 Poster: A snowHead
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i might go and do a basi course in zermatt and may drive as flights are a pain at the mo, am wondering if as easy to avoid france and the tolls and go through Belgium . Germany etc.... anyone done it and can offer advice? i wont be stopping on the way down so will do it one hit....
cheers
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ajc2260626, done a trip to Aosta through Switzerland. Found the cheapest route was through Belgium/Luxembourg and autoroute to Strassbourg, then the free A35 to Mulhouses and into Switzerland (you can order your Swiss vignette before you leave, saves the hassle at the border). take the Swiss auto-route south past Bern, head towards Lake Geneva then take the A9 running up the valley towards Zermatt. Its easily done as long as you don't mind the drive, took us 12 hours with a few stops from Calais to Aosta, would assume the same to Zermatt.
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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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Why drive to Zermatt when it's a car-free town (if I recall correctly)? Wouldn't you have to drop off the car at the big parking location down the valley at Tasch, and then get on a train? In which case, why not take the train the whole way there? If you've got a lot of ski gear, perhaps you'd be able to freight it there. Just a thought.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sat 7-11-20 16:46; edited 2 times in total
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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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@LaForet, train take to long from yorks, car quicker and more convenient but yes park in tasch for £80 for the week
@Simon94, cheers will check it out
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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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I did the same as @Simon94, to drive through Switzerland to Italy.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have you looked at the various costs for the direct route, in somewhere like www.ViaMichelin.com? A quick look calculates the total return cost driving at £414, of which £104 is the French toll fees. This doesn't include any additional car insurance/breakdown cover. I don't know what your car is, so I used a typical mid-range petrol hatchback. It might be worth you playing around with this and seeing whether the longer route avoiding French Autoroutes really saves you that much.
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the tolls are actually about £75 each way (possibly more if i remember correctly from my roofer acct, i think viamichellin is a bit out.....
i would be going in an x5, so would save me about £150 in french tolls, which is about 1 1/2 tanks of diesel
@Simon94, is the swiss vignette a physical thing and if it is how long did it take to arrive?
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@ajc2260626, The viamichelin website is usually correct, the direct route cuts out a fair bit of autoroute.
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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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@ajc2260626 The more direct route to Lausanne, which is the one we usually use, takes us off the A39 at the Mulhouse/Besançon/Dole Jct. east on to the A36 to Besançon, then south to Pontarlier and crosses into Switzerland at Creuse-Vallorbe. This is about £52. There are various alternatives, including continuing down to Bourg-en-Bresse then turning east to Geneva, which is all autoroute, and arguably easier if the weather is really bad, but costs more in mileage and tolls, and that would certainly be more like £75.
The vignette is a physical sticker - you can order one from the Swiss Travel Centre in London
https://switzerlandtravelcentre.com/en/gbr/offer/motorway-vignette
for £34.50 plus £8 next day recorded special delivery. Or from the Swiss National Tourism Website
https://rail.myswitzerland.com/#/en/product/motorwaySticker
but with the option of free 1st Class post as well as £8 recorded next day.
It's valid for the calendar year plus January of the following year and isn't transferable. You can't get one for a shorter period or anything other than the calendar year. Just to se, I calculated how much time it saves us vs using non-autoroutes and it's over 1½ hours between Vallorbe and Martigny. You can get them at most border crossings but you have to consider that you might get delayed and be transiting in the middle of the night or something.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sat 7-11-20 20:32; edited 5 times in total
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| Quote: |
the tolls are actually about £75 each way (possibly more if i remember correctly from my roofer acct,
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Mappy.com quotes 57€ tolls each way (not counting the charge for the Swiss motorways). I'm not sure how you got to £75.
@LaForet, How many changes do you need going by train to Zermatt? Just thinking of going to Bourg st Maurice which needs 6 changes. I cannot see Zermatt being many less.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@JohnE [Disclaimer: I've only got the train to Zermatt once, as a day trip. We drove to Visp from Riddes, then decided parking was too expensive and drove up the line a couple of stations and parked in a nice, cheap underground car park in the little village of Stalden-Saas and hopped on an ordinary train.]
Using the www.sbb.ch/en site, it says that it's 5 trains from London to Zermatt, journey time 10h19m: Departing
London St.Pancras 08:55 and changing at Paris Nord RER
walking/metro to Paris Gare de Lyon (for Basel), then
Basel (for Berne), then
Berne arriving Visp 18:02, and
Visp for Zermatt, arriving Zermatt 19:14
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sat 7-11-20 20:33; edited 1 time in total
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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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@LaForet, So the trains used for getting to London, crossing London and Paris are not included in the list. I see now why you reccommended sending all your luggage ahead as freight.
The only time I have skie Zermatt we drove and parked at Tasch and caught the train from there. IIRC the train is no problem, but lumping your luggage across town on the milk floats was quite hard work.
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@johnE, Yes, I know, it's all bit of a hassle compared to throwing everything into the car at home and simply unloading it at the other end. And generally, the car is cheaper than the train unless you're fortunate in booking exactly when the cheap tickets appear. My only tips therefore are to just check that it's not cheaper to store the car down the line at somewhere like Stalden-Saas, and do the cost-comparison of the savings on the direct 2x£52 French route versus the extra petrol/mileage you do skirting 'round France.
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You know it makes sense.
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For comparison of tolls v mileage v cost;-
G**gle maps give (London to Zermatt for comparison) as non toll route at 60 miles and 4 hours more than tolled via France. So same calculation algorithms to be valid.
So probably fuel (X5 diesel) at 6 miles/ ltr = £12 extra each way, plus the additional time, then starts to make the shorter route through France attractive. I'd take the time saving at that amount any day.
Something like £42 more with 4 hrs shorter drive via France. Ish 
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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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I couldn't give it a live link, but search " London to Zermatt" hit "maps" and you can then "toggle" route preference in left hand panel to read off the detail.
I like driving that route too via france, down through the Jura, cross border at Vallorbe, then approaching lake Geneva north shore, onwards east to Zermatt.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you are starting from Yorkshire why not take the overnight ferry to Rotterdam? That will put you on the road at about 09:00. You also avoid the French toll motorways. At a guess the routing would be via Kerpen (near Cologne) and Basel. I looked at viaMichelin but it said "Impossible to calculate this route".
Yes, it is a more expensive crossing than DoCa but it saves you driving to Dover and a night's accommodation en-route
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Nemisis, Just out of curiosity I tried the route and got the same response. However if you put in Tasch it worked !
11 hours and 1069km for the cost of 120 euro (Rotterdam/Kerpen/Basel/Tasch)
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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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A pedestran town - of course!
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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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@Nemisis, 
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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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Going via France also allows you to get/borrow a toll tag (they're transferable) and play the fun games of a) watching French cars behind you hesitate and waver in case you're an idiot GB driver who hasn't realised the (30) and (t) lanes need a tag and you haven't got one and they have to change lanes, and the really entertaining b) hogging the fast lane while a Bentley Mulsanne / Overfinch Range Rover tailgates you into a tag-only lane only to realise too late that their car may be faster and more expensive, but they're stuck, and you aren't. Or if your relationship is up to it, wake up your partner/friend in the passenger seat and say 'Right, have you got the ticket?' and watch them panic as you approach the (30) barrier at 30kph ...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@LaForet,
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hogging the fast lane while a Bentley Mulsanne / Overfinch Range Rover tailgates you into a tag-only lane only to realise too late that their car may be faster and more expensive, but they're stuck, and you aren't.
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You do live a glamorous life. I don’t think I’ve even seen a Bentley Mulsanne/Overfinch never mind being tailgated by them. Were they driven by bulky men in dark suits with dark glasses?
I thought the main advantage of the telepeage transceivers were that you saved 10 to 15 seconds collecting a ticket and 20 to 30 paying, but sacrificed the “can I pick up the ticket without actually stopping" game.
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We have the same "fun game" in Italy watching those behind as they swerve to alternative lanes!
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JohneE I have indeed been tailgated by a Mulsanne on the run-up to a (30), although not by an Overfinch, I'd have to admit. They were unlucky enough to have cars behind them, so it meant a considerable hassle, judging by how long it took them to catch me up. And I have saved a lot more than 15 seconds on a number of occasions. The main advantage, however, is in avoiding those tense discussions with my partner when we can't seem to find the ticket. What I always find surprising is that people will spend 100K on a car but not think it's worthwhile to get themselves a tag.
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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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100k on a car - gulp. My apartment in les arcs cost a lot less than that.
I did once get stuck in a toll booth queue when the car at the front broke down. It took a lot of effort to get everyone to back out.
We have a very simple system of always putting the toll card in the same place. The only point it caused concern was when we found ourselves on a section of toll road but hadn't picket up a card from a very minor entrance. It turned out it wasn't needed. The motorways in the east of France have some tolled/untolled sections
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I do the drive fairly regularly and have tried a number of different routes. I have pretty much settled on two routes. In summer and in winter (only if I am crossing the Jura in the light) I drive down to Dijon, cut across to Bescancon, head down to Lausanne and then the route is obvious. In winter, if I have to cut into Switzerland in the dark, I carry on past Dijon all the way past Bourg-en-Bresse and head towards Geneva on the A40. After that it is the same drive as from the airport. The latter is a lot longer but the ease of driving trumps that for me.
I only once tried the Belgium/Luxembourg route across to Germany and then down to Basel. It was a bit of a pain and seemed to take a lot longer. I do use the German route down when I take the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry.
The thing you need to watch if entering Switzerland from Germany and so probably via Basel is whether the Lötschberg tunnel will still be open. It does not run 24 hours. You sure as hell do not want to drive up there and find that you’ve missed the last train. If you are at risk of doing so, you are better off when you get to Bern just continuing on the motorway down to Vevey on Lake Geneva. Actually, that is also a better route if the weather is bad. However, it will take longer than using the Lötschberg tunnel.
I must admit it all sounds like one hell of a hike for one person to do in one go. I either leave straight from London and my wife and I take turns driving (even then we will be taking the quicker route through France). If we are coming from Newcastle we will have had a decent sleep on the ferry. If I am driving by myself I break the journey up at some cheap hotel not too far off my route.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| ajc2260626 wrote: |
| i wont be stopping on the way down so will do it one hit.... |
Just to clarify - you're not intending to do this in one go all by yourself are you? Because I really wouldn't. Certainly not the outbound journey. What's an extra day against the possibility of an accident due to fatigue? It'll be getting dark quite early and the odds of bad weather are much higher in the winter. I would choose a specific route, plot out a median based on driving time, and choose somewhere budget to rest. Then you'll hit the mountains in daylight and with fresh concentration.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Tue 10-11-20 11:15; edited 1 time in total
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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 have done the trip a few times. Personally I prefer the route through France, via Dijon, cutting cross-country through the Jura and crossing into Switzerland at Vallorbe, whereafter it's a scenic drive through the Rhône valley. If you want to come down through Germany, you head for Basel and can cut across the German border wherever you like, via Belgium or Luxembourg (for a cheap fill up) or, my preference, directly from France near Saarbrucken. From Basel you can choose the transporter or drive direct and join the Rhone valley route at Vevey, pretty much of a muchness. Remember you have to park up somewhere short of Zermatt, typically at Täsch but you can park up somewhere else and take the train via Visp. Parking at Täsch is about CHF15 or 16 a day. If you drive on Swiss motorways, which you will, you will need to pay CHF 40 for a vignette at, or at a gas station before, the border.
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i am not sure really what i will do as its 50/50 if i go on the course anyway.....however yes i would do the drive in one, have done it before to tignes to yorks 14 hours got in at 4.00am in the morning.... however this way round will be mostly daylight driving which should be straight forward, quite tiring but not to taxing
i would rather fly and get the train fro geneva but it adds on a day either side to the trip and i would rather not waste the days etc especially with quarantine that i would have to do etc
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You know it makes sense.
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Brussels, Luxembourg (compulsory cheap diesel) Strasbourg, Basel, Bern....for me Interlaken.
2 sections of toll on French auto route €14, Swiss vignette 40chf per annum. Easy drive.
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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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@ajc2260626, When is the course ? I didn't think we were allowed to stop on route right now.
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Poster: A snowHead
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its actually next week, you can stop but obviously quarantine issues etc.... i think thats because its a course its deemed to be work rather than a holiday etc
i am going to have a look at the one in dec in val d'isere if france opens up i think
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FAQ
