Which airport for Les Arcs

A snowHead

Help please, heading to Les Arcs for New Year, Google maps suggests there isn't much in it between Grenoble and Geneva time wise. Anyone have a strong view one way or the other? Thanks.

A snowHead

They both can suffer with quite severe overcrowding .
Anecdotally I once was in a queue of about 2 hours to pick up a rental car at Grenoble which I've never had at Geneva. Equally a Bens bus transfer coach took over two hours to get to pick us up at Geneva which I haven't had at Grenoble. But I have continued to use both but don't particularly like either on a Saturday in season.

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Any reason why you wouldn’t consider Lyon as it’s much the same time wise as both Grenoble and Geneva.

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Geneva
Grenoble
Lyon
Chambery

Which can you fly into/out of, and on what dates/days of week?
Self drive/shared transfer/public transport?

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I always go via Geneva now if I'm going anywhere in the French Tarentaise area. It's an easy drive, it's a major airport, it has lots of options flight wise and if there is a delay there is more there. I've never had an issue flying into or out of Geneva but I've only had a 50% success rate with flights into the slightly closer Chambery, which I've stopped using. Only negative about Geneva is it can be busy to check in and get through security at times (specifically on the way back), but it's fairly well organised.

thumbs up from me on using Ben's Bus btw, I've never had to wait more than an hour for it. But i prefer renting a car.

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Unless you are travelling Sat or Sun, Geneva if you want a shared transfer.
If you are hiring a car then Geneva or Lyon, then Grenoble, then Chambery. Bearing in mind Swiss hire cars will have snow tyres, French ones probably won’t.

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Swiss cars should normally have snow tyres.
In season French cars will by law have snow equipment... which should be snow tyres but could be just chains/socks.

For the airport it also depends on your carrier - we've done Grenoble before (because of Ryanair), Geneva works too (if on Swiss or easyJet).

Note that if driving from Geneva via the motorway you usually pass by Grenoble anyways.

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@Macker13, Yes just making the point that saying it goes to Les Arcs is a bit vague as there are then other steps to add - which may make a difference to anyone with lots of kit, small children etc

You know it makes sense.

If flying I always use Geneva. There are many more flight options and this year they are very cheap. Get an early flight then the train to Bourg st Maurice and the funicular. It also depends to a bery large extent on what days of the week you want to fly. For example I cannot find any midweek flights to Grenoble or Chambery from Birmingham.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Geneva and Easyjet. Utter disaster.

I agree with the train if it suits you. Or more if it is not unsuitable.

A snowHead

There have been recent discussions about there being no hire cars at Grenoble, and few transport options. I don't see why "Geneva and EasyJet" should be "disaster". Without some explanation this is not a v useful comment. I've flown in and out of Geneva a fair bit and picked up people there a LOT and whilst all airports are a pain, there's nothing terrible about Geneva. Certainly, you can have a disaster at any airport but it's a big international airport with more transfer options from Gva than anywhere else, though car hire is expensive. Neither Grenoble nor Chambery cope well with busy Saturdays, even in decent weather.

Personally I'd drive from the UK if I had any choice.

A snowHead

The check in queues for easyjet at Geneva are an absolute nightmare. It's frequent that they are exceedingly long on both Saturday and Sundays. They snake through the airport, sometimes outdoors, then back in, then back out. There is not the infrastructure their with easyjet to make it run smoothly. Of course sometimes it will. I've had a Friday flights and it was a piece of cake. But Saturdays are awful.

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@Legend., I wonder when you last went through Geneva with EasyJet. It seems much improved to me.

Lyons is a lovely airport. If that is an option I would always take it. Geneva has the advantage of more flight and transfer options though. I avoid Champery and Grenoble, there is just too much risk for me if things go wrong.

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I'd say Geneva. Yes passport control on arrival will probably be very slow (and if it isn't bags will be) and yes, both EasyJet and Swiss checkin queues are long (as seemingly randomly is the security queue) - but if things go wrong there's a lot there. If you arrive 'early' at Grenoble you have to wait in a tent until you're then permitted into the terminal to queue for check-in, then you get to queue to be able to join the security queue, then you get to queue for security - and it's tiny so if anything goes wrong the airport will be out of food in an hour.

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I think both Lyon and Geneva are better options than Chambery or Grenoble. It's slightly longer to get to Les Arcs than flying to Chambery or Grenoble, but not by a significant difference IMO. Lyon and Geneva both offer a wider range of flight options, a wider range of transfer options to get to Les Arcs, and are both more resilient in bad weather (especially better than Chambery).

There's not much difference between Lyon and Geneva in terms of transfer time, reliability of winter flights, etc. I think the main factor in deciding which airport should be your transfer plans to get to Les Arcs. Will you hire a car, travel by train, scheduled bus service, private or shared minibus? I recommend you look in to that before committing to a particular airport. I generally opt for car hire, so my preference is to fly to Geneva and hire a car from the Swiss side of the airport, which guarantees winter tyres. Not the cheapest option, but I think the most convenient.

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Chambery is the closest to the resorts but it's also a strip of tarmac at the end of the valley with a hut at the side of it. Makes Southampton Airport look like Chicago.

For me, that's the reason not to use it. When it works it'll be fine. When anything goes wrong then not only are you knackered but you're probably also in a space about the size of a sports hall with a few thousand other people.

The other year, we drove rather then flew into Chambery and beat our flight by over 24 hours due to it being fogged in. At least with problems in the car we'd have had options but the plane flew part way then returned to Manchester to give it another go the following evening.

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Avoid Grenoble like the plague. Used it twice and it is the very definition of shambolic chaos, especially departures!

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Lyon is my preference for that part of the alps.

It's an actual airport rather than a shed on the side of the bit of tarmac. And is the least likely to get disrupted by bad weather out of the other options.

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Flew Bristol to Geneva with easyJet and got train to BSM, funi to 1600 3 weeks ago. All went smoothly and I would do it again on my own or with friends. Wouldn't want to do it with family at new year though, I would drive. That is a consensus with the family based on experience of doing all options before at new year.

You know it makes sense.

Grenoble similar to a main hub airport? Really?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Glosterwolf, What's the train journey GVA > BSM like?

A snowHead

A snowHead

Chambery wins.

Chambery = 100mins
Annecy = 120mins
Grenoble = 140mins
Lyon = 140mins
Geneva = 150mins
Turin = 190mins
St Etienne = 200mins

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@T Bar, any airport can be unpleasant when busy. When Grenoble has problems it’s a different scale than when Geneva does because of the scale of airport and infrastructure. Your sample simple does not hold water.

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Unless Grenoble has changed in the last few years (not been there for approx 5 years), then it can be summed up as "Hurry up and queue"

Arrive early? Wait until 2 hours before flight for the desks to open.
Queue for the desk - Done?
Queue for Security - Done?
Queue for Immigration clearance - Done?

Run to your gate as they have probably called last boarding. Absolutely awful!

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I don’t see why people would even consider Grenoble over Lyon considering the short time difference between the two in getting to most of the usual resorts.

I’d happily take a much more refined, relaxed and calm airport experience and an extra 30 mins drive than what grenoble offers.

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To the OP, neither option seems bad if the flight times work for you. if it's any comfort I'm going to Les Arcs at Easter via Turin which is significantly further but it's €700 for a family of 4 from Dublin vs nearly €3k to Geneva. I'm actually quite looking forward to the road trip.

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Help!!

Which airport for Les Arcs

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