French or Swiss side or Geneva for car hire?

I know this has been asked many times before but I cant remember the answer!
I am going to meribel in three weeks for 4 days and as there is only 2 or possibly 3 of us going so car hire is far cheaper than a transfer. What side is easier to drive from can anyone tell me?
Thanks.

Hi,

It's about the same to be honest , if you hire a car from the Swiss side the car will come with winter tyres and probably a set of chains if you ask, also the car will have the " Vignette" sticker for using the Swiss motorway, hiring a car from the French side the car will not have snow tyres , or the " Vignette " ( this is not actually needed if you hire from the French side if you enter Geneva via the A411 and access the airport from the road which hugs the lake ), as snow chains are a legal requirement in France these must be hire at extra cost from the French side.

For car hire I always use Autoeurope which I have found the best on prices , and always hire from the French side.

www.auto-europe.co.uk / 0800 169 9797 .

jon.

Hi again,

Forgot to mention if hiring from the French side, to avoid the swiss motorway charge ( around 35 euros I think ) driving back once you are north of Annecy on the A41 you will come to a large Peage Toll, take the lane marked A410-Annemmasse , and not the one marked geneva, this will then put you on the A410 , then once on here follow the signs for Geneva-A41 then A40.

After a while and nearing Geneva you will see an industrial estate on the right and a large silver building with the name SAMU in large red letters ( once you see this you know you are heading in the right direction ), continue on , again after a while you will see a sign marked " Telipherique du Saleve " ( this is the cable car which spans the motorway taking people to the lookout observation overlooking Geneva.

Once this has been seen, again after a while you will see signs for Geneva/Valliard A40/A411, on the right after a short while there will be more buildings and a flyover, as the road passes under this flyover/bridge you will see a lane posted on the right A411....take this exit lane.

The A411 exit off the A40 into Geneva will then put you onto the back road into Geneva avoiding the Swiss motorway and the Vignette charge, stay on this road going through the French/Swiss border check, over the next cross roads and on past the football pitch which is on the right. Once past the footy pitch the road starts heading up hill and round to the right a little, you will then see a high brick wall and an orange bus lane, move into the bus lane and at the next junction take the right into the Rte du Vallon, drive to the end. At the end turn right , this will put you on the main road back into Geneva centre via the bottom end of the lake.

Once near the lake take the right hand lane oacross the bridge and round to the right , this then takes you up the side of the lake , folow this onto the next cross road and go straight over ( this then becomes the Rte du France and takes you past the United Nations headquarters , carry on going straight over all the cross roads and junctions following the signs for Ferney and airport.

After a short while you will start to head round to the right and down the hill to a small round about which is built from red and white bollards, take the first exit for down to the cross road and again go straight over and through the tunnel ( this is the tunnel which goes under the airport runway ) on exiting the tunnel go through the Swiss/french border check and just ahead on the right is a petrol station for refueling your car , from the petrol station exit right and you come to a round about after say 50 yards, go round the round about heading back towards the border check , but just before the border check you will see the entrance for getting back to the French side Airport car hire parking, just follow this road which then takes you straight to the under ground parking from where you picked the car up from.

I hope this helps in some way , and all the best for your trip.

jon.

swiss side for me everytime... Easy in and out of the airport. only negative is a 4 minute shuttle to/from parking.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Next time I will try the Swiss side for a change and see what it's like, must admit the main reason I have used the French side for so long is that's the first method I used and have just stuck with it.

A change is a good as a rest I suppose :D , mind you I'm also tempted to try the Eurostar to BsM for a change this season also.

jon.

peter maguire wrote:swiss side for me everytime... Easy in and out of the airport. only negative is a 4 minute shuttle to/from parking.

Peter

Agree totally here. I did the French side once and it was HELL!! 2 hours to wait for a car!! WHAT?!?!?!?, "sorry sir they are dirty and need washing...." I WILL HAVE A DIRTY ONE!!!!!!

Thanks for all the good advice. I think I will pay the extra for a private transfer as I am only there for a few days and the thought of missing skiing time waiting for a car is not good.

Gareth Fair wrote:Thanks for all the good advice. I think I will pay the extra for a private transfer as I am only there for a few days and the thought of missing skiing time waiting for a car is not good.

Have a shared private transfer, they work really well. I have done it a few times and they are great (and comfortable - rarely have little jonny kicking you all the way up the hill!)

Where are you off? Might be able to reccomend ones I have used in teh past :D