 Poster: A snowHead
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As a first time driver to the alps this season I've read through previous posts and have slight concerns about my original plan (Devon - Dijon Friday and Dijon - Meribel Saturday).
I really don't fancy the sound of gridlock from Albertville on the Staurday, we're going outside of School hols, is it really that bad. From memories of transfers in coaches as a student I don't remember there being too much of a problem.
My other option would be to leave a day earlier nad have a second overnight in Moutiers on the Friday and a quick scream up the mountain for breakfast in ther resort before getting into the chalet. We have a 2 and a 1 yr old so hotels en route may not be the easiest of experiences!
Thanks for advice
Jon
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you're going outside of the school holidays I don't think there is the need to have a second overnight stop at Moutiers. The traffic doesn't build up until later in the day, and if you start the second leg of your journey in Dijon you should already be in Meribel before the traffic gets bad. We stayed overnight near Dijon when we drove at Christmas last year; and it took us about three and a half hours to get to Les Arcs.
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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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jonathancarty, as rob@rar.org.uk, says you will be fine as long as you avoid the so called "blue" weekends which are school hols. Dijon to Meribel will be about 4 and a half hours allowing for a quick stop especially with young ones in the back.
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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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unless you are teachers you would be mad to go in Feb or other peak weeks. given the age of your children I would say 10th March should give you optimum weather, snow conditions and reduced crowds insofar as anyone can soothsay the weather ( worked well for me last year). Hope it goes well. I can't imagine travelling that far by car with such young children. I have 3 5 weeks- 5 years and not sure if I fancy it. Let us know how it goes
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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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And to avoid them all together, don't go to the Tarentaise.
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brian
brian
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Helen Beaumont, surely you've been stuck at Vizelle at least once ??
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can anyone explain the title of this thread to me???
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brian
brian
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Mouth, not me. Are we competing for the thickie baton ?
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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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brian, I think I am in the running too. I thought they'd misspelt Beaune at first.
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We drove during half term this year and rather than stopping at Dijon our normally break point we carried on to Chambery
left about 8.00am next morning and arrived in La Rosiere about 3 hrs later with no hold ups. However when we left the following Saturday at about midday the queue heading into BSM seemed to go on for ever as it was snowing and the Police were stopping all cars and making them fit chains. I think advise would be if you make an early start you should be able to get in before the rush but you could get caught out by the weather.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I would also advise that you wait until late in the day to leave. Rather than head off after breakfast, ski for the morning, and have lunch before leaving. You will still have time to reach Dijon early evening, unless your plans are different for the return journey.
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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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Thanks very much for very useful replies.
The title of the thread refers to the fact that I didn't know whether what I was asking was common knowledge or not ie "This may be a stupid (bone) question but ...."
Bone = Stupid, don't know where I picked this up from could be gerodie, could be scots, could be military!
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God my spelling's awful For gerodie read geordie.
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You know it makes sense.
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jonathancarty, look how much interest you got by posting a cryptic question! 
BTW, Welcome to snowHeads in case nobody else has offered the greeting.
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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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jonathancarty, not geordie as far as I know.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thank you Rob.
Helen I think you're right, on reflection it's probably military. Or I could have just dreamt it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I thought it might have been a bone of contention (something for us to worry at).
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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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IME if you hit Albertville/Moutiers at around 2pm or later on a Saturday you're going to be sitting on that blasted dual carriageway for some time so would second the advice to head off early from Dijon
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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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| Quote: |
And to avoid them all together, don't go to the Tarentaise.
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well, there are other hotspots, but this is a reasonable point. Does it have to be Meribel? And does it have to be Saturday (some accommodation is bookable Sunday/Sunday).
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We have a 2 and a 1 yr old so hotels en route may not be the easiest of experiences!
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Indeed. Some people have found driving through the night with two drivers and two kids fast asleep in the back works well. Trouble is, the drivers have to sleep sometime sooner or later, and we used to find this usually coincided with the kids being wide awake and bouncy, after a long restful sleep in the car!
One glaringly obvious point, but very easy to overlook, is to practice putting chains on a dry flat place with good visibility, just in case you have to do it for real in a foot of crud in a dark layby.....
A final thought; Devon to Dijon is quite a long way with young kids; what ferry crossing are you using?
There's no easy way. You're brave; I think I'd be inclined to fly.
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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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pam w, thanks for that.
We're going to a chalet in Meribel with a double room and adjoining smaller kids room so our ankle biters are not interrupted by my snoring. The adjoining room is charged at a much cheaper rate. From my research if you want children in separate rooms you mostly have to pay full price for a second room (which is fair enough if they can fill it with adults) which bumps up the price. This way the kids have their own room and I do not have to sell a kidney. Oh and the week long free bar helps.
The boys are generally very good in the car and I'm hoping the ferry crossing will break it up, we'll go Dover Calais as Plymouth-Roscoff is REDICULOUSLY expensive and Portsmouth is only 1 hr closer but a longer ferry trip.
We haven't been away since 2003 and may well be preggers again next year so determied to at least attempt it this season.
I may be posting in late January a beaten shell of a man.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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jonathancarty, After your stop in Dijon, take the A39 signed to Bourg-en-Bresse & Geneve. It cuts the Lyon corner off a bit & will definately speed up the trip on Sat am. After the A39, you take the road signed to St exupery (Lyon airport) & then on to Chambery/Albertville/Moutiers.
Good luck with that trip!
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I think bone as in stupid comes from bone head which was a term we used alot at school to describe the thickies in class.
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jonathancarty, yes, we live 10 mins from the Portsmouth ferry port but now go to Dover, despite my acute dislike for the M25, because of the prices out of Portsmouth. Roscoff wouldn't make sense for us anyway, but we have looked at Portsmouth - Le Havre with the new "cheapie" French operation which took over from P & O. We haven't done it yet because they only go overnight to Le Havre, and that lands you up circumnavigating Paris at a busy time. The best formula for combining babies and ski-ing is to rope in grandparents. We now ARE the grandparents and I can see that our kids and their offspring will have more, cheaper and easier ski holidays than we did when they were little! The clinching argument when we were dithering about whether to buy an apartment. We have the excitement of our first grand child's first attempts at skiing this coming season - last year she loved digging and plodging around in the snow. A chalet with adjoining rooms sounds a very good formula; have a great holiday, and may the snow gods be with you (ie plenty of snow the week before you get there, stopping in time for all roads to be cleared when you drive up). There are various driving routes - you'll get lots of varying advice, best look at the different offerings from the AA and from viamichelin.fr and make a final decision based on weather. There is info on road conditions on the autoroute on FM 107.7 (?), worth listening to, but all done a bit fast and obviously in French. It's repeated a lot, and I usually find that it takes at least three hearings for me to be reasonably sure I've understood. If you have the option of paying for covered parking in Meribel, do. (Maybe one way of ensuring you have a sunny blue sky week!)
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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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From memory of about a dozen car trips to Tarentaise with one lasting 2 weeks (staying in Boug St Maurice doing day trips to every resort) I would say the traffic should not be a problem between Meribel and Albertville because
(1) It is a dual carriageway up to Moutiers. Les Arcs/La Pagnes/La Rosiere/Tignes/Val D skiers have a raw deal to tackle the single cariiageway from Mountiers onward.
(2) The traffic is only bad during the changeover day. Never had any real traffic jam on any other day.
(3) You have avoided the schoold holiday.
(4) You should be arriving in the early evening. Have a nice relax meal with the kids in Ablertville's Centre de Commercial before enjoying the last 27 miles.
I only caught once in a Saturday by trying to drive from Boug to have a rest day in Chambery/Glenobles. Think the journey took 3.5 hours instead of 45 minutes and there was nothing special on the road. In the past I have visited the 3 Vallees from Chamonix and Albertville.
If you have to leave on a changeover day do it before 6am and have the breakfast in Albertville.
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jonathancarty, you're getting lots of info here with various different opinions and options - please excuse me for adding to the confusion.
For many years we drove to the alps every Easter: Nendaz, La Plagne and Val Thorens. We went with friends who live near Yeovil. Rosie was 4yr and Tom 1yr when we started.
Our preferred route was the overnight Friday ferry from Portsmouth and the down the resort in go on the Saturday.
We did try various channel tunnel variations, staying at various distances down the route, but the overnight ferry was always voted the best way. Why?
For passengers, the journey was all over in one day. I know there was the drive down to the ferry, but that was somehow not considered part of the journey, and the night in the ferry was quite an adventure for the kids.
For drivers, you get to start the French section at 0700 after a good night's sleep. To be at Calais by 0700 requires a very early start.
Previous posters have mentioned some of the downsides:
● Cost. I’ve just tried to book the Brittanny-Caen ferry for early March with 2 adults and 2 children under 5 in a 4-berth cabin. The return fare came to £428. Not good. But we found it far cheaper if you get your tickets through a Travel Operator (TO). That usually means you have to get your accommodation through the TO as well. We've used Interhome (Nendaz) and Erna Low (Belle Plagne and Val Thorens).
● Getting round Paris. This is actually not a problem. We’ve done this trip on both Saturdays and Fridays. Traffic is far less on a Saturday morning. They key to Paris is don’t try the Peripherique, but get off at Versailles and go across to the A6 on the N286/A86.
● The P&O ferry to Le Havre is no more. Le Havre is 40k closer to Paris than Caen, but Ld Lines which has replaced P&O has changed the timetable: the return from Le Havre is at 1700. To get to Le Havre from most ski resorts by 1700 makes for a very tough return journey. (The P&O ferry went at 2230 for an overnight crossing).
So that leaves the Brittany Ferries Portsmouth/Caen route (purchased via a travel company). The kids will love the ferry. You’ll avoid the overnight stop in Dijon. At 1yr and 2yr they will sleep most of the way. And you will only have one long stint in the car. Worth thinking about.
(You may ask what we do now. We take the train.)
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