Alps by Coach

Having finally had my fill of package-tour air travel a couple of weeks ago,
does anyone know if there are any operators still doing travel to the Alps
by coach? Preferably direct to the resort.....

Thanks,
SF.

Why not DIY? Plane to Zurich, train to resort? Planes are cheap, trains easy
to get...
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Me" wrote in message
...
Having finally had my fill of package-tour air travel a couple of weeks
ago,
does anyone know if there are any operators still doing travel to the Alps
by coach? Preferably direct to the resort.....

Thanks,
SF.

It's certainly an option, but I am attracted by the idea of getting rid of
the luggage in Birmingham (for eg) and getting it back in the resort. Two
young kids in tow with all their paraphanalia doesn't help...

Also, I can't afford to ski in Switzerland!

S.




"Simon Brown" wrote in message
...
Why not DIY? Plane to Zurich, train to resort? Planes are cheap, trains
easy
to get...

Me wrote:

Having finally had my fill of package-tour air travel a couple of weeks ago,
does anyone know if there are any operators still doing travel to the Alps
by coach? Preferably direct to the resort.....

Don't.

Years ago they used to have luxury coaches whose seats converted into
bunk beds. Seriously. I travelled on one. Brilliant.

The compulsory seat belt law knocked that one on the head.

Now imagine the discomfort of the worst charter flight you ever endured,
stretched out over 24 hours, no meals, an all-pervading smell of diesel,
a single toilet that's rendered unfit for human endurance after 20
minutes, a constant battle between those who want the heating turned
down and the people at the other end of the coach who are freezing and
want it turned up to roasting point, sitting motionless in a motorway
snarl-up for four hours, and the coach dropping people off at seven
other resorts before it finally gets round to yours, only to find that
it can't get through the village because of the snow and you have to
walk, with your luggage, for the last mile.

Like I said, don't. Just don't.

Book a scheduled flight instead. Hell, our flights to Toulouse, for the
Pyrenees this year, are costing us ukp100 return each, including all
taxes, with BA (and mine;s actually zero, because it's on Air Miles).

Coach travel? It's for skint Yorkshire unemployed *******s who want to
get down to the Costa Brava so they can spend their dole money on cheap
lager.


--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F CD200 ST70 YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06
BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official

The Older Gentleman wrote:
Me wrote:


Having finally had my fill of package-tour air travel a couple of weeks ago,
does anyone know if there are any operators still doing travel to the Alps
by coach? Preferably direct to the resort.....


Don't.

good advice

Tignes Express and Eurolines do coaches to the mountains if you are
still keen.

David

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 21:09:10 -0000, "Me" wrote:

Having finally had my fill of package-tour air travel a couple of weeks ago,
does anyone know if there are any operators still doing travel to the Alps
by coach? Preferably direct to the resort.....


Yes. there are quite a few.

Try www.snowcoach.co.uk for one

--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Lefties are the only ones in their right minds.

To reply by email, my address is aDOTjDOTheneyATbtinternetDOTcom

Fairy Nuff, good argument. Just think about having two kids on a coach for
that length of time - makes me shudder. But you could come to Laax and go
for a walk in the rain which is what I'll be doing in 10 minutes.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Me" wrote in message
...
It's certainly an option, but I am attracted by the idea of getting rid of
the luggage in Birmingham (for eg) and getting it back in the resort. Two
young kids in tow with all their paraphanalia doesn't help...

Also, I can't afford to ski in Switzerland!

Man.. dealing with a 15 hour bus ride is substanitally harder than dealing
with a bit of luggage!

I've gone with www.skiweekends.com before. They are good because they are
cheap. We were late booking and weren't in their usual hotel, and that made
it much worse - you got left out. You stay in Brides les Bains so you have
to catch a gondola to meribel in the morning. The coaches are pretty good..
big seats.. and they put on a movie and sell cheap drinks on board.

I can't complain too much, but its a long old drive!

"Me" wrote in message
...
It's certainly an option, but I am attracted by the idea of getting rid of
the luggage in Birmingham (for eg) and getting it back in the resort. Two
young kids in tow with all their paraphanalia doesn't help...

Also, I can't afford to ski in Switzerland!

S.




"Simon Brown" wrote in message
...
Why not DIY? Plane to Zurich, train to resort? Planes are cheap, trains
easy
to get...

But come to Switzerland at least once - it is snowing like crazy up on the
piste, at least 50cm overnight and it will keep this up for some more days
yet. Also Switzerland isn't really very expensive if you know what you are
doing. Mid-March is cheaper and there will be plenty of snow - at least
higher up.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Simon Brown" wrote in message
...
Fairy Nuff, good argument. Just think about having two kids on a coach for
that length of time - makes me shudder. But you could come to Laax and go
for a walk in the rain which is what I'll be doing in 10 minutes.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"The Older Gentleman" wrote in
message news:1g7h03j.1ctt6341vbxmacN%chateauSPAMKILL.murra ...
Me wrote:

Now imagine the discomfort of the worst charter flight you ever endured,
stretched out over 24 hours, no meals, an all-pervading smell of diesel,
a single toilet that's rendered unfit for human endurance after 20
minutes, a constant battle between those who want the heating turned
down and the people at the other end of the coach who are freezing and
want it turned up to roasting point,

In fact I have done it to Austria before, and the only problem was the
length of the journey.

sitting motionless in a motorway
snarl-up for four hours, and the coach dropping people off at seven
other resorts before it finally gets round to yours,

All of those can happen on the transfer coach from the airport, and to be
fair in my experience it seems to be a thing of the past.

only to find that
it can't get through the village because of the snow and you have to
walk, with your luggage, for the last mile.


If that is going to happen on a coach from the UK, it will also happen on a
transfer coach going to the same resort on the same day. In 17 years of
skiing I have never even heard of it happening before.

Balance all the negative arguments against being stuck in an airport with no
decent food available and nowhere except the floor to sit down, two little
kids getting bored and tired, wandering when the plane is going to arrive,
never mind when it will leave. It all happened to me two weeks ago at
Chambery, courtesy of Thomson/Titan Airlines/Chambery Airport Management who
all conspired to make our journey home as miserable as possible. Ours was
not the only flight having this problem.

Interestingly, our outward flight (which was at 9.00am!) had also run late.

S.