 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi folks;
Looking for some advice/suugestions, we're driving to Tignes just before Christmas, and I can't decide what to do, drive from Nottingham to Folkstone on the Thursday night, stay in Folkstone, then get the chunnel at about 8am and drive down to Albertville (or somewhere else about 2 hours max from Tignes) or drive to the chunnel on the Thursday night and get down to Reims, stay over and then on to somewhere near Tignes on the Friday....
so, suggestions....
What is Reims like, is it worth making a longer journey on the Thursday to have some time there, where is there that's about two hours (max) from Tignes that we should/could stay on the Friday night, what experience do other  have?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Standee, I Do the Tignes run next week, I am leaving Northampton Thursday lunch time, dropping the kids (big Kids) off at Heathrow, then down to Dover, will drive in France until approx 8 to 9pm, stay over then drive the remaining distance on the Friday. I have done it non stop before over night to beat the traffic!!!
We stayed in Troyes back in March coming back and it was a lovely place some great hotels and food on offer.
If your wanting to stay approx 2 hours from Tignes then I would suggest getting as far as Chambery, again lots of hotels but they get booked up pretty quick for the Christmas week.
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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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Standee, if starting from Nottingham, I would personally just do one stop over on the way to the Alps. I am 2.5 hours from Dover and it's touch and go whether I stop for a night, or do it in one. A lot depends on the weather - and it's sometimes difficult to know whether you are going to be very sleepy as night approaches, or alert and ready to carry on. Also would make a difference if you have two drivers, obviously.
What are your travel dates? And what accommodation? Will you be able to have access if you arrive early, or are you planning to ski from your car?
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Standee, Friends of ours oop North drive to Folkstone stay overnight early crossing and then drive down to La Plagne in the day.
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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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From Birmingham I always do it non stop. Usually overnight. Leave about 19:00 and arrive in the resort sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 the next morning. Fortunately even though we have done the journey between 20 and 30 times we have never had fog.
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i have driven over night a few times and it works very well! you can usually get into resort with enough time for a quick nap and out on the mountain lunch time the next day  we usually left from central london and got a ferry around 8/9ish
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Hi Standee, it sounds like you'll be doing a very similar journey to us just before Christmas, which will be our 4th time driving to the Alps. We live in Gloucestershire which is around 3.5 hours from the tunnel. As we've got a 4 year old in tow what seems to have worked best for us is to drive & cross by train or ferry on Thursday to get to e.g. the Etap in Coquelles, Calais (pretty much next-door to the tunnel terminal) for that night. This means you lose the hour on the Thursday and you can set off at 9am on Friday without the agro of an early start and morning crossing. We then drive through France on Friday to ideally stay on Friday night in Albertville - arriving 7pm-ish - or Chambery as a fall-back if all the hotels are full. This means that Albertville to 3-Valleys is just over an hour away, with Val d'Isere about 90 minutes and La Plagne somewhere in between. This should easily get you to resort before the incoming transfer traffic and out on the snow before lunch on the first Saturday.
After 8 days skiing, we leave resort late on the 2nd Saturday afternoon, staying around Macon that night. It's then a full day's drive on the Sunday with a 5pm-ish crossing, getting home - with breaks - between 10 and 11pm.
The shuttle is obviously faster but the ferry gives you a break and somewhere to eat, which is more of a benefit on the return journey.
For us it's meant to be a holiday so we take our time - driving on cruise at 130kph in France. Overnight driving really doesn't appeal and we live too far away from the Channel crossing points to leave home on Friday. We've seen people who've driven overnight, having left London on Friday, arriving in resort on Saturday hanging tired and they've been incapable of skiing on Saturday anyway and gained very little.
www.viamichelin.com will give you a good guide for route planning and relevant tolls.
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| jd_evans wrote: |
Hi Standee, it sounds like you'll be doing a very similar journey to us just before Christmas, which will be our 4th time driving to the Alps. We live in Gloucestershire which is around 3.5 hours from the tunnel. As we've got a 4 year old in tow what seems to have worked best for us is to drive & cross by train or ferry on Thursday to get to e.g. the Etap in Coquelles, Calais (pretty much next-door to the tunnel terminal) for that night. This means you lose the hour on the Thursday and you can set off at 9am on Friday without the agro of an early start and morning crossing. We then drive through France on Friday to ideally stay on Friday night in Albertville - arriving 7pm-ish - or Chambery as a fall-back if all the hotels are full. This means that Albertville to 3-Valleys is just over an hour away, with Val d'Isere about 90 minutes and La Plagne somewhere in between. This should easily get you to resort before the incoming transfer traffic and out on the snow before lunch on the first Saturday.
After 8 days skiing, we leave resort late on the 2nd Saturday afternoon, staying around Macon that night. It's then a full day's drive on the Sunday with a 5pm-ish crossing, getting home - with breaks - between 10 and 11pm.
The shuttle is obviously faster but the ferry gives you a break and somewhere to eat, which is more of a benefit on the return journey.
For us it's meant to be a holiday so we take our time - driving on cruise at 130kph in France. Overnight driving really doesn't appeal and we live too far away from the Channel crossing points to leave home on Friday. We've seen people who've driven overnight, having left London on Friday, arriving in resort on Saturday hanging tired and they've been incapable of skiing on Saturday anyway and gained very little.
www.viamichelin.com will give you a good guide for route planning and relevant tolls. |
Thanks, the only real concern is what the river crossing is like, I don't think we've ever not been delayed at Dartford!
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Standee, From Peterborough I normally leave straight after my daughter finishes school on Friday and catch the Eurotunnel later that evening. I normally then drive an hour in France before stopping for the night. A fairly leisurely drive on Saturday, with lunch and shopping stops, get me to L2A around 6pm. That is at Easter though. It depends when you hit Dartford. I'm normally there at busy times and lose a fair bit of time. Next year we're going down on the Wednesday before Easter which should be quieter still.
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| Quote: |
| Thanks, the only real concern is what the river crossing is like, I don't think we've ever not been delayed at Dartford! |
Sorry, can't help you with that one, the only thing I can suggest is to try to get through it off-peak if there is such a time! We've got to get around half of the M25 which isn't much fun. We try to get to the M20 before 5pm to avoid the bulk of the traffic.
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