Recommended Overnight Stops en-route to the Alps
Troyes: Historic Champagne region town with factory-outlet shopping.
www.tourisme-troyes.com
Beaune: Centre for Burgundy wines, with over 100 restaurants.
www.beaune-tourisme.fr
Enjoy an overnight stop in Dijon, where there's an exceptional archtitectural heritage to discover. Pictured above, Christmas lights illuminate the city.
Photo: Côte-d'Or Tourisme © N.ROMAIN
Dijon: Capital of Burgundy, and shrine of French cuisine.
www.dijon-tourisme.com
French Autoroutes
Not every autoroute charges tolls – sections are often free around cities and where no alternatives exist. Tolls (péage) are calculated by distance travelled. Take a ticket on entry and pay by cash or card when you exit a péage section. Lanes marked CB accept most major credit and debit cards. Avoid lanes marked only by an orange ‘t' as these are reserved exclusively for vehicles equipped for automatic payments.
Traffic Information
The National Centre for Traffic Information website gives information on all major routes in France including roadworks, accidents and hazardous weather conditions.
Visit Autoroutes.fr (English version available) for current autoroute information (traffic forecasts, tariffs, a comprehensive map of service areas) plus a useful guide to motorway driving.
Speed limits on French autoroutes are 130 km/h (less around cities and at major route intersections) but drop by 20 km/h in wet conditions.
The Autoroute Blanche or White Motorway,
the route to the French Alps.
Photo: www.123savoie.com
Back to The Routes...
French National Routes (prefixed by an 'N' on a green background) are long-distance routes within France, and can offer a way of seeing more of the real France. Inevitably, they are generally slower than autoroutes as they pass through towns and take local traffic, but offer an interesting alternative if you’re in no hurry and wish to avoid tolls.
Buying fuel
Unleaded (sans plomb) petrol, diesel (often labelled ‘gazole’ or ‘gasoil’) and LPG are available. Fuel prices on autoroutes are much higher than at supermarket pumps. Look for 'Centre Commercial' to find large supermarkets with discounted fuel and good-value restaurants.
Self-service 24hr pumps accept Visa and Mastercards.
Staying Legal: what to carry in your car...
It’s compulsory to carry a warning triangle and at least one reflective jacket in your car when driving in France. This also applies to hire cars so be careful to check that they are present when you collect your car. The regulation is enforced by on-the-spot fines of 90–135€. It’s recommended to also carry spare bulbs and fuses, and a fire extinguisher, but they are not yet compulsory. When driving in the Alps, always carry snow-chains (or textile ‘snow-socks’) – and practice putting them on before you leave home. When conditions deteriorate this equipment is compulsory in and around the ski resorts. If hiring a car, specify (and check) that chains are supplied.
Winter & Ski Home
Family Skiing
Top Tips: Driving to the Alps
It’s time to drive to the Alps again, an annual ritual which is a fact of life for skiers, particularly those who value the independence and economic advantages of self-catering accommodation, along with some pretty tempting cross-Channel ferry deals from . Which begs the obvious question: surely there must be a way of turning the long slog into a more pleasurable experience? To help find the answer we decided to find out for ourselves what might be achievable with the benefit of a little lateral thinking.
On the road again
The French road network makes driving simple and efficient, but the distances involved remain significant. Clearly, with two drivers it’s perfectly possible to simply press on and go for it, but there are compelling arguments against this, not least breaking the journey with an overnight stop along the way to take the pressure off. Another is that by not driving at or near the speed limit you'll achieve significant savings in fuel costs, which can then offset the cost of en-route accommodation – still available at great prices using better budget hotel chains in convenient locations close to major routes and large towns.
Book an overnight stop
Try to set youself a target, ideally on the outskirts of a character town like Auxerre, Beaune or Mâcon. Then, if you reserve a room by booking ahead online those late nights in lonely service areas will be a thing of the past. Most chain hotels allow you to check in at any time of the night but make sure you have your booking details with you and the bank card with which you made your reservation. Many are located near key autoroute intersections, and close to affordable restaurants.
Decision time: Geneva - or Lyon, Chambéry and beyond?
Ferry services to Calais, Boulogne, Le Havre or Dieppe allow you to slot neatly onto the French autoroute network. The onward route south is the same, regardless of your destination, until just before Mâcon.
Tree-lined pistes above Flaine, in the Grand Massif.
If you’re heading for the northernmost ski areas like the Portes du Soleil (Avoriaz, Morzine, Les Gets), the Grand Massif (Flaine, Samoëns, Les Carroz, etc.), the Massif des Aravis (La Clusaz, Le Grand Bornand) or Chamonix-Mont Blanc (including Les Houches, Saint Gervais, Les Contamines and Megève), Courmayeur (via Mont-Blanc Tunnel) or the Espace Diamant (Les Saisies, Notre-Dame de Bellecombe, Crest-Voland, etc.) you’ll peel-off past Bourg-en-Bresse towards Geneva.
The same applies to Swiss resorts of Verbier, Crans Montana, Zermatt and Saas Fee.
Note: If you’re skiing in France, stay on French territory; should you venture onto the Swiss autoroute system customs officials will demand 40 Swiss Francs (33€) for a 1-year vignette. If you need one, however, you can save time queueing at the border by ordering it online: www.tolltickets.com.
If you have your sights set on places like the Tarentaise (Les Arcs, La Plagne, Val d’Isère, etc.), the Trois-Vallées (Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens, etc.) or the Maurienne (Valloire, Valmeinier, Val Cenis, etc., plus lift access to Val Thorens and the 3V from Orelle), continue south around Lyon then follow signs to Chambéry.
Heading for the Southern French Alps?
Surprisingly, the drive-times from the Eastern Channel ports to Grenoble are just 45min more than to Albertville, the relevant autoroute exit point being midway between Lyon and Chambéry. Grenoble opens up a wide range of ski area options, with Chamrousse right on your doorstep and Alpe d’Huez, Vaujany, Oz-en-Oisans, les Deux-Alpes and Les Sybelles all within an hour or so’s drive. La Grave isn’t much further, and if driving conditions are good you can press on over the Col du Lauteret (a strategic route, which is therefore cleared as soon as possible after heavy snowfalls) and down to Serre-Chevalier and Briançon.
In Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes) you can ski over to Italy for more great skiing - or just for lunch...
From here cross-border skiing in the Via Lattea (Montgenèvre, Clavière, Sansicario, Sestrière, etc.) is close at hand, or you could continue down to the Forêt-Blanche (Vars and Risoul 1850). If the Col du Lauteret looks too risky, there are other options: Briançon is readily accessible from the Vallée de la Maurienne (see above) via the Fréjus Tunnel, although tolls are pricey at 32.20€ (41.40€ for a 7-day return). Alternatively, head south from Grenoble and back up again beyond Gap, itself a gateway to lots more fine skiing in places like Orcières 1800, Les Orres, le Dévoluy, Pra-Loup and Val d’Allos.
© MountainPassions 2012
Self-drive ski holidays
in France
Travel to France by ferry and some of the best self drive skiing in the world. Enjoy the freedom of taking unlimited baggage and up to 9 people per car via .
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Take the train...
Rail Europe, the UK subsidiary of SNCF French Railways, provides rail travel right into the heart of the French Alps.
Flights
Fly to the best ski destinations with Flybe
Discover the new and exclusive route to Sion airport in the Swiss Alps.
Ferry Travel
Norfolkline - low prices, quality ferries, convenient schedules
Transfers
Need a lift?
Holiday Taxis offer private transfers from airports to ski resorts in the Alps. Whether it's just you or a bunch of friends, they have transport to suit your needs.
Car Hire
Pick up and ski this winter
Forget about queuing for a bus at the airport, low cost car hire - with a ski rack if necessary, will get you to where you want to go with a minimum of fuss. See the
Insurance
