 Poster: A snowHead
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New on here, hoping for some useful tips..... And hope I'm posting this in the right place!
Heading to La Plagne in February half term (16-23 Feb, also start of French school holidays, but hey, what can you do?) with our two kids, age 5 and 7, first time for a week-long ski holiday and such a long drive. We plan to take the channel tunnel, and some friends who occasionally drive to Germany to visit family there have suggested that rather than drive through France we could head through Brussels, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and to the resort that way. Any opinions based on experience of doing it that way, and which roads would you take exactly? Idea being to fill up with cheap fuel in Luxembourg, avoid French motorway tolls and be able to put your foot down on the German autobahn. But not if it will really increase the time travelling, as with kids that would not be good.
The other thing is that we need to arrive in resort (Montchavin) on Saturday 16th, but the French apartment rental agency has said to avoid driving the stretch of road from Albertville between 10am and 5pm on that day, as what should normally be an hour's journey ends up being 3-4 hours stuck in a traffic jam. So we will set off from England (we live in Surrey so not too far to drive on this side of the channel) on Friday, and plan an overnight stop, but we are debating over two options:
Option 1: set off really early from home on Friday, and aim to drive practically all the way down to the Alps, have a brief overnight stop somewhere between Chambery/Albertville, and thus aiming to clear the final Albertville-Montchavin stretch of road before 10am on the Saturday morning. (We can't check in to our accommodation till 4pm, but at least we could sledge and hang out, and pick up our skis in the afternoon when it's still hopefully fairly quiet, before we start skiing on Sunday.)
Option 2: Only aim to drive half way to our final destination on the Friday, and the rest of the journey on Saturday (but is this a bad idea with all the French also heading to the slopes? if we don't go via Germany, that is), but not hitting the final stretch till the late afternoon on Saturday and thus hopefully avoiding those mountain traffic jams..... (But then we'll be getting into resort late, and will have to pick up skis with the rest of the world on the Sunday morning, aaaaargh when you have kids to kit out too!)
Really not sure how to plan the journey. Would be so grateful if anyone has any tips from experience. Need to get on with booking the channel tunnel crossing for the right time of day on the Friday, plus overnight hotel for the right town/country based on how we decide to tackle the drive......
Cheers everyone who has taken the time to read, even if you can't offer any advice.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Have never done that drive but I think a) sounds more attractive. Do you have DVDpkayers for kids?
.The only obsevation I have is that you are going to be shattered on sat so a day hanging around in resort mihht be quite nice!
Have fun 
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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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Option 1 I mean, duh. You could use the viamichelin route planner to work out which route is longer, and by how much.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We do this journey frequently and to be honest the easiest way is to drive overnight. Load the children in the car car about 19:00 (Probably about 22:00 if you are leaving from close to the channel)on the Friday and they will wake up somewhere around Albertville the next morning. You will then arrive in the resort first thing Saturday morning. I fail to see the point of stopping overnight.
We came back from Les Arcs last Friday and it was a 9:30 hours drive from Les Arcs to Calais.
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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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DVD player and two sets of headphones. If the player has only one headphone socket, you can get a 'splitter' - an adaptor to allow two sets.
Some spoken book CDs
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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We've been driving overnight with the kids since they were 2 & 4 twice a year. They are currently 5 & 7. As johnE says basically. Ours normal have a bit of a sleep on the way to the tunnel but then are awake until half an hour the other side and then sleep again until it gets light. We've never had much apart from a couple of small toys, a couple of books and some pens and paper to distract them.
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RE: night droving - unless your are used driving through the night on unfamilar motorways in bad weather, I'd veto that idea. Go the direct route - not all autobahn is de-restricted, and that which is is QUICK. Unless your breaking 100 MPH things will be behind you very quickly with the "get out of the way" indicator flashing. I can live with this, but it terrifies some people.
I wouldn't set off really early from home either (unles your used to this). 4am starts = shattered by lunch time, leave at a reasonable time and stop every 3 hours for a stretch. Use via michelin to figure out how close to La Plagne you can get and book a room, chose a hotel WITH a 24 hour reception and PLENTY of parking.
DVD players? Meh. I used to let the kids switch them on once it was too dark to look out the windows, prior to that colouring books and puzzles, along with a large immovable object between the kids! Twingo/Mini/Beetle spotting, spotting cars with GB' stickers or skis is a good form of junior brainwashing
Don't forget even if you spend ages travelling Saturday morning it will be pretty, scenic, snowy and exciting view for the kids out the windows - I used clean the glass first thing so they had a great view and let them sod about first thing for 20 minutes in the snow.
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Oh and try your snow chains before you go, you have got them??? (if only to placate le Fuzz when those nice snow chain signs are displayed).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Done this journey many times.
Option 1....... But book the hotel ..... It will be very busy.
I'd suggest somewhere between Lyon and Albertville, which gives you a shortish drive the next day, but leave early and check the weather forecast, just in case chains are necessary.
If you get to Aime at a reasonable time you could even stop for supplies and a bite to eat at the supermarket... But don,t leave it too late to get up the mountain. Also get to the ski hire shop early..... There's nothing worse than having to queue hours after a long journey with young kids.
Good luck
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I wouldn't drive the through Brussels, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland btw. The motorways in Belgium are awful, you need a Vignette for Switzerland, and the deviation won't save you time overall. Remember, you will still have to do the last stretch into the resort which for a large part of the Saturday will be awful.
Driving overnight on the French motorways is a doddle IMO with two drivers. The motorway itself is well maintained and even at half term the traffic will be fairly light. Yes, there are tolls but they do the job so well. You will save on fuel consumption if you don't bomb it, which isn't necessary.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We did it for years with the kids, from when the first two were 14 months and 3. Before the caravan we drove straight through the night getting into the mountains early, but my husband was happy to do the drive (he did it again just before Xmas with our 3 now grown up sons willing to drive but hubby enjoyed it so much he did most of the night bit)
The boys, and I used to sleep most of the journey so that I would be alert to look after them the next day. Once we had the caravan we would park up in an aire in the early hours just before the mountains for about a 5 hour sleep then still aim to be in the Alps early. I have friends who have used Formula Ones for a similar stopover but I`d guess they`d be very busy (as will all overnight stopovers) that week. It was rarely a problem transferring sleepy children from car to caravan because all was familiar they may have woken up properly if we had been checking in somewhere and not wanted to go back to sleep!
Our boys were used to the long journeys but doing large chunks of a journey when they are asleep makes everything much simpler, you do need to feel confident about driving through the night though.
The quickest, most direct route, was always the best choice when we had only a week. One Easter we had 10 days and experimented with a longer sight seeing route. Not popular with the little ones!
We also learnt to ensure all electronic games/screens etc were turned off and put away before we were on twisty alpine roads, to avoid them being sick!
Have a good trip.
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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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One more vote for the direct route through france. Have driven through night. Stayed in moutier overnight as well as other stops .Small children do sleep Stopping at a formula 1 did not work that well as I tend not to sleep well in places like that.There can be hold ups at tolls as well, so I would try to get close the night before BOOK accomodation NOW! as it will be busy.Lift passes.ski hire and shopping can all be done on sat so you are ready for a good start on sunday or even half day sat.
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+1
We've driven to La Plagne 4 times for halfterm (plus other french resorts). Every time we've left on Friday afternoon (be prepared for delays/queues at the Eurotunnel on Friday night). Pull over at the first services in France, and those that aren't driving can snuggle down for the night. If you're at Calais by midnight, then La Plagne by 9am is easily achievable.
Route:
Reims - Troyes - Dijon. Then either
a) down to Lyon, across to Chambery, Albertville, Moutiers and then La Plagne (advantage being as much motorway as possible)
b) Bourg-en-bresse, Annecy, Albertville, Moutiers and then La Plagne (advantage being that if the motorway at Chambery is slow, then you avoid the queue).
Night Driving Tip:
Don't play the radio. Music will put you to sleep but keep the kids awake! Get an Audio book or similar spoken word to engage you enough to keep you alert, but not distracted from the drive (I have listened to the complete Harry Potter and Breaking Dawn series over the years, but recently am converted to audio recordings of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue).
If you feel in the least bit tired, stop and snooze for 30 minutes (you'll end up at your destination sooner by being alert, rather than trying to drive while drowsy)
Redbull and Coffee can help (especially if you intend skiing on the Saturday that you arrive).
If your front seat passenger is going to sleep, then you'll need to jump out the car and run around to pay the toll-charges
Turn off the interior lights, so that when you open your door (for petrol/tolls) it doesn't wake everyone up.
Aim to keep your speed around 70mph. The tollroads will be so empty that your speed will creep up anyway.
There will be hundreds of brits on the road that night. You'll reach Reims/Troyes after about 3 hours. At this point the number of Brit cars will lessen, but some of those that remain will be very tired. Give them a wide berth when overtaking, because I've seen many vehicles "drift" towards passing headlights.
When to arrive:
The best way that we ended up doing this was to aim to arrive at La Plagne at around 8am... because it inevitably meant that we'd actually get to the village at around 9am. Ask here on SnowHeads if there is a restaurant that will be open for breakfast at that time (there will be), and sit down in the resort for a loverly meal before you get your skis&passes. You'll be refreshed and ready to ski at 11am on the quietest day of the whole week.
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You know it makes sense.
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Get talking books!!! Films are not long enough, our kids listened to harry potter for two days and never spoke!!!
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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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We've done it a couple of times, definately dvd's and iPods, each with own earphones! We bought a load of old DVDs they'd never seen before, old comedy's, kept them amused for hours 
We only drove by day, and got as far as we could then stayed over night with a short drive to resort Saturday morning, it really isn't that bad, ours were so excited and happy outbound we didn't hear a squeak from them, home bound we left resort after breakfast and drove all the way home, children slept most of the way. Definately book the hotel though, prices were very good as far as I recall.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Very thoughtful towards your passengers jamescollings! This passenger always had to wake up for tolls and our children had to sleep through petrol stops etc with lights noise and whatever!
We prefer the Annecy route, it has been quicker than whenever we tried the Chambery way, and was not too slow the Saturday before Xmas when for various unavoidable reasons my lot were actually driving it mid morning.
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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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We always drive to France with the kids, aged 4 & 6. Always drive through the night, leaving UK around 5pm and arriving in resort sometime between 7-9am the following morning. Skis normally on by lunchtime!
Kids sleep once out of the tunnel until it gets light, which is normally around Chambery.
If you need any ski gear there is a reasonably priced Decathlon store adjacent to the motorway in Albertville.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Get a doofer for the tolls. There are threads on here about it. Saves waking passengers, opening windows, etc.
I wear headphones for music. Missus doesn't like it because she thinks it's dangerous. I can still hear loud noises and see flashing lights etc. There ain't a lot going on a French motorway at 4 in the morning. And helps me stay alert.
Agree on the Red Bull or cheap Lidl equivalent in our case. It's the only time I drink the stuff.
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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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we ve always done it too since the kids were 4 months at the youngest.
tried all manner of options......the thru the night is ok when they are 0-3 perhaps but beyond I think its tough on them and the driver/passengers....................unless you can get into your accom immediately for a bit of shut eye otherwise you are much a walking zombie for that day. If you can get in straight away.....a 2-3pm leave from the south east gets you there for about 3am.....then you can sleep and make the most of the following day.
With out immediate access to accomodation I Much prefer now to break the journey..........and this has varied between an overnight in Arras or Chambery Nord......this year in middle of those two at Dijon.
Seat back screens, Ipad, Nintendo DS etc etc........all keep the kids entertained.
Personally I wouldn t go any other way than drive.............especially as we self cater and allows us to bring some home comforts that airline baggage restrictions will not permit.
Hotel at Chambery Nord - Best Western I find is very good......bang on the motorway and right next to a shopping centre with Mcd's KFC, Buffalo Grill and a couple fo bistro type places.......the Carrefour petrol station there is amongst the cheapest i ve seen, so fill up espc on the home
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Covered most of it, can only add our experiences. Again have been doing this trips for 10 years now, take route through France and aim for overnight stop just North of Lyon. An early start means we are in resort mid morning.
DVDs - can work OR they can make car sick children even sicker, be warned
Driving through night - if you can do it fine, I can't and kids are now of an age they wouldn't sleep well either.
Snacks & drinks - in our experience worth planning a picnic as trying to find something kids will eat/like can be tricky or impossible is garages rammed
Stop early 11am for lunch - French travellers will stop 12-2 so you can get some quieter roads
Audio CDs - Harry Potter audio CDs saved my life
Screenwash - top up full strength and keep a squirty bottle for emergencies
Loos - keep toilet paper in car! Particularly if using the smaller Aires, we still have a potty in the car for daughter (and once Mrs B!!!!) who couldn't/wouldn't use hole in ground options
Wet wipes and hand gel - for every occassion!
Plastic bags (no holes) - just in case anyone is about to hurl
I should add at this point that I flippin love the drive there and back, but these are some points we ahve learnt
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Yes all that - either drive overnight if you are used to that, I find it a killer though, or stay over about /after Albertville, and book a room in advance. There are Ibis and Formule 1 all over if you want cheap. Share the driving if you can. 2 hours on and 2 hours off. Stretch legs/buy fuel/loo when you change drivers. The road from Albertville is horrendous at half term, and indeed was at Christmas! Sorry! We just pop a credit card in the toll machines.
Definitely take a picnic unless your family are omnivorous and don't mind mayonnaise/green bits/yucky stuff in their sandwiches. Not too many greasy things. Chocolate is a nuisance, it gets on everything however careful you are. Hula hoops roll away. Little bags of crackers, fruit etc go down well (you have to accept that the car will be a tip afterwards) and bottles of water for all with sports tops. Take a rubbish bag or 2 in the car for that apple core/banana skin; tissues and wipes. Thermos of coffee. Sick bags, a must. Freezer bags on a roll are really useful for all sorts of things. Our kids always liked a cushion or pillow to put between them and the (cold) car window and a small blanket.
Worth knowing is that you can pay for your channel tunnel crossing with Tesco vouchers (book ahead) Also at the Tunnel where you park up to wait to load the train there is a great 24/7 van which does bacon rolls and coffee etc at decent cost - quicker than the terminal which is the slowest fast food place I have ever been to!
If your kids are prone to car sickness give them a Joy Ride at the outset. No messing about waiting and seeing. After they have been sick is horrible for everyone.
Oh and on the way back, if it's too early for breakfast, don't force anyone to eat...if they do they may be sick on the winding mountain road (it's much more sickmaking on the way down) - just take a picnic for later on. This applies to adults as well.
If you get back to Calais in time (takes us 9+ hours from Les Arcs) the shops at Cite D'Europe are nice, or in Calais town there are plenty of restaurants. However not much open on a Sunday.
Extra strong screen wash please and take some extra for top ups, do use the dip dab washers at petrol stations and put in higher rated/stronger antifreeze before you go as well. If your car is diesel do refuel near the mountains with the posh diesel, it is less likely to wax over in the cold. This happened to us (once only) when it was -20 overnight. Also practice with your chains and take a torch.
Finally one thing to put in your pocket (not in your bag in the boot) is your sunglasses. Yes really! We have often needed them on the way there or back at all times of the year.
Have a great trip. 
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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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Enjoy the journey as it will be less stressful than half term in La Plagne 
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Over the years we've done it virtually every way but the routine now is leaving Friday afternoon and cross the channel (tunnel) around 19.30. There will be delays on Friday 15th Feb for sure. Then we do 3-4 hours on the French side to Reims or Troyes and overnight. Next day two 2.5hr stints split at Besancon and we are there.
We've done the Luxemburg route and whilst there is some money saving the roads are less good and its significantly further (to Chatel - even worse for La Plagne) and some of the German motorway is quite slow around that area. To be avoided in my view.
We usually select the cheapest "budget" hotel that is in the area we want to stop (they are all basically the same with double bed and single bunk above). Make sure it has ensuite (F1doesn't) as kids are sure to want the loo in the middle of the night. With kids your age you can even get away with one room although its not allowed officially. Dad who's tired and has to drive next day (excuse the gender stereotypes but in my experience that's often the way it works) gets the bunk and the kids and mum the double. When ours got a bit older we started using Novotel which has decent family rooms and an edible breakfast though it is a bit more expensive.
I echo most of the comments above especially screenwash and plenty of supplies.
If travelling for half term t is worth checking which bits of France are on holiday in planning your trip. This year it will be only one zone not including Paris (which is good) Zone B includes Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Besançon, Dijon, Lille, Limoges, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Poitiers, Reims, Rouen, Strasbourg. This will probably mean lots of traffic from the North (Amiens, Lille, Reims Rouen) joining those from Dijon and heading to the Alps on Saturday morning so it will be busy. Worth getting ahead of that lot on Friday if you can.
Whilst fly/hire car works well on my lads trips there is no really attractive alternative to driving if you are in the South of England and have small kids.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Another vote for audiobooks for the children, and yourself! I used to love them as a kid and for the long long car journeys to the South of France. I still listen to lots of audio books but they are great on a long drive, as someone else said keep you alert and interested enough to keep awake but not too engaging. Huge selection on iTunes to put on your phone/ipod which is easier than mucking about with CDs if your car has an aux in. They aren't cheap but most are good for a repeat listen.
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Just done this for new year, and ran the exact same route last Feb half term to Les Arcs.
We get an earlyish ferry or tunnel on the Friday (tunnel is quicker but always seems to have hold-ups on busy Fridays), then drive down to Troyes to stop for the night (Premiere Classe or similar). Rest of the journey on the Saturday, arrive some time between mid-afternoon and early evening depending on traffic. Coming home stop at Reims so bit more of the tavelling is done on the Saturday.
Advantages:
Very little night driving, French motorways are unlit and driving all night in the dark with little ones is not great.
Motorways are fine on the Friday there, Sunday back
Should arrive in resort in daylight.
Can take all your equipment / food with you
Disadvantages:
It's a long way, no getting away from it.
You will get stuck in traffic on the Saturdays, accept it and expect it and you'll be fine.
PS recommend you get a motorway payment tag, APPR (use Google to translate) is the cheapest.
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You know it makes sense.
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PS recommend you get a motorway payment tag, APPR
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Or saneftolling.co.uk where it is all in English and is linked to UK bank account
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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A statement of the obvious but make sure snow boots, an old pair of flexible gloves, old mat/coat to kneel on or keep you dry whilst putting on chains/changing a wheel/mopping up a sick child, (blanket or huge towel to wrap completely stripped said child up in) torch, chains etc are easy to get at right from the start of your journey. We did once have to put snow chains on on the autoroute out of Calais and we have had to deal with vomit in a snow storm! Fortunately the majority of journeys are trouble free.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Shimmy Alcott, nice to see you out of the Apres Zone  We use the I Spy books, you can get one for 'on a car journey in France' aswell as motorway journey, every vehicle on the road, car badges etc. Very good indeed for a couple of £ a throw.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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I'm sure there are a million posts regarding the motorway payment tags but APPR really are cheaper, especially if you have a credit card with good exchange rates.
However you get one, they really are a Godsend if travelling on peak dates, and I imagine would be invaluable if travelling overnight in a RHD car so as not to wake up the passenger.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I love the comments and what other people find about the journey. Personally, I find driving at night much easier than during the day; there is barely any traffic and you can sit for hours with the cruise control on 130 listening to talking books. I have now discovered audible.com and download them on to my mobile phone and as kat.ryb, says push them through the aux in port. My wife, however doesn't like them and prefers absolute silence as she drives. 17 hours of John Grisham got me to and from Les Arcs over New Year.
Ever since he was a baby my son always slept all the way. He still does and he is now 19.
The tunnel is notionally faster than ferries, but never seems to run reliably. Coming back this year we arrived on time and were given our allocated crossing only to be prevented boarding at the last minute and told to wait an hour for the next crossing. I think the longest delay was for 4 hours.
A cheep head torch (tesco's has some good ones) is much easier to use than a tooth held one.
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vickitav, cheaper how? I thought toll charges were same regardless? Accept management costs etc could be lowest
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Thank you so much everyone! All these tips are soooooo useful! Not sure I would be much use night-time driving on unlit motorways, so it'll be up to hubby to decide whether he can face it. Though having read everyone's comments, quite probably we'll do the drive down on Friday, book an overnighter and aim to get up to resort on Saturday morning. We don't ski till Sunday but we're taking sledges so we'll be able to have some fun on Saturday afternoon before we check in to our apartment. We've skied with the kids for 3 years now, but we were living in Barcelona at the time and it was an easy 2.5-3 hour drive up to the Pyrenees for a long weekend, but yeah, can't quite imagine going skiing by plane with all the paraphernalia we have to take - and we don't even have our own boots and skis! Really excited to be going for a full week this time, haven't done that for 9 years. Sounds like I need to get on with booking things Cheers again.
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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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Never have I been more thrilled to arrive at a Novotel and go straight to the bar
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| The tunnel is notionally faster than ferries, but never seems to run reliably. |
Apart from one horrendous experience I don't think I've ever had a delay and have often ended up boarding an earlier than booked train. I have to admit though I've never been at half term.
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FAQ
A couple of years ago we had done option 1 and our friends had chosen to overnight in Beaune. A four hour drive the next day took them eight 
