I am joining a group of friends on their skiing trip to Verchaix (small village near Samoens). They are driving from the South of England, but as I live %26#39;up north%26#39;, am thinking of flying to geneva and meeting them at the chalet.
Has anyone got any experience of public transport from Geneva to Verchaix (or near by resorts)? Or would it be easier to hire a car and drive from Geneva Airport?
I%26#39;ve never driven in switzerland or france- is it fairly easy, as i%26#39;d be on my own!
Thanks for your help!
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hi,if you go to the geneva airport website at www.gva.ch,and go to the Access,Transportation %26amp; Accommadation tab on the left hand side,then the Public Transport tab and then Ski Resorts (click on this),you will then see French Ski Stations Aeroski-bus,and up on the right hand side a downloadable pdf file that will give you all the bus/coach transfers to the various ski resorts,with timetabls and prices,the cost of a return fair from geneva to samoens is 68euro%26#39;s.
The car hire option will be around £135 + fuel and road tolls (as th journey is only 66 km and will take about 1 hr 15 mins if the traffic and weather are good,and you do not get lost the fuel to get there and back if you get a small diesel car should only be £15 - £20 tops),from geneva airport take the Route de Pre Bois (A1) for a couple of hndred yards to the motorway junction near the airport,on the round about take the exit for the E21-Route de Meyrin,this will take you down to the bottom end of lake geneva,cross over the Pont du Mont Blanc bridge and go along the General-Guisan,after a hundred yards or there abouts you will then take aright turn into the Boulevard helvetique follow this and then take the turn to your left into the Rue Ferdinand-Hodler after a while this becomes the Rue de Malagnou,eventually this becomes the Route Blanche and the entrance/junction for the A411 motorway out of geneva,once on this follow the signs for the A40/e25,after a while you should start to see signs for Samoens the road from the A40 to be taken is called the D902 and then the D4 to Samoens itself.
i hope this is of use and makes some sense,i you do decide to drive send me a private message through this site and include your address and i will send you a route map.
For cheap car hire i always use Autoeurope-0800 169 9797,and it is easier to take your car rom the swiss side rather than the french at geneva airport.
many regards
jonG.
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Thanks for that info- I%26#39;m quite keen on hiring a car I think- more flexibility! I had a quick look at the website you suggested, and it%26#39;s lots cheaper than anywhere else I%26#39;ve looked at!
Why is it different getting the car from the swiss side rather than the french side?
Thanks,
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hi again, hire a car from the swiss side at geneva airport in winter the car will be supplied with snow tyres,snowchains or both as standard,from the french side this is not the case.Although when i use geneva i go from the french side as this is the route i have always driven but unless you have done this a couple of times the route back to the french carparking side of geneva airport is very confusing,so would advise the swiss side for ease of access.
One final pointer when in geneva airport if you want to buy a coffee,something to eat or a newspaper or something else and are using euro%26#39;s try and use the correct change or as near to it as possible as you will get the change back in swiss francs only.
many regards
jonG.
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the cheapest and easiest way would be to get the bus from Geneva airport (link to timetable and cost below). I%26#39;ve used it to Morzine and it%26#39;s easy. The bus leaves from right outside the terminal. If you hire a car make sure you hire from the Swiss side, not the French. Returning the car to the French side is a nightmare if you haven%26#39;t done it before. It%26#39;s only an hours drive from the airport to Samoens.
Cheers
Ian
gva.ch/en/…aeroski-bus.pdf
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the cheapest and easiest way would be to get the bus from Geneva airport (link to timetable and cost below). I%26#39;ve used it to Morzine and it%26#39;s easy. The bus leaves from right outside the terminal. If you hire a car make sure you hire from the Swiss side, not the French. Returning the car to the French side is a nightmare if you haven%26#39;t done it before. It%26#39;s only an hours drive from the airport to Samoens.
Cheers
Ian
gva.ch/en/…aeroski-bus.pdf
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Hi
We are renting our car in Paris and have to return it to the french side of the Airport. What should we look out for when driving from Samoens?
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Road access to the French sector: map on Geneva aIrport website: gva.ch/en/…af.pdf
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I realise this is a bit late ... but the French side of Geneva airport is not that tricky, provided you do not stray onto Swiss motorway (they will charge you E40 for an annual %26#39;vignette%26#39; tax disc). The best advice I was given was to head through central Geneva, round the lake (very picturesque) and, ignoring signs for the airport, follow signs to Ferney. The specific instruction was: %26quot;Always and only Ferney%26quot; and it is now our mantra. It gets a bit tricky at the last roundabout and going through the border post, but hold your nerve and take the very first turn to the left after the border, and you%26#39;re there.
I have hired cars on both sides and now prefer the French side. On the Swiss side the cars are housed about a mile away from the airport (on the French side they are right outside), and the shuttle service is not that frequent. You need to allow extra time when returning the car as well (I missed a flight having to walk to the terminal when no shuttle turned up). Also, the queues to pick up cars on the Swiss side are much longer, and the paperwork takes longer too. Having said that, the Swiss tax disc is included so you can drive from the airport straight to the A40 motorway very quickly, avoiding central Genevan logjams.
But you can hire on the French side, pay the tax at the border (it is possible to get away with it if the border is unmanned; this deceit/theft is seriously frowned on by both Swiss and French) and use the motorway - another option.
Phew, glad I got that lot of my chest.
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Thanks - we will be dropping the car off on the french side so your instructions are very helpful. Ferney %26amp; Only Ferney! It will be our mantra.
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Re: car hire from the Swiss or French side of Geneva airport. It%26#39;s worth pointing out that if you pick up a car from the Swiss side it will come complete with the vignette required to drive on Swiss motorways. If you pick up a car from the French side, not all car hire firms provide the vignette and these have to be purchased separately. They cost around 40 Swiss franc and you need to factor this into your hire costs. If you don%26#39;t display a vignette you either (a) avoid motorways or (b) face a potential fine of around 100 Swiss francs. We hire a car every year from the Swiss side to travel to Samoens, Les Gets or Morzine and the drive is really straight forward and easy.
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