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To fly or to drive......?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I've always wanted to drive to the Alps one time just to experience the journey but continue to fly each year. We're a family of 6 so flying, when getting the flights to Geneva booked early, are usually around £2k-£2.5k, add on the transfer fee of £1k return, our average cost of travel is £3k-£3.5k.

How much cheaper is driving? What costs are involved? Aside from the obvious petrol, ferry/euro tunnel, hotel if stopping, what's the usual driving costs?

Any experiences to share (inc brief cost breakdown)?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Roscoe, Other than the usual travel costs as you mentioned, tolls, snow chains or winter tyres

https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/ will give you an idea of toll costs - around 80 euros from Calais to Alberville

Tend to always drive, but I'm close to the tunnel. About 10-12 hours to most French resorts. 3 Valleys, PDS, ADH, Les Carroz. Also Austrian ones - Kirchberg, Serfaus, Ischgl

Sometimes overnighted - especially at half terms - on way down, but did journey back in one go.
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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?
aaprx £450 for eurotunnel these days, £175 tolls, 3 tanks of fuel £275, overnight hotel 3 rooms £300 although can vary wildly depending on date

add in drinks and food....you can easily do it inside £1500 i would think
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stefoy4me wrote:
aaprx £450 for eurotunnel these days, £175 tolls, 3 tanks of fuel £275, overnight hotel 3 rooms £300 although can vary wildly depending on date

add in drinks and food....you can easily do it inside £1500 i would think


So a decent £2k saving which would cover ski passes and hire.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
If you want it cheaper still, ferry can be about £250 return, tolls, unless you go to Austria via Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany which are free, hotels can be under 50euro for a double room in France, obviously fuel depends on the vehicle, but in France buy it off the autoroute, motorway services are even more of a rip-off than the UK.
Plenty of scope for savings.
When we used to do one week trips we would load the car after work Friday, straight to Dover or Folkestone, cross the channel, drive all night, resort for breakfast, then go skiing.
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@Roscoe, since I am one of those who keeps a record of these things Smile Here's my breakdown for last year...

Channel Crossing - Eurotunnel £298 rtn
Overnight stay out - Troyes Budget IBIS £136 incl breakfast (family of 5, so two budget rooms)
Car Parking voucher (in Arcs 1950 for the week) - £107
Overnight stay back - Ibis budget Dijon Appolinaire - £149 incl breakfast
AA cover - £99.94
Tolls - £193
Fuel - 1430 miles @ 31.6mpg diesel, assume £1.45 per litre (from home in Hertfordshire, return) ~ £275

Total £1,257.

This is broadly in line with other years taking into account inflation. You should probably add in the cost of snowchains or snow socks as you will want to have a set with you.

For completeness Smile other costs:

Pierre and Vacances apartment (2 bedrooms - double and twin, eldest slept on sofa bed in lounge) - £1886 [week before Easter but in the school holidays]

Ski hire for 3 boys - £254

Lift pass £1,412 incl carre neige [for 5 people -> 3 adults, a 16 year old and a 12 year old]

Boys no longer need full ski lessons, but I put my youngest (12) for 1 on 1 lessons a couple of days. I do not seem to have taken a note of that cost.

We ate out twice first night and second to last night, i think, and cooked in the other days. Everyone is too knackered to eat out and just wants to wind down in the comfort of the apartment. We usually pack a cool box with a few frozen dinners cooked ahead (bolognese, curry, stew), and we pick up a 'big shop' in the valley before heading up to resort.

In Arc 1950 there is an excellent fast food cafe, Meli Snacks, which makes for cheap lunches and is very popular at ski school pick up time being, as it is, adjacent to the ski school drop of point. [hot dogs, crepes, waffles, chicken kebabs, nuggets, burgers, and a cheap 1euro espresso which is also good to grab whilst dropping of the kids at ski school. I typically paid £30 or so to feed the family]

For me, with the family, I wouldn't look at flying again. For one, i know where everyone is and that all the baggage is with us! We could choose to avoid overnight stays and save ~£300 if my wife would share the driving - but it is too long in the driving seat, for me, without a rest - so we stay overnight.


Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Tue 6-01-26 14:46; edited 1 time in total
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
And, as every time this is discussed this is raised, don't forget to factor in the depreciation and running costs for your car Toofy Grin
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Oh, and btw, do get a toll doofer. It's saves the faff of stopping and paying at the toll booths and you pay on account - pushing the charges into 'next months' pay packet. I got mine from EMOVIS TAG.
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If you are a regular shopper at Tesco and have accumulated Clubcard points they can be traded in for vouchers and used against the cost of Channel Tunnel crossing. I have done this many times and paid nothing for the crossing so it really is a good saving. This year I had to top up by about £50 as voucher didn’t quite cover it.
You can avoid hotel costs on the way down if you have the ability to maybe share the drive and do it in one go. We have done this several times and when the kids we young I booked a late crossing and drove through the night so they could just sleep in the back. That’s not everyone’s cup of tea granted but saves a lot of money. Roads are much quieter also driving at night.
I have managed to get to resort many times for just the cost of fuel and tolls doing this way which was tbh the difference between being able to go or not go at all when money was our main consideration.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Tue 6-01-26 14:01; edited 1 time in total
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@Roscoe, I think your main consideration would be transporting 6-people, while there are cars with 6/7 seats you will then be compromised on luggage space. Particularly if you have skis as well.

One of the biggest pluses for us when we drive is taking a lot of dry goods and being able to shop more cheaply in valley. Obviously not an issue if catered chalet or hotel.

When 6 of us have travelled we have taken 2 cars which obviously adds to expense.
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I love the privacy of driving too, it’s a big bonus. I do also take flights but nearly always some one ends up with a cold/flu from the plane and airport. The indépendance of driving is a real positive to me at least. And as Boris says you can also stock up with some supplies, bedding etc from home reducing costs of shopping in resort and renting linen and towels.
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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.
@Boris, Roscoe does say they are a family of 6, so it is likely they will already have the requisite vehicle.

Taking your supplies is a real bonus. Much cheaper than resort supermarket prices and if there are fussy eaters in the family, you won't have to search high and low in a foreign supermarket, which gives more time to check out the wines wink

@Roscoe, Where are you setting off from? This may determine whether you need to overnight en-route and on return.
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 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
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
I've driven a lot, including on my own after my OH died, and generally without an overnight stop. But I never had to drive on busy school holiday dates. I have driven north when the hordes were charging south - queueing for miles at the péage north of Reims, for example, "doofers" or not. And have also done peak week travel in the back of my son in law's 9 seater van, only dimly aware, as I listened to my audio book, of the traffic he was grappling with. I'm fortunate that I don't find driving stressful and can do long hours without a problem, though I do stop every two hours for a bit of a walk, if only into the café for a coffee and a bun. I've only had to make unplanned stops a few times, because of fog or once for heavy snow, with only one lane open and speed way down. At quiet times finding a hotel room is not a problem - but it's very different on those peak dates, when you really need to book in advance.

With kids it's very different, of course but provided the are old enough to understand the rules, is OK. My grand-daughters can do most of the journey sustained by the monstrous pile of goodies they get from the Flexiplus lounge (with 7 people in the van, and peak holiday travel, Flexi-plus is worth thinking about).
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
To get to french alps - from Bristol area.

Tolls and petrol will be in the region of £400.

I have done over night ferries and various short crossings to calais but will be in the range of £250-£650 depending on route choice busy periods and priority/flexibility.

A weeks parking in resort if required is roughly £100.

Hotels if required probably from about £25 a head upwards depending on choice.

Last year when I bought a separate set of winter wheels and tyres plus chains for my current vehicle they cost a total of approx. £950.

Last year, portsmouth-caen overnight out, tunnel home, no hotel stops cost roughly £975, plus one-off outlay on wheels etc. of £950.

This year doing portsmouth-st malo overnight out l, channel ferry back, a night hotel each on way there and back but no other one off costs is about £1200.

The other thing to consider is who is driving. I have done it in one hit doing all the driving without sleep stops and it isn't the most pleasant experience towards the end of a long day and isn't something I would highly recommend. If you can split/ share the driving or alternatively put in a hotel stop somewhere then all the better.

The way we are travelling this year will allow additional days at the start and end of the holiday skiing without the overnight cost of in resort hotels, so we will have 8 days skiing instead of 6 which is a bit of an intangible benefit depending on how you value those days.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
knackered knees wrote:
@Boris, Roscoe does say they are a family of 6, so it is likely they will already have the requisite vehicle.

Taking your supplies is a real bonus. Much cheaper than resort supermarket prices and if there are fussy eaters in the family, you won't have to search high and low in a foreign supermarket, which gives more time to check out the wines wink

@Roscoe, Where are you setting off from? This may determine whether you need to overnight en-route and on return.


Yes we have a car big enough for all 6 of us with a modest amount of luggage and a roof box if/when need. We dont have skis just boots so should be ok to bring a shop with us.

I'm based in Bedfordshire so not too far.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Boris wrote:
And, as every time this is discussed this is raised, don't forget to factor in the depreciation and running costs for your car Toofy Grin


Good point. Based on purchase cost, current sale value and miles driven... my 12 year old S-MAX has depreciated at ~20p per mile - equivalent to £282 for 1,430 mile ski trip. I suspect that is on the high side as depreciation can't just be a linear based on mileage but surely age also comes to bear...
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Roscoe, we generally drive to resort for our ski trip, and generally make a bit of a trip of it, with a late tunnel on a thursday eve, overnight somewhere around 2hrs into France (usually, st quentin).
then pootle on down to our overnight stop close to the alps, tend to stay in albertville for the 3valleys, big shop on the friday night to stock up on the essentials (beer and wine Toofy Grin ).
up early Saturday morning, leave around 7:30/8ish, to get up to resort for about 9ish for a day of skiing before access into the apartment. following Saturday, pack up, then ski again before leaving resort mid afternoon, drive to an overnight stop which is reasonably close to Calais to allow for a supermarket sweep in cite de Europe on the Sunday morning, to re-stock the wine cellar Very Happy, before crossing back to England.

you can find decent apartments en-route via booking.com, that may be more suitable for your group size, that you can also take advantage of self catering as well to save on a few quid.

have also done the overnight ferry from Portsmouth-Caen before, this saves on an accommodation on the first night, but is more expensive than the tunnel, but for us, when leaving from the south west, less driving time and fuel on the uk side can be taken into account.

as others have said, the more you can take with you in the car i.e. food, bedding and especially ski equipment, if you have your own, can save you quite a few quid compared to airline baggage charges.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Couple of notes on points already raised -

car park fees, depends where you go and what accommodation you book, some will have their own dedicated parking available built into the cost of the accommodation so not necessarily an extra cost.

Snow chains/socks/winter tyres I figure are more of an investment than a cost. If you drive once and don’t like it and will never do it again you can sell them second hand and recover some of the outlay. If you go multiple times then you don’t need to outlay the cost every time it becomes cheaper over subsequent travels.

Toll doofer well worth it and can save time plus if your passenger is asleep you don’t need to wake them or get out to pay as pay kiosk machine is uk passenger side in rhd.

Take flasks for hot drinks on the way down. If you have a stack of instant coffee or tea bags just get hot water at services saves a few pounds buying takeaway coffee etc. Always have a packed lunch for trip down saves buying expensive crap sandwiches etc.

I’m sure I’m coming across as a right tight so and so but watch the pennies and have some pounds for the real gig on the mountain I say!
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I live on the south coast so driving is a no brainer for us. Whilst flying would easily knock a good few hours off at each end, the convenience of taking all of our own gear, food and as much clothing toys etc as we wish more than makes up for it.

I either take the tunnel and then overnight in Dijon or overnight with Brittany Ferries to Ouistreham or St Malo with a cabin and evening meal on board and arrive to do the drive in one hit. My advice were you to take that trip would be to ignore the sat nav saying the Paris route is faster. It never is in practice. Head to Le Mans/Tours and cut the traffic times by 75%.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The prices we paid at Christmas are roughly

Tunnel return £300 with Tesco vouchers
Tolls return £140
Fuel - refuled twice on French Autoroute which is a lot less of a rip off than Uk motorways at €1.65 per litre and £1.45 in UK £240. This is doing 1600 miles at 45mpg
Snacks and food on route ~£100. Could take packed dairy and meat free sandwiches but TBH cannot really be bothered, but we do take a couple flasks.

So the total is roughly £680 for 3 of us. My wife and I share the driving doing 3 hours on 3 hours off.

As we do this trip 3 or 4 times a year we alreay have snow chains and our Nationwide bank account covers breakdown insurance. Given the usual 1 hour delay at the tunnel it takes about 15 - 16 hours.
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Given @Boris's question on depreciation, it made me then think about 'sustainability' of fly versus drive. Laughably, I used Copilot AI to figure this out for me.... but it reckons that with a full car, and including the Eurotunnel, it is up to a third less carbon emissions by driving than flying.

5 people fly 1,125–1,500 kg total / 225–300 kg per person
Drive + LeShuttle (31.6 mpg)~487–501 kg total / ~97–100 kg per person.

So we can all feel that bit smugger about driving down as well. Very Happy

[Feel free to argue this, admittedly, rough and ready study]
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Roscoe, for us it's more a case of building the journey in as part of the holiday. I love the French autoroutes anyway, and I love the idea of being able to self cater and take the food I want rather than rely on overpriced resort shops.
There is a cost saving of sorts - you get more for the same money - but the differences aren't massively insignificant; it's £400+ for a tunnel crossing these days at peak times, several £100 for fuel and tolls, plus I you choose to do overnight stays on the way then that adds in. But we do have a better experience, or at least I think we do (the missus and daughter do like flying when it works).

We've just returned from Austria and we had an overnight stay in Gatwick beforehand (plus the cost to get there); flights all went fine but there's a lot of wasted time at airport, waiting for transfers etc, and on the way home, it was more like 13hrs door-to-door, which is a lot of miles driven in comparison. I think for anyone who lives above the midlands (i.e. 3-4hrs from the tunnel/ferry) then I can imagine that there has to be a consideration about the overall times and distance but I do find it's about having a frame of mind that embraces driving and taking the time. Plus, I've seen more wonderous sights from behind my steering wheel than I have sat in seat C on a TUI flight
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
We've driven from Leicestershire to Val D'Isere, La Rosiere and Saint Foy quite a few times.

We usually leave the afternoon before the day we intend to be in resort on the way out and overnight about 3-4 hrs into france. Troyes and Dijon have been our normal overnight hotel stops. We then leave around 7am ish the following day and get into resort just after lunch.

On the return journey we do it in one go.

We did the journey out in one go overnight once, sharing the driving. It sounded great on paper, but we ended up arriving in resort early the following day before our accommodation was ready, and we were all too exhausted to ski, including the passengers who hadn't driven. I would advise not doing that.

Make sure you arrange snow chains/socks. Buying an emovis tag to autopay the road tolls makes the journey simpler. Tolls have normally worked out around £90 each way but as someone else has previously said, this website https://www.viamichelin.com/routes will calculate them for you. Fuel is normally around £120ish each way. Fuel economy isn't usually as good as at home because you can cruise at 80-85mph on the french autoroutes.

Make sure you pre-book parking in resort and allow for this cost in your comparison budget.

I strongly advise you don't attempt to drive on the peak feb half term week on a saturday. It took us 8 hours last year to do what normally takes 4 hours for the Dijon to Val leg of our journey, even leaving our dijon hotel at 7.00am.

Overall, i like driving compared to flying. You can take as much crap as you can fit in your car, you are largely master of your own destiny and i quite enjoy the drive. Driving in France is so much easier than driving in the UK. The journey home is harder because we do it in one go you don't have the holiday to look forward to in the same way, but as long as you share the driving, its fine. A good audio book makes the time pass much more easily.


Last edited by After all it is free Go on u know u want to! on Tue 6-01-26 16:42; edited 2 times in total
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Quote:

Good point. Based on purchase cost, current sale value and miles driven... my 12 year old S-MAX has depreciated at ~20p per mile - equivalent to £282 for 1,430 mile ski trip. I suspect that is on the high side as depreciation can't just be a linear based on mileage but surely age also comes to bear...

As a rough guide a car loses about 15-20% of its value per year and 1% per 1000 miles. So your drive to the Alps would have devalued your car by 1.4%. However, once a car get beyond a few years old condition counts for more than age.

The drive would have taken far less out of your car than repeated short drives with cold starts in the UK.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
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We drive to Tignes every December. Starting from Barnet/Neasden around 03:30, try to get the 06:20 chunnel (occasionally make the 05:50) and we're usually in resort by 19:00 CET. One hour lunch stop at the Metal Chicken, and 1 hour shopping (wine/beer/spirits) stop at the big Carrefour in Chambery. We take a 12V electric kettle to make a brew and some pastries to eat for brekkie on the Chunnel.

Ballpark costs are typically...
Chunnel - £250 ish
Petrol - 3 tanks @ £80 a tank - so another £250.
Tolls - £80 ish each way, so another £160.
Parking in resort - between £125 and £150.

So all in it's £800 ish.

As others have mentioned there are some initial setup costs - winter tyres, snow chains, etc but spread over multiple trips these are small beer. I don't do the depreciation thing - car is 13 years old, 130K miles and I paid £7k for it 5 years ago. Don't bother with a doofer either, and never been held up for the want of not having one.

Time wise it's probably 4 hours slower than a typical flying package holiday via Chambery/Geneva.
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The savings - you could buy some winter tyres the first year.
I like a road trip, but driving is just not cost effective for 2 of us. Same as renting a car in France, so tend to opt for Austria & public transport.
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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.
@Roscoe, if you're spending £3.5k on flights & transfers, I'm sure it will work out cheaper driving...but it would be possible to fly cheaper too.

I'm going with my two teenagers in a couple of weeks and our flights Stansted to Venice are £82 return inc 10kg cabin bags (I'll get my boots in there too! wink ) and we have a car for 5 days for £71. Airport parking, a bit of fuel and tolls both ways and it will be under £400 for 3 of us Cool
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 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
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We drove to Courchevel for our week away over Christmas. It was a toss up between that and a flight and possibly hiring a car, but I am quite partial to taking my own car on trips, when I can. A few people have already covered the general costs, so I won’t go into the details, though I will add just for completeness that we have a Tesla Model 3 and had no issues doing the trip in it. France has loads of Superchargers (that are open to all EVs) and loads other charging infrastructure. Costs of charging are negligible compared to the rest of the trip. Was interesting to note how much faster the SoC goes down when travelling continuously at 130kph for hours on end as opposed to the much slower average of around 55’ish mph on UK motorways! (I appreciate my car is far too small for the OP, however you never know who might be browsing these threads.)

As others have said, a toll tag is highly recommended. Makes life so much easier, especially with the new system on some motorways, which don’t have toll booths and require you to either pay online or automatically via a tag.

For me the biggest thing was losing a day to travel. We left late Friday afternoon, caught the Shuttle, stayed overnight in a hotel in Saint-Quentin, then drove all the way down to Courchevel, arriving around 8pm on Saturday (having had ample breaks and stopping at L’Eclerc for a big food shop before climbing up the mountain). The way back was similar, with around a 12 hour drive back down to the same hotel in Saint-Quentin. A flight to somewhere like Geneva and then a hire car would have been far quicker, but we’d have been far more limited on the luggage we were able to take.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
We started using F1hotels (cheapest, now just over £30 for twin room) when the boys were younger just as somewhere to sleep (had originally used P&O overnight Portsmouth-Le Havre and driven to resort Saturday, but ferry was discontinued). We worked in education so generally went Feb HT leaving late Friday afternoon for late evening shuttle. Often used F1 in Béthune (long since closed) about 50 miles south of Calais then got up about 6am, 2 or 3 hours driving, breakfast, another 3 hours, lunch then another 3 hours maybe and we'd be at the supermarket before driving up to Flaine. You hit traffic on the A40 at HT so the earlier you get there the better.

Driving is cheaper for 3 or more but have still done it with 2 of us (we have skis so save on carriage). The other big factor is that you avoid costly transfers - they add significantly to cost when flying. If using a TO, transfers are included but you're then paying per person for the holiday.

Definitely worth considering driving.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
We've done it once, from near Bath to Les Arcs. We worked out that it cost about £1k all in, including an overnight at a Hotel B&B in Auxerre either side. We are a family of four and we took the Chunnel rather than the ferry.

We opted to start later from Auxerre as Mr. O does all the driving (I'd be happy to but he's a bad passenger, by his own admission), so he wanted to sleep in and fully rest. It worked well actually as we saw via the sat nav all the jams way up ahead at Chambrey and Albertville, but they were all gone by the time we got there. We got into resort about 1730, which was fine as our accommodation wasn't available until 1700.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
A wealth of information above. My comments:

If just one driver, book overnight stops, fatigue on the huge distances is telling, especially in the dark.

I invested in winter tyres as I knew it’d drive several winters. On a FWD Golf, a game changer, at least twice effortlessly driving on not insignificant fresh snow on Alpine inclines.

Invest in quality breakdown cover. Inform your motor insurer.

If using Eurotunnel and returning on a famously peak weekend, imho pay the extra for a Flexi ticket for the return. One February Sunday this saw us sail past a vast jam of other users at Coquelles.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Helpful information thanks all. I'm looking at alternatives to flying and losing my baggage!
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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?
In addition to above, if you are driving to Austria not France then it's almost essential to have winter tyres. Not because of the driving conditions but because the laws are stricter about when they are required. if you have an accident and there is snow on the road and you are driving on summer tyres, it's almost certain you will be classed at fault.

Also if you are driving to Austria via Germany there are some significant differences, some good, like having no toll charges and for large stretches of the autobahn you can really get moving as there is still no speed restrictions on many parts of the network. The downside is the traffic is a lot busier, and more manic, especially on a Friday night when all the Munich businessmen are heading home at 200km/h+ so not so good for the nervous driver (or passenger ) !

There are also some bad places for traffic jams eg. A8 from Karlsruhe all the way to the never ending roadworks of Pforzheim, and also just about every autobahn south of Munich on a Saturday morning.

Overall it's huge fun and highly recommended though. I have driven there every year for the last 25 years or more and never even consider the plane these days.
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For anyone looking at getting new tyres, with a chance of driving to the Alps, it really makes sense to get all season tyres. They're also good on cold wet days in the UK!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
We have driven since the very late eighties, when we got fed up with charter flight delays. When there was such a thing as company cars with company fuel, and the Tunnel hadn't got so expensive, it was a no-brainer.
I remember being in a catered chalet in about 2011 with my OH, 2 kids, and one of their friends. Someone in the chalet asked us why we had driven, and when we replied that we had got 5 people to the Alps and back for about £300, they couldn't really argue with that!
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Origen wrote:
For anyone looking at getting new tyres, with a chance of driving to the Alps, it really makes sense to get all season tyres. They're also good on cold wet days in the UK!


Do they meet Swiss and Austrian legal requirements each winter? Genuine question.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
yes, I believe so, providing they have the mountain symbol. My tyres (Michelin Cross Climate) meet the requirements. France has requirements too, of course - either the right tyres or, if summer tyres, chains as well. But when it's very snowy many cars (though not usually 4WD with winter tyres) might be required to put chains on before being allowed to drive up to resorts.

Main roads are kept fairly clear but many smaller local roads will not be ploughed during the night, however much snow falls. And car parks are often difficult, with uneven and compacted icy snow on the ground, as little hilly local access roads can be.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Snow&skifan wrote:
Origen wrote:
For anyone looking at getting new tyres, with a chance of driving to the Alps, it really makes sense to get all season tyres. They're also good on cold wet days in the UK!


Do they meet Swiss and Austrian legal requirements each winter? Genuine question.


Yes, as long as they have the mountain & snowflake symbol, I have used Goodyear vectors for many years, others like the Michelin crossclimate.
In tests, compliant all seasons lose no more than 5-10% of winter performance (the best all seasons are better than the worst full winters) compared to summer tyres that lose 60%+ compared to the best winters.
The Goodyear vectors on my Citroen C5 (front) are just down to the 4mm winter wear indicators after 30k miles,
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Whilst everyone is different, I found that driving alone was less tiring than having a co driver as I can't sleep/rest in a moving car.
With a co driver, I would possibly nap a little as the co driver took over, but be feeling tired again by the time they wanted me to take over.
On my own, I would stop for a 20 minute power nap every 2-3 hours.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Thank you both for replies about type of tyre!
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