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Trip advise required
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Hi

My friend and I have booked to go to Serre Chevalier next January. We are going to drive down and I just had a couple of questions.

Is the best route from Calais down to Chambery and then the Frejus tunnel, through Mongenevre to resort?

Also if we wanted to drive down on the Saturday and stay somewhere to take in a resort on the Sunday before we can get into our accommodation where would be the best place to stay for one night and which resort would be good to visit for a day?

Any advice gratefully received.

Regards
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

ViaMichelin calculates this as the optimal route at 9h 43m of drive time. This doesn't go via Chambéry. But I'd defer to other SnowHeads who have done the journey recently - there may be a reason why you'd go east to Chambéry and then south to Grenoble, when you could take the direct SE road from the A43/E70 Jct.3 to Grenoble instead.

TBH I think that you're being optimistic in terms of the effort involved in the drive if you think you'll have time to try out another resort en route, rather than just press on to your destination. But other SnowHeads may disagree. A overnight stop is sensible in winter, but I'd be taking the overnight at around the 5 hours of drive time point on the way down from Calais. Which is probably after passing Troyes, between Dijon and Lyon.

One thing you will find is that driving on Sunday is that the autoroutes are relatively quieter, with very few lorries and less general traffic vs the Saturday. Just bear in mind that if you're self-catering, then a lot of French supermarkets are closed on Sundays. If you're shopping en route, then a popular choice is the E.Léclerc superstore just off the Autoroute des Anglais south of Reims, on the E17/E46 Jct.23 at Champfleury*. It also has a petrol station at competitive prices.

* https://www.google.com/maps/place/51500+Champfleury,+France/@49.2056133,4.0108754,16.75z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47e9739c0fdb60bf:0x44e57ecc7aa14f52!8m2!3d49.198186!4d4.019842
This is in plaintext as the SnowHeads platform can't seem to parse this URL because of the asterisks in it.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 17-03-22 23:36; 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?

@Griggs, with your suggested route, the obvious place to stay is Modane (just French side of Frejus tunnel) with closest ski areas La Norma and Val Frejus, both good to sample something different.

Slightly further up the valley from Modane is Val Cenis, approx 40 mins drive that has larger area to ski. All very good for a day though.

Then nip through tunnel the next day.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

@Griggs, I drive from Calais to Serre Che frequently in any one year.

Only ten days ago, I drove pretty well non-stop apart from a pee/fuel break, stayed in UK for three days, then drove back doing the same.

I don't go via Chambery Frejus as I have a van and will get stung on the tunnel toll, plus traffic to Chambery and then onto the A43 / A430 junction which serves the big Vanoise, Beaufort, Tarantaise, Savoie resorts can be bonkers busy.

I always go via St Exupery Lyon Airport and on to Grenoble, and it will also very much depend on what date in January you are travelling, if it is a weekend then best plan if you do not want to do it in one hit is get reasonably close to Grenoble on a Saturday evening and then leave at sparrow's fart (06:00) on Sunday morning to get ahead of the traffic, heading up to Alpe D'Huez & Deux Alpes.

We used to stay at Tournus, North of Lyon, then it's just over three hours to Serre Che

As has been mentioned whilst on screen it looks like a good idea to stop off and ski somewhere else it might be too much.

Though thinking about it you could try and stay at Vaujany Sat Pm for a Sunday ski and then drive to Serre after your ski.

The only potential issue of going via Grenoble is that you have to go over the Lautaret which in bad weather can be closed and then it's a diversion via Gap. So best option is to keep an eye on the forecast.
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