|
By
plane
The most popular airport to fly to is Geneva, about a 2.5hr transfer away.
You can hire a car there or we can arrange taxi transfers for you - get
in touch with us for prices as these will vary depending on the size of
your group - generally it's worth it to get a taxi rather than a bus for
a group of 4 or more. Bus transfers are also available and cost around
£60 return. The closest airport, however, is actually Chambery which
is barely a 1.5hr transfer away and has direct coach transfers to Sainte
Foy. It's also possible to get here from Lyon and Grenoble airports, both
around 2.5hrs away.
Coach Transfers
from Geneva: www.alpski-bus.com
Coaches
leave Geneva on Saturdays at 1000, 1100, 1215, 1330, 1430, 1530, 1645,
1915 & 2000.
Return transfer costs €96.50
Coach Transfers
from Lyon & Chambery: www.altibus.com
Coaches leave Chambery on Saturdays at 1215, 1500, 1645, 2030. Return
transfer costs €70 per person
Times/prices from/to Lyon not available yet - altibus webmaster must be
on strike....
(Note: there are limited
direct transfers to Sainte Foy from some airports, however we can pick
up from the bus/train station in Bourg Saint Maurice, only 20mins away)
Directions
from Geneva airport
Directions from
Chambery airport
Directions from Lyon
airport
Directions
from Grenoble airport
A note on driving
from Geneva: there are shorter routes to the Tarentaise valley from
Geneva airport which are often suggested by Sat-Nav systems and internet
route calculators. These will direct you either via Beaufort and over
the Cormet de Roseland or through the Mont Blanc tunnel at Chamonix and
over the Col de Petit Saint Bernard. Both of these high-altitude passes
are very, very closed in winter! Please use the directions provided in
the link above.
By car
To drive takes
around 10hrs from Calais and it's a pretty easy cruise on the motorway
most of the way down. Our suggested route is to take the motorway all
the way to Bourg en Bresse, then travel via Annecy to Albertville. Motorway
tolls will cost somewhere around 50€ each way.
You can also stay
on the motorway all the way to Lyon then go via Chambery to Albertville.
This is significantly longer, but is on faster roads so time difference
isn't much, however you will pay an extra 20€ in motorway tolls each
way.
Click
here for directions from Calais.
By Train
The alternative
way of getting here is by train. If you live in or near London, this can
be a great way to get to the Tarentaise valley. You can take the direct
SnowTrain from Saint Pancras to Bourg Saint Maurice. This leaves London
on Friday nights and arrives in Bourg early on Saturday morning, in time
for a full day on the mountain. There are other options as well.For example,
you could get on the Eurostar on a Friday evening, change to a sleeper
train in Paris and arrive in Bourg St Maurice at 7:30 on Saturday morning.
This way, you still get an extra day's riding in. Repeat the process on
the way back and all of a sudden you've changed a weeks trip from 6 days
riding when travelling by plane to 8 days riding when taking the train!
Price varies, but generally costs around £190 return (£99
for the Eurostar and €112 for the trains between Paris and Bourg
Saint Maurice), almost certainly cheaper than a flight + board/ski bag
charges + airport transfer. Some people even choose to break their journey
and spent a night or a day in Paris en route.
Oddly, train prices
seem to vary depending on how you book them. The SnowTrain should be booked
at www.eurostar.com.
If you want to do the two-leg journey, book the two parts separately.
Book the London-Paris train at the Eurostar site, then book the Paris
to Bourg Saint Maurice train at www.sncf.com.
This generally works out significantly cheaper than booking the whole
thing via a site such as RailEurope. If you need any help with train bookings,
just ask and we can arrange it for you.
|