Quickest route Geneva airport to Val D'Isere

BrritSki wrote:

Steve Haigh wrote:

If you're hiring a car, get it from the Swiss side, not the French. It'll
save you untold hassle, believe me. Geneva airport is off any plans I have
that do not involve Switzerland! LOL

Well, you can do this and it may save you some hassle but it also costs
more (e.g. it was about £40 more for a 3 day hire on the Swiss side for
the same class of car with Avis). Not sure if there is a difference in
the deal though - maybe the Swiss give you snow chains??? Worth
checking. Swiss cars will come with a Swiss motorway vignette, the
French hire cars won't unless a previous user has had to buy one.


I didn't think there was much difference in the Hertz prices either way,
but I think I only checked once. I also recall that the Hertz car we
hired from French side in Geneva DID have a Swiss vignette.
Can't speak for Hertz, we hired from Avis, definitely no vignette - I
didn't spot it, the friendly Swiss Police pointed it out to me...

Prices are (or at least they were last week) cheaper in France than
Switzerland, but as I say this might not be like-for-like comparison -
the class of car was the same, the level of service might not be:-)

cheers all,

You've now scared me! It was £30 cheaper to hire on the French side, so
I'll have to try and blag the same price to hire from the Swiss side as I
don't want to be hassled as I want to get to Val quickly to get some new
boots fitted!

regards,

greg

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...
Schneck wrote:
True, but you can check-in to some international flights from the French
side (I have done so for Easyjet to London), you then walk through to
Switzerland and board from the main terminal. It is signposted going
from the French side to the Swiss side, and the whole check in area is
so small you can't get lost (well, clearly you can, but I didn't and I'm
not particularly skilled in navigation of airports)

There were no signs from the French side to the Swiss side. I know... I
asked every poor bugger that was there, including the people on the Europcar
desk that just took the hire car keys back off me.

I only ask cos last year I made the mistake of going to the French side
on
the way out. Took us 45 minutes to find the French side with absolutely
bugger all help from the authorities.
You found it by mistake but it took you 45 minutes?? Do you mean you
went to the Swiss side and took 45 minutes to find the French side? I
could understand that, it is not obvious.

No, we found Ferney-Voltaire by mistake. Road works at the time diverted us
towards a border crossing. Did a quick U-turn in front of a machine gun
toting Swiss border guard. The hire car was French would have cost us 120
Euro more had we gone across the border.

Yep, navigating back to the French side is not obvious, but when you get
close to the airport from the Swiss side there are road signs to the
"Cote Francaise". If I managed it it can't be that hard:-) It is
probably best to head for the town which is by the border (sorry can't
remember the name) and then head for the airport, ignoring all signs to
the airport.

We were on the French side trying to get to the Swiss side. There were no
signs at all showing the way.

As I said above, getting to the Swiss side once we had checked in was
very easy - are you sure you couldn't have checked your luggage at a
desk on the French side?

Tried that. We were flying with Britannia and the French side bods told us
we had to check in at Britannia's desks... on the Swiss side!

Well, you can do this and it may save you some hassle but it also costs
more (e.g. it was about £40 more for a 3 day hire on the Swiss side for
the same class of car with Avis). Not sure if there is a difference in
the deal though - maybe the Swiss give you snow chains??? Worth
checking. Swiss cars will come with a Swiss motorway vignette, the
French hire cars won't unless a previous user has had to buy one.

I think the Swiss included ski packs with their cars as standard. I looked
into it last time but mistakenly thought getting a French one would be
easier. How little did I know!! LOL!! The vignette was reason for a Bonnie &
Clyde U-turn from the Swiss law! LOL!

Getting way back to the original question, go via Annecy! There was a
long thread on this last year, worth searching Google.

Went through Annecy... nice place. Wish we could have stopped to have a look
round. Forgot about that... hmm...

Schneck wrote:


Well, you can do this and it may save you some hassle but it also costs
more (e.g. it was about £40 more for a 3 day hire on the Swiss side for
the same class of car with Avis). Not sure if there is a difference in
the deal though - maybe the Swiss give you snow chains??? Worth
checking. Swiss cars will come with a Swiss motorway vignette, the
French hire cars won't unless a previous user has had to buy one.


I think the Swiss included ski packs with their cars as standard. I looked
into it last time but mistakenly thought getting a French one would be
easier. How little did I know!! LOL!! The vignette was reason for a Bonnie &
Clyde U-turn from the Swiss law! LOL!

I think you're right about the ski pack, in which case the cost on both
sides would be roughly the same when all things are considered. The
Swiss side desk is also open longer hours (for Avis anyway), which is
pretty important if you're on an evening flight from Heathrow on a
Friday, I don't think these ever run less than 30 minutes late:-)

Tried that. We were flying with Britannia and the French side bods told us
we had to check in at Britannia's desks... on the Swiss side!

Now it makes sense! Britannia only operates charter flights in Geneva, from
the charter terminal, which *does not* have an entrance/exit on the French
side. On the French side you can only check-in with airlines that have a
check-in desk there, this means only airlines that also fly to France -
includes easyJet and Swiss, but *not* e.g. BA.

Even if you were allowed to walk through from the French side to the Swiss
side with a Britannia ticket (I'm not sure if you are), you'd still be a
long way from the charter terminal - 5-10 minutes walk outdoors, on a narrow
pavement along the main airport access road...

The French side of the airport was conceived in the 70s when the runway
extension required an exchange of land between Switzerland and France. One
condition of the deal was that *for flights to/from France* it would not be
necessary to cross into Switzerland to check-in or to collect baggage. The
fact that you can access other flights from the French side is a sort of
concession and certainly not something for which the airport was designed.

Try to explain to the UK customs that you are going through the blue channel
because you boarded your flight from the French side of Geneva airport!

"Marco Cattaneo" wrote in message
...


Tried that. We were flying with Britannia and the French side bods told
us
we had to check in at Britannia's desks... on the Swiss side!

Now it makes sense!

I wish it did at the time! LOL!

Even if you were allowed to walk through from the French side to the Swiss
side with a Britannia ticket (I'm not sure if you are)

Oh we could... don't ask me for a map though! LOL!

you'd still be a long way from the charter terminal - 5-10 minutes walk
outdoors, on a narrow
pavement along the main airport access road...

Round the front of the airport on the Swiss side. All the cars had Swiss
plates, anyway. But yes, it was the charter terminal. After checking in, we
boarded a bus for a short drive to the departure lounge... where we promptly
walked past the shops we'd seen 30 mins earlier when we scared everyone
senseless with our backpacks, skis and bootbags!! LOL!! Swiss police??? Pah!

Try to explain to the UK customs that you are going through the blue
channel
because you boarded your flight from the French side of Geneva airport!

I don't remember seeing UK Customs. I didn't see my bootbag for another
couple of days, either! LOL!! It boarded the Manchester flight. When they
closed check in for our flight to Brum, they were setting the desk up for a
later flight to Manchester. My boots took a nice little detour to place that
is special to all us from Merseyside!! LOL!!

Marco Cattaneo wrote:

The French side of the airport was conceived in the 70s when the
runway extension required an exchange of land between Switzerland and
France. One condition of the deal was that *for flights to/from
France* it would not be necessary to cross into Switzerland to
check-in or to collect baggage. The fact that you can access other
flights from the French side is a sort of concession and certainly not
something for which the airport was designed.


It also works for the tourists that don't have a visa for Switzerland, but
for whom it's the most convenient airport anyway... Last season I drove
quite a couple Russians to and from the "secteur France"...

Ace wrote:

Once you get to Annecy, go straight through the middle. If you follow
signs (e.g. to Albertville) it'll take you miles round the outside and
dump you in a wilderness with no further signing. You _will_ get lost.


there's just one small roundabout that is confusing, because you'd be
following the mains route by default, but you have to turn around the
roundabout twice to notice the "Albertville" sign.
But the best way is straight through Annecy (Annecy -centre, turn left at
the second traffic light on the long boulevard, then "le lac" and you are
golden.
On the way back, turn right towards "centre ville" on the first roundabout
-don't follow the "Geneva" direction yet. drive along the lake for a half a
mile, turn left at the 2nd or 3rd traffic light towards "prefecture", a
little before the road turns right, then you're straight on your way back
to Geneva.

Ace wrote:
wrote:
Greg Hilton" wrote in message

Can anyone recommend the quickest route from Geneva airport to Val
D'Isere?

The general route suggested by Bruce is good, but I would avoid the centre
of Annecy, particularly on a Saturday or in the evening rush hour (BTW
Bruce, the one way system in Annecy has changed a lot recently, it's no
longer too obvious how to go straight through the centre if you just follow
your nose).


I'm with Ace and Marco on the Annecy route. Although on a first
occasion I do not think it would matter.

I have never managed to lose my way in Annecy, although this must be
sheer luck.


"Never Despair - Winston S. Churchill 1945 - 1965" Gilbert., Martin.
Heinnmann, 0434 29182 X , Page 633:


Churchill intended to take the train from Annecy to Venice. 'I told
him that as the train did not stop at Annecy we would have to drive to
Geneva.' Miss Portal later recalled. 'Kindly remember I am Winston
Churchill,' he replied. 'Tell the station master to stop the train.'
The train was duly stopped.

funkraum wrote in message I'm with Ace and Marco on the Annecy route. Although on a first
occasion I do not think it would matter.

I have never managed to lose my way in Annecy, although this must be
sheer luck.


A "Me too" posting.

Two years ago we travelled from Geneva to Tignes via Annecy (very
pretty), Albertville and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. We had no major problems
despite having a Mark Thatcher like sense of direction, apart from
escaping Geneva without paying the Swiss Motorway tax.

Got the route of michelin-travel.com