euro tunnel at 18:22 for our 20:36 train, check in and we are offered the 19:36, don’t mind if we do.
7.15pm back in the uk (time adjusted) and leaving the Eurotunnel terminal after a fuel fill up.
21:23 back home finally, what a trip, and experience.
Boy the English on our own roads can’t drive!
Toll Tally for the day:
€86.60
Total Stoppage time:
54 minutes
Total delays: 40 minutes of slow traffic
Journey totals
Journey to Tignes (split over 2 days):
Road Travel
12hours 30mins
Euro Tunnel (including embarking and disembarking)
1hr 10mins
Stoppage time:
1hr 51 mins
Total Travel:
15hrs 31 mins
Tolls: €86.60
Journey back home (all in one day):
Road Travel
12hours 16mins
Euro Tunnel (including embarking and disembarking)
1hr 33mins
Stoppage time:
1hr 09 mins
Total Travel:
14hrs 58 mins
Tolls: €86.60
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FAQ
