 Poster: A snowHead
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Car hire at GVA...
Which side do UK arrivals arrive at (Swiss I assume)? Which car hire 'side' is closest?
Context: arriving there in Sep, travelling to Sixt and back.
Thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes CH side. FR side car hire may be "closest" as it doesn't involve trekking out to a garage to pick up but CH is probably less hassle re negotiating border etc. I suspect for a Sept hire you can pick whichever place is cheapest and suck it up on avoiding CH motorways if you don't have the vignette.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, Great, thanks.
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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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@Charliegolf, but be aware navigating away from GVA to French Alps while avoiding CH motorways can be a ballache in and of itself. For that reason unless the savings are huge I'd generally hire from CH.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, Noted
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Charliegolf, unless you have lots of baggage, CH side is usually quicker to walk (5mins) vs take the free shuttle bus. As you exit the terminal building by the car hire desks, head diagonally right, cross the service road, and follow signs to T2 along the combined footpath/cycleway. After a few hundred metres (just past T2), take the pedestrian crossing on your left into the multistory car park P51, and go down by lift to the first floor.
The bus has never beaten me yet 
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Flight arrivals are not specific to one side or the other. There are different exits after baggage reclaim to go to the French or Swiss side, so the choice is yours.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, Not really that difficult. Going to Sixt the route through Geneva is only about ten minutes longer (or less if there's no real traffic through the city) if you avoid the Swiss motorway. Dropping down towards the Tarentaise is slightly more awkward, I grant you, adding perhaps another 20 minutes onto the journey, but that's not the case here.
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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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@Charliegolf, you leave the airport on the Swiss side then walk through to the French side. The French car hire is closer. There has been some discussion here about an extra charge being applied to Swiss hire cars crossing the border to France and, of course, some cars from the French side may not already have a Swiss motorway vignette. It may need checking. Generally, I find it easier to get onto and off the motorway from the French side but others find the opposite. Just check which is the cheeper.
As a side note, if you only have carryon luggage then security is much easier on the French side. In fact there is rarely if anyone in front of you at the security desk. You just drop the keys off and walk straight through airside.
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One thing I have found is that the staff on the Frence side are nicer to deal with (which may be counter to expectations).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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One thing I have found is that the staff on the Frence side are nicer to deal with (which may be counter to expectations).
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And if you are delayed for any reason there is a nice cafe.
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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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The French side is altogether lower key, without the expensive underwear for sale and no pricey sea food bar either. Certainly easier to get in and out of as right under the terminal. Trundling your stuff down the road on the Swiss side (or waiting for a bus which is not that frequent) can be a pain especially if it's hot. And in September the snow tyres thing is irrelevant. You can buy a Swiss motorway vignette if you want (and it's true that Geneva can get congested).
However the price differences from one side to the other are not consistent, by a long way, and the French side is not always cheaper.
If hiring on the French side get the up to date directions in and out here, from somebody who's done it recently and DON'T use satnav for the purpose.
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Here is the walking route from the Swiss car rental desk area to the Sixt et al pickup/drop-off on the ground floor of the P.51 car park.
Note the location of the self-service petrol pumps half way along, which is your last resort for refuelling if you’ve not done so before drop-off. But bear in mind that during busy times, there can be a queue of rental cars here, refilling before return. You walk past the front of these offices, and one section has small swing gates at each end which can look as if it’s private, but it isn’t.
Generally, unless you have a lot of luggage or the shuttle bus is just about to depart, walking is quicker.
On drop-off, there’s a somewhat counterintuitive interaction with the entrance barriers: The entrance looks like this (right, below), and you take the right of the two lanes to the rental zone, as opposed to the left lane up to the public parking, then pick up a ticket from the first barrier, only to move forwards about ten metres before having to insert it in a second barrier leading into the car rental area. It’s fairly obvious if you just take a bit of time to look when you’re collecting the car, but much less so if you don’t and are returning a car to P51 for the first time.
Finally, if you pick up from P51 make sure that you’re returning the car there as well. I know some people who picked up from P51 but returned their car at a very busy period, and didn’t notice that their drop-off had been set to Ferney Voltaire. They almost missed their flight because of the extra time it took.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Wed 7-08-24 22:50; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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| Origen wrote: |
| If hiring on the French side get the up to date directions in and out here, from somebody who's done it recently and DON'T use satnav for the purpose. |
If anyone is wondering why, it's because the road layout in that area has been constantly changing in the last few years, on both sides of the border. Google maps has been correct the last few times we've done it, most recently a couple of months ago, but that's no guarantee, so if you're driving to either side of the airport take a note of things like car park numbers and look at the signs as you get to them. That's still no guarantee, and at least once in the last couple of years I've got it wrong and had to do another circuit around the other side of the motorway before getting it right.
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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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For a first-timer, I’d recommend doing the outbound and return routes on Google Street View ahead of the trip. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the roads won’t have been changed in the interim, but it can still help with fixing the key waypoints and signs in your mind.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| @Charliegolf, but be aware navigating away from GVA to French Alps while avoiding CH motorways can be a ballache in and of itself. For that reason unless the savings are huge I'd generally hire from CH. |
Worth adding that you often get lucky with the french side cars because some kind soul before you has already bought the vignette so in the past i've found vignettes already on the cars on the french side. It's the same thing with winter tyres - they ask if you want them and charge you if you say yes. If you say no, you'll often find you get them anyway since they have them on most vehicles now (they dont change the tyres between customers so it's cheaper for them to put winter tyres on everything).
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