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?

On the snow chain issue - think about socks instead SOOOO much easier to put on - and cheaper! I used to live in the alps and have many horrid experiences of either taking chains off or on at the side of the road. Most of the time you need them to get up steep icy roads rather than deep snow but they work in both conditions.

Someone was asking about timings - we use to (without children) get the first Dover-Calais ferry (about 7am) and drive straight to Chamonix with maybe 3 or 4 x 30 min stops, driving as fast as we could get away with. We would arrive in Cham by tea-time, assuming no queues at the peage or en route. So I would say that 8 hours is not realistic.

But there's lots of good advice here. I'd also add that Moutiers/Bourg-St-Maurice can be a real bottleneck when leaving the surrounding resorts, especially on Saturdays, so my advice would be leave your resort by 7.30am to avoid the traffic jams snaking down the mountain behind the coaches.

Chains are a nightmare to put on. Especially in the dark and it's below freezing and your hands have gone numb and your nominated driver is having a sense of humour failure and won't let anyone else help him But I still wouldn't swap driving for flying, as flying in the past has resulted in skis going missing, flights getting seriously delayed or diverted, being herded into the tiniest departure lounge with no space to move, having to wait for hours on end and coach transfers from hell. But maybe I was just unlucky!

we are both driving and flying this year, so we can compare the two experiences. I am soo excited. I have ordered a telepeage!

greygirl THANK YOU!!!! I had never got round to doing the liber-t thing - sis not relaise it was so easy - have just dunnit!!!

well done MrsG! I have read lots of people saying it's not worth it if you odn't drive often, but we are driving in france again in summer, and lets be frank, after 20 minutes in a toll queue I bet I ould have been wishing I had got one. Let's hope they work eh?

The liber-t doo-da really does work a treat - had one when I lived there and was back and forth, only word of warning is in summer particularly if you hit the paris hols the queues back up so much that it doesn't help until you are at the telepeage.

Remember to wave regally as you swan through.....:)

HarrogateMum : thanks for the info on the Liber-T. Is it really worth it? You're paying extra fees on top of peage aren't you?

it arrived a coupla days after I ordered it, have now registered and looking forward to using it at half-term. I never expect things to work, so will be jubilant at each peage if/when it does! Cost nowt, so all I lose if it doesn't work is the same q'ing i would have done anyway. there are instuctions about where to place it if you have a mercedes 'van' type thing like us - have left it to dh to decipher the diagram

it's a very long way, so remember it will take a long time. Crotchety passengers and sleeping drivers should be avoided. Consider an overnight break to make it a much easier drive than you think you need.

We normally drive and this year we have a LiberT toll gizmo for the first time too. Hope it works ok ! Greygirl And MrsGofG let me know how you get on.

We always stop overnight on the journey down so that arrive fresh for skiing. Wouldn't like to be driving up the mountain roads having just driven for 12 hours. We always take food for supper and breakfast which we eat in the room to keep the cost down.
We do the home trip in one go so that saves money on the hotel - and being completey knackered when you get home doesn't matter as much. Just means I take longer to do the unpacking !

Thanks so much for this thread, have ordered my tag in advance of the Easter holidays!

After having repeated bruised myself leaning over the gearstick and handbrake trying to pay on the wrong side of the car I am definitely looking forward to just driving through comfortably!

We got one of those Liber-T tag things last summer. Just beware that it doesn't seem to work the first time you use it, but apparently that is normal (or they just told me that to shut me up!). Anyway, once we'd used it to pay manually (just hand it to the toll booth operator and they scan it) then it should work fine. Sometimes I would take it out of its holder and wave it out of the window - probably not quite the spirit but at least it worked.

LemonEmma, I have been told the same thing about the first time usage, so am now prepared.

we got our telepeage thing because although it is a little more (2euros a month it is used) I loathe being in queues when there is another way!
we go this weekend so I am excited/stressed/ terrified - what an adventure (i know that other people drive through the artic, but they don't have french traffic police to deal with!)
i will definately be preparing a trip report - we flew last week and were delayed 4 hours at Turin which was not too fun (the food provided was cheese&ham sarnies - if you were veggie (or just didn't like cheese&ham) you went hungry.

our encounters with the gendarmes have gerally been amicable - last time had a load of abuse form one (he didn't realise I undertand french ) for stopping on no parking line - (I couldn't actually move because of the snow) and he ended up with his oppo putting on our snow chains for us, and inviting himself to visit us in England

we are going on saturday, driving to paris, staying o'night and then driving to the 3V on sunday - hoping marginally less traffic that day, but prepared with trunks of food etc for long jams...

Do it every year. We live in the SE so if we get a wiggle on we can be in Chamonix in 9 hours via the tunnel. Further south (Killy, 3V) takes a bit longer.

'tis a doddle. Get some winter tyres though (useful in England too when it snows or is just cold and muddy). We have never had to fit chains, even in terrible conditions - winter tyres are good enough.

Oh, and yes Liber-T makes things a lot quicker!

just got winter tyres fitted this week - lots of other @ kwikfit doing the same

Someone might have already mentioned this.....but avoid some of the queues at tolls by buying a pass from the SANEF website. We ordered the LiberT gizmo that goes on your windscreen and should allow us to drive (slowly) through the toll without stopping and then your credit card gets charged for the total amount of tolls used. There are special lanes just for pass holders. It cost nothing when we ordered it as there was an offer on but friends have previously paid 30 Euros. It apparently costs an extra 2 Euros in the month you use it if you want to receive a paper statement - so less than a hot chocolate on the slopes.
We will be trying ours out at Easter - hope it works

am going mad - have already said this. Have been housebound all week with poorly children!!!!

Our experience with a 6 & 8 yr old travelling was ok. We left the west country on a friday (allowing time for friday travelling). We beat the rush hour with time to waste at Dover. What we didn't allow for was the DC sleeping in the car. Although we had 3 drivers, one awake, one driving, one supposed to be asleep. It didn't quite work that way. The one (me) that did the uk driving, even though we took loads of pillows, had to stay awake, due to driver no. 2 falling asleep and DC sort of sleeping. I spent the night keeping the DC heads from rolling forwards and making sure the driver had enough red bull. I'd do it again, but with good neck pillows for DC and pro+

It worked!!!! First time, not prob after all, and every time, from Calias to the Alps. Kids thought it hilarious how excited I was.

So, how was everybody's trip? We had a nightmare delay at the Chunnel on Friday night at the start of half term, which resulted in us being late down to the alps and stuck in horrendous traffic

On the bright side, the sanef tele peage tag was fantabulous , no more prods in the ribs at every peage, and speedy through with no fumbling for change or tickets. Thanks to all those who posted about this!

Well we are back, and have survived the drive! It went very well and we would definately do so again. We drove overnight on the way down, which actually worked well for us - the kids were asleep, little traffic, arrived early(ish) in resort so got good parking. We split the driving into 2 hr stints between us though. We also found a 3 hr delay at the tunnel, but we had a flexipass so drove straight onto the train (thank you peak retreats!). Telepeage doofer worked brilliantly.
On the way back we stopped in dijon for saturday night - meant we had a great saturday skiing.

Will be doing it again (but wish i could afford flexiplus pass!)