Driving from the UK to the mountains - good idea or not?

[drowninginlaundry]

Inspired by the train-to-Grenoble thread, I suggested to DH that we drive to the Alps this year as on paper it looks fun and would work out cheaper than flying. He thinks I'm mad. Has anyone done it? We have 3 DC, a big VW van, I'm thinking cheap self catering and load the van with food and booze. Or is it three days of traffic jams followed by rapid divorce?

Oh yes. You need to look on snowheads.com/ski-forum/ - there's lots of information there.

We did it as we wanted to spend some time with friends that live near Grenoble. We stayed in the Premier Inn (I think) near the Channel Tunnel on the Thursday night, got an early train and drove to Grenoble on the Friday. Stayed with friends until the Sunday (skiied with them in their local resort Saturday and Sunday) then drove to La Tania. The following Sunday we left around 0900 hrs and drove straight back to Calais. No problems (it was March and the French roads were great).

we drive - all the time and do it door to door (bucks to Vaujany/alped'heuz/grenoble) in 12 hrs via eurotunnel - we dont stop overnight as we have four kids and need to book at least 2 hotel rooms and then eat out which would add another £300 to the trip

We did this 6 years ago at Christmas. With 3 young DCs. We drove non stop and went via the tunnel all the way to Briancon, France (near the Italian border). Was a great experience. Took loads of food (even a frozen turkey for xmas day) and stayed in a lovely self catering house with log fires etc. Go for it.

Forgot to say dont worry about traffic jams the roads in France are fab.

Driving on French motorways is a lot more enjoyable than on English ones. Less traffic and if you count the basic picnic areas there are more places to stop en route. Although take picnic lunches on motorway days as the service station food did not look that great.
I would check the cost out on via michelin. That will give you an estimate of the petrol cost plus tolls. We stopped overnight in Accor hotels on the way there and back which added to the cost. Maybe if you have a van you could sleep in that en route and keep the cost down?

we drove last year in our little 206 and it was great fun. Spent first night near Rheims and then onto resort. This year we are coming back in one. Don't forget to order snow chains and practice fitting them before you get there!!!!

Ive never done it in winter but we do it regularly in summer. The kids are used to long journeys and understand now that holidays often start and end with two days in the car. We usually get a hotel, and do it over two days but that's down to the Italian lakes. Alps should be doable in a day as long as you set off early. We've driven to austria or Switzerland in a day.

We load up with food, even some pre cooked stuff and buy the booze there, it's cheaper!

We do it all the time (well about 3 x a year for the past 8 years) and children are now 5 and 7. No problem, but if you can avoid the French half term, I would do so. Also heck out the bison futé website - French mways are great, but on the rare occasion you get a jam, they can be bad. It also means that you can either take cheaper food to the expensive high resorts, or you can stay in the valley and check out different resorts...

Watch out for busy roads on Saturdays (changeover day) and make sure you have winter tyres on your VW - summer ones won't be good enough. Snow chains, too, of course. Petrol is quite pricey, so do cost it out before you book etc.

Strongly recommend loading up with as much food as you can, as unless you can shop in a Carrefour, grocery shopping in the mountains can be v expensive. But the trip itself is v doable, and your DCs will get more and more excited as they start to see the mountains, and the snow.....!

Can I also ask a question on thie thread too please? Mu DH and I are going to drive to the alps at feb half term this year (i know it's a bonkers time but it was a cheap deal). We are planning to drive overnight, to minimise screaming children time.
Is this sensible? we would split the driving but i am concerend we will be driving on a foreign motorway system (we have driven in europe before but obviously it's not cheshire), driving late at night when tired, driving when the roads are busy and when the weather may be bad.
Should we stop somewhere for a few hours? whereabouts?
i figure from cheshire to dover is approx 4-5 hours (allowing for traffic), so we'll arrive at calais about 11pm local time (or earlier). it's 8 hours to our resort (la norma in case anyone has been).

Can we do it?
Thank you for any advice (and i will also be asking snowheads because i am worried about it).

I think you are underestimating your timings a little bit. It took us 8-9 hours from geneva to calais, and that was quiet roads, and speeding. I think La Norma is a bit further than that. I'd allow 10-11 hours giving for traffic and probably some single lane mountain roads? 20kms on single lane mountain road can take 40 mins easily with stopping, starting and local traffic.

I wouldn't personally do it overnight. we've driven from 4.30 in the morning done a stop off then not reached a destination til 9 at night, and that was knackering enough. No one is going to sleep properly in the car, you will just end up shattered and grumpy. I'd get a hotel and split it.

I dont think the roads or the drivers in France are that bad to be worrying about night driving in particular, I just think it is too long a stint to do overnight.

Thank you for your reply Hops. I got the '8 hrs' from peak retreats website - they say it's not far from the motorway (so hopefully not too many winding roads) but i agree they have an interest in minimising driving times.

We'll have a look at some overnight possibilities, thank you.

If you decide to stop, it would be worth booking in advance...even one of the cheap motels F1 etc. Once we drove down, and thought that we'd see how far we got and stop there...nearly ended up overnight in the car with the children as were too tired to continue. Fortunatley we found somewhere. And although F1 only have 3 beds (ie a double and a single) if you take sleeping bags etc, you could all squash in.

You can get the electronic tags for the French toll roads from the UK now too :

www.saneftolling.co.uk

we always drive now - I hate flying, or rather the crap transfer times and being herded about. DH doesn't ski, so i do the drive myself from London to Courchevel. Kids watch dvds all the way. We stop @ Moutiers for the night so I can drive up the mountain in daylight. Best thing is on the last day just getting up at normal time land chucking everything in the car and drviing home - when we used to fly that horrible 4am get-up to wait around for the coach to make its various pickups took the shine of a lovely holiday.

So, what do you reckon about snowy and icy roads? Especially those of you who plan to drive in the dark? Do you plan to get winter tyres? Or drive on your standard uk summer tyres?

other prob with driving thru night is that you get to your resort in the morning and most self catering dont give access til 4pm -- so what would you do for the day?

Hello,
I am hoping to arrive in resort early because it is half term, and therefore immensly busy, so I want to be parked and relaxing. Even if all we do is sort out lift passes and sit down in a cafe, I won't be stuck in miles of traffic jams (or am I over worrying?).
I have never done this before you see.

The benefit to travelling mostly at night is (to my mind):
1)children asleep not screaming in my ear
2)roads quieter
3)arrive earlier at resort to settle in

Drawbacks to travelling at night:

1. fatigue worsens driving 2)it will be colder (& therefore probably icier)
2. we will arrive shattered. I am going to book a halfway rom i think.

We are also planning on winter tyres (will help back home too) and taking a lot of food with us.
If it works i rather suspect we will be doing it again, for all sorts of reasons.
Any advice gratefully recieved!

a halfway room!
(WHY WOULD I BOOK A ROM?)

You need chains not just winter tyres. If when you go snow conditions are like they currently are in most resorts you won't get there without them and if you try you risk being fined.

ooh yes snow chains too, you are right.
(don't know why i forgot those)
and yellow high vis jackets
and spare bulbs and a torch.
and something to kneel on whilst changing bulbs/applying chains/being efficient
and a lot of dvds/audio books for car.

and a session practising putting on snowchains.

We did this for the first time last year. Left home at 530 and arrived in resort around 7pm,.was fine.Took loads of frozen meals from home as it is impossible to cook properly in those apartments . We also did a supermarket shop half way,so only really bought bread in resort. Worked well for us, we are doing it again this year. Dcs are 7 and 5 btw.

Also for being in fRAnce driving you are legally requred to have a fire extinguisher and a warning triangle and a first aid kit.

practise the chains before you go - is NO FUN reading incomprehensible instructions by the roadside in a blizzard ( I can personally vouch for that ) French motorways are fantastic, but the last few miles may be snowy uphill roads, so assume you will need them, and be relieved if you don't. We got thru' two sets last week, tho conditions were pretty extreme, and we saw several vehicles (local plates, no chains) stuck.

We've done it twice now and are off again at half term. Definitely do-able but we choose to stop overnight each way, otherwise it would be just too hard a slog. There are plenty of budget hotels but I would book in advance.

French motorways are a much easier drive than UK ones, but it is an incredibly long way. They are generally not lit at night so I woulnd't really fancy driving all night as it's pretty hard on the eyes.

Snow tyres are not a legal requirement in France, but snow chains in Alipne areas are. We did it last year (in our VW van) with normal tyres but have gone for snow tyres this year, but so far have travelled on snow-free days so not needed either. We camp in France a lot so have all the other stuff such as warning triangles / euro breakdown cover etc anyway. I also recommend a snow shovel in case you have to dig your car out to come home