Driving to the Alps with an overnight stop, any recommendations?

[blossumlou129]

My husband has decided we are going skiing next year and staying with friends in France who live there (more that our 2 boys will ski as I have bad knees)
this is great, but I’m the only driver as my husband is a stroke survivor.
His friends live in the alps and I will be driving down. I want to stay somewhere overnight half way, so would love suggestions from anyone who has done this!!!!
thankyou

Formula 1 hotel in Beaune. They are a very basic chain.

Why are you driving? Can DH not fly? It’s a big faff to drive. I would consider the train and hiring a car. When are you going as 4 days will be driving!

We've driven to the Alps several.times, but only in the summer. We stop at Troyes, which is beautiful.

Agree with Beaune, they have a big carrefour if you self catering as well which is much cheaper than the resort shops.

Depends on the timings and where you’re starting from and going to. We’ve done Troyes, Reims, Chalons-en-Champagne, Langres, usually just booking a night in an Airbnb.

Both Troyes and Reims are famous for champagne; great chance to stock up or sample. If you’re spending any time there as opposed to just overnighting, Troyes is smaller and much prettier. Famous for its stained glass windows.

I love The Alps and love driving.

I would not do that drive in winter, for anyone. Fly/drive, train/drive all perfectly possible.

Even odder that you who will not be participating, are expected to drive the skiers

You will need snow chains for your tyres. I wouldn’t drive that far in Winter.

We have driven to the Alps many times. It will depend on your end destination and how you want to split the journey. Some good suggestions here already. Chains like Accor have plenty of options close to motorways. I would put your destination into google maps and see what route is suggested then take it from there.
yes you will need snow chains with you but we had to use them relatively few times over the years.

If going at Christmas, what snow? Can be very high! Half term is one week. Driving for one week makes no sense. Easter? Might be ok but might not for snow. This plan has many flaws.

We have driven down to Morzine for the last 5 years, at half term, mostly because as a family of 4 it’s cheaper than flying. It’s long but fine. We are pretty close to the tunnel, always buy flexipasses, and usually stay over either in Troyes or Dijon - depending on schedule and what time we leave. We tend just to stay in off motorway hotels and crack on first thing. If you’re going in school holidays it gets busier as everyone funnels towards Geneva.

We have the required all season tyres and snow chains - but actually haven’t had to use the chains ever.

We do tend to leave early and do it in one hit on the way home.

We always drive, more recently going overnight and stopping closer to the mountains - Albertville or Chambery - which means we can be up in the resort by 9 am on a Saturday to take advantage of an extra day’s skiing. We have all season tyres and take snow chains - last used them about 3 years ago as the snow was insane the day we arrived, but it gets cleared very quickly.

If looking to stop sooner, somewhere like Dijon/Beaune is probably a good option - about 5 hours drive from Calais: plenty of options in Accor chain (Novotel do family rooms and free breakfast for under 16s), or look at Campanile/B&B Hotels/Premiere Classe for cheaper. We tend to stop on the way home in Reims - under 3 hours from the tunnel: it’s an excuse to stop and do some wine shopping as much as anything!

@chalkyc2 How is buying special tyres and cost of mileage on your car cheaper than flying when you also take time into account? What dc get off school early? Ok if you have time but school holidays are very short at half term and not much snow at Christmas!

I know but half term flights with snowboard carriage and transfer costs are crazy - I just looked at easyJet and would be around £900 per person at half term next year. Anyway - all preferences, my DH doesn’t mind the drive and we get to take all our kit and food etc. And listen to long audio books!!

Where in the UK are you driving from and where do your friends live?

It is worth considering all options.. and prices..

Driving in France is easier than in the UK but driving in certain parts of the Alps on a Saturday can be insane.. In the winter, the days are short so driving at night will add to the challenges, whether there is snow en route is totally unpredictable. You might, for example, consider driving a bit further on the first day and leaving only an hour or two to do on the last day.

We live 90 minutes from the Portes de Soleil and maybe 3.5 hours from Tignes / Val Thorens .. other French resorts. There have been some journeys that have taken us 8 hours and once our friends stopped overnight rather than stay in the traffic.. We have given up travelling on Friday evening / Saturday in February and instead leave on Sunday / Monday, coming back on Thursday evening / Friday morning. But these are not 'once in a lifetime' journeys for us and we can hit the slopes straight from our car, spend a few days, drive home and not feel like we have to maximise every moment there.

Only very rarely have we driven back to the UK for a week's holiday.. and never in the winter, but we see hundreds of UK cars on the roads here every winter, so each person makes a choice that works for them.

I remember driving to Courchevel on a Saturday once and what should have been a 7 hour ish journey took 13 hours. We arrived at 10:30pm with no food, shops shut, restaurants shut, hungry kids. No choice but to go to bed hungry. Was not the best planning . Take lots of snacks, more than you think you’ll need.

We have family in the Haute Savoie so do the drive a couple of times a year. Troyes is by far the easiest stop- just off the motorway. The Ibis and Mercure in town are both nice, with lots of good eating options nearby.

Agree with @ChateauMargaux that the traffic can be terrible, especially on the Autoroute Blanche. The first Saturday of February half term and first Saturday of August are the worst.