Latest posts for the topic "Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?"

Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:24:08 GMT

Hi - we are off to Tignes on 26th feb. Original plan was morzine so flying into Geneva which isn't ideal. We arrive around 11am then have hire car so idea is to drive up to 1.5 hours then get on the slopes for the afternoon, before completinmg the drive later. Any recommendations welcome.

all resorts got their features but not driving for miles out of the way would be a bonus i guess, however if its somewhere simply must visit then let us know. no snowparks required but natural features and somewhere good for intermediate plus skill levels, trees (as we don't know the weather)

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:45:59 GMT

It's a good idea in concept. I would suggest instead, that you set off for Tignes, stop off for a decent lunch in Albertville, and enjoy a steady drive up to resort in daylight. Some of the traffic jams around Moutiers at this time of the year, can be jaw dropping, and if you are not familiar with the drive up the Tarentaise valley, you will likely feel pretty exhausted by the time you arrive in the dark.

If you still want to follow your plan, stop off in Bourg St Maurice, park at the Funicular and go and ski Les Arcs 1600 for the afternoon perhaps?

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:46:40 GMT

looking at a place called La Tania now. apparently popular with c-list french celebs(!) and ticks the trees, features box. sounds nice. anyone know it or have any other suggestions?

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:48:13 GMT

thanks bandit. good suggestions.
take on board what you say about traffic jams. maybe best thing would be to nominate a driver and sample first day apres ski before driving as late as possible to our apartment.
first snow trip to france

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:10:42 GMT

Benny,
It sounds a bit too ambitious to me, especially if you haven't driven in France in the snow before. I would say you'd be better off doing your shopping somewhere like Bourg St Maurice on the way up to the apartment and spending your spare time working out where everything is in the resort, so you can get going on the slopes early in the morning.

As Bandit says, the traffic jams can be awful. We got stuck in a terrible one (due to heavy snow) going down from Val Thorens to Moutiers and what should have taken about half an hour took 3 hours and we missed our train.

Also, there often seem to be unexpected holdups, like the plane is delayed, there's a problem with the car hire, you get lost, you have to put snow chains on and you don't know how to do it, you can't find the car park, the apartment reception shuts early, etc. etc.

I hope none of these things happen to you, but they have all happened to me (although not on the same holiday!).

Best of luck :D

Ally

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:26:36 GMT

Do it, if you are following satnav and end up in Italy you are definitely going the wrong way. The mountain pass you need to take to get back to France is closed in the winter. The long way round would take you a while.

In saying that, I'd be for getting to Tignes and settling, if it all goes the wrong way up you might ruin the next day too.

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:07:50 GMT

hmm, driven abroad plenty and loads of practice in snow and with chains. we're staying at the highest resort in tignes and can see the lift from the window so shouldn't be too hard i hope. the only problem seems to be these jams - not been anywhere as touristy as tignes before so it seems fair to expect it to be a lot busier than anywhere else.

the only french airports i know well are paris and biarritz, they're always fast, never a problem so far, but GVA (swiss) i have never experienced.

would you (lot) say these jams are for everyday or mostly around the weekend change over day for tour operators? We're going weds to weds for precisely these reasons but....?

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:09:06 GMT

bandit wrote:It's a good idea in concept. I would suggest instead, that you set off for Tignes, stop off for a decent lunch in Albertville, and enjoy a steady drive up to resort in daylight. Some of the traffic jams around Moutiers at this time of the year, can be jaw dropping, and if you are not familiar with the drive up the Tarentaise valley, you will likely feel pretty exhausted by the time you arrive in the dark.

If you still want to follow your plan, stop off in Bourg St Maurice, park at the Funicular and go and ski Les Arcs 1600 for the afternoon perhaps?

I think I would generally agree with Bandit about just getting to the resort but if I have read your post correctly, you are travelling on the Friday which means that the traffic may not be too bad. I wonder whether it is worth stopping off at Bourg St Maurice - without traffic that is only about 30 minutes drive from Tignes.

Looking at the map, I wonder whether somewhere like La Clusez might be a better option. Don't forget, you are only going to be skiing for a few hours so even a very small resort will do you. However, I have no idea what the drive from there to Tignes might be like - Google Maps only gets you so far!

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:15:57 GMT

whoops, you read it correctly, but it's actually the 24th - a wednesday. 2 weeks!!!

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:29:41 GMT

benny12345 wrote:would you (lot) say these jams are for everyday or mostly around the weekend change over day for tour operators? We're going weds to weds for precisely these reasons but....?

I've been through Moutiers and Bourg st Maurice three times, once over new year and twice over easter. We had an horrendous journey on the new year trip, a three-ish hour trip taking almost seven hours :shock: but had no problems the other two times. I think you'll be absolutely fine midweek.

The funnicular is a good call from Bandit, then you're almost there and if something does delay you then you can make an on the spot decision whether to ski in Les Arcs or to carry on up to Tignes.

Where are you staying in Tignes?

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:51:45 GMT

Thanks Betty, sounds nice and positive, those are odds we like. I've forgotten since my original research whether its val claret or lavachet - but it's basically the highest part of tignes. or did you mean the individual apartment itself? If its that I'll need to grab the email.

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:12:53 GMT

Benny,
I agree it is doable, but it's still a pretty tight schedule. I was driven in a minibus from Geneva airport to Tignes (and back) at the end of October, in the evening on a clear road, and it took about 3 1/4 hours.

Geneva airport is a bit odd because it has a Swiss side and a French side. I didn't even notice the French side when we were there, but came straight through to the Swiss side of the airport. Apparently you can hire cars from either side - which side are you going for?

Assuming you land at 11 a.m. and don't have any problems, I suppose you could be on the road by 12 midday, which would mean you reaching Bourg St Maurice about 2-45 (since it's about 1/2 an hour from there to Tignes). You'd then have to park by the funicular, sort out your ski stuff and get changed, buy your lift passes and get up the funicular. I don't know how often it runs at that time of day but the one at Tignes in October varied between every 15 mins and every 1/2 hour according to time of day. I reckon you wouldn't be up the top of the funicular before 3-30, and probably the other lifts shut by 5 p.m. So you'd very likely only have a maximum ski time of 1 1/2 hours.

And this is all assuming you don't stop to eat anywhere, or get lost etc. etc. Plus, half a days lift pass for Les Arcs costs 34 euros.

And finally, the other thing to consider is that I would think you'll all be a bit tired, after an early start. If you're landing at 11 a.m Swiss time, then I guess you'd be taking off about 8 a.m. British time which means you'd have to be in the airport by about 6 a.m.

Obviously it's your holiday, and you do what you want, but I think I'd find this schedule (at my advanced age!) rather too exhausting :oops:

Ally

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:31:04 GMT

good reasoned answer. we'll see what happens - i think la tania is more likely destination as only 128km away so could feasibly be on the first lift by 1pm. haven't got a clue about french/swiss sides of airport!

it's all about being on the snow and we definitely wouldn't bother going up if we could n't get on a lift before 1.30pm

thanks for all the info everyone. at the moment some of what you're saying is confirming my worst fears about France - busy and crowded in these big resorts.i Tignes sounds like an amazing place though so hopefully there and nearby spots will even things out.

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:53:48 GMT

benny12345 wrote:at the moment some of what you're saying is confirming my worst fears about France - busy and crowded in these big resorts.i Tignes sounds like an amazing place though so hopefully there and nearby spots will even things out.

don't panic. I've been there twice at easter and the only place that's been really busy is the area over the top of the Troviere above La Daille in Val d'isere. It won't be nearly as bad when you're there I'd imagine. There were no queues either :thumbup:. the runs above Val Claret are fantastic.

Loop bar at the bottom of Trolles in Le Lac is very cheap and very friendly.

You'll have a blast :mrgreen:

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:50:54 GMT

To be honest I wouldn't bother stopping. First things first though. Don't hire a car from the french side at Geneva airport as it's really difficult to find your way back at the end of your trip-i've not done it, but heard about it, and, as a regular coming and going to Geneva airport, I can never see the signs that get you round the back into the french side. Everything at GVA is centred around coming and going on the Swiss side. I also think (not sure) that the swiss hire cars have snow chains included as standard. Much easier to exit the swiss side and follow the clear signs from the car hire car park towards france. Easy peasy-can't go wrong and the same coming back-it's all well signposted. The first ski area you will come to if you drive direct towards Tignes (via Annecy) is probably St Martin de Belleville-in the 3V about 30 mins up from Moutiers, or La Tania as someone else has suggested. That's 2 hours from Geneva. I confess I'd probably not bother with such a major diversion and press on down the valley towards Bourg and get to Tignes, though if you stop in Bourg you can get up to Les Arcs. Don't be tempted to head for La Clusaz as someone suggested-totally wrong direction for you. Traffic midweek should be fine.

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:35:06 GMT

Benny,
If you have a good run you could get to Tignes by 3 p.m. and have an hour and a half or so out on the slopes.

I'm sure someone on here said that whatever resort it was they were going to, allowed them on the slopes after 3 p.m. the day before the pass started, using the weekly lift pass they had for the rest of the week. It might be a good idea to e-mail the Tignes tourist board and ask if that applies to Tignes as well.

Best wishes for a good time, whatever you decide to do on your way down to Tignes. It's a great resort :D

Ally

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:52:39 GMT

thanks everyone. we've got a few ideas now, will depend on conditions locally i guess. we're looking into the airport stuff. so, again, thanks.

this might be my favoured option now, thought I would share with you : www.bobsleigh.net in Albertville. taxi bob looks great, but raft bob might be the one.

Re:Geneva to Tignes, suggested stop off resort please?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:58:57 GMT

If you're landing at 11 am you won't be on the road before midday. Even with a good clear run you'd struggle to get to La Tania in 90 minutes - it's half way between Courchevel 1300 and Meribel, so C1300 would be a better bet, but you wouldn't get there before 1.30 pm at the earliest, more likely 2 pm.

Annecy is a great place to stop if you want to break the journey, but you can't ski there!

I'd head straight to Tignes myself and settle in having shopped in Bourg.

If you want to do the bob in La Plagne, why not do it one evening whilst you're away - it would take you about an hour or so to get there from Tignes.