Getting there by air
Geneva is the nearest airport, and is served by several airlines – check out www.expedia.co.uk to find out which one works best for you, but they include: Easyjet (Belfast, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle & Nottingham - EMA) www.easyjet.com Flybe (Birmingham, Exeter, Norwich & Southampton) www.flybe.com bmibaby (Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester & Nottingham - EMA) www.bmibaby.com Jet2 (Leeds/Bradford & Manchester) www.jet2.com Swiss (London City Airport & London Heathrow) www.swiss.com BA (London City Airport, London Heathrow, Manchester & Birmingham) www.ba.com Flyglobespan (Edinburgh) www.flyglobespan.com Satellite Travel (Gatwick, Manchester & Stansted - Charter Flights) www.satellitetravel.co.uk
From Geneva airport to Les Houches
You can get to Les Houches from Geneva in under an hour via car (see car rentals below), or just over an hour via minibus. Once in Les Houches, the local buses (free with lift pass during the season) are frequent and reliable, and cover both the village and the valley… they run into Chamonix on average every 20 minutes, and similarly around the village. Cham-Van is a door-to-door transfer from Geneva airport to Chamonix. Prices range from €25 to €40 per person, depending on number of passengers, for airport transfers. Cham-Van also offer in-resort transfers from 5 euros (www.cham-van.com). Another great minibus service to and from the airport is called AlpyBus (www.alpybus.com) which costs between €20 and €35 per person depending on how far in advance you book. There is also a bus service (www.altibus.com) from Geneva airport to Les Houches which runs around 4 times a day and costs €35 one-way and €55 return per person. If you want to throw money at a luxi-alternative (still cheaper than renting a car for the whole week), call Fabrizio Piazza, alias Billy, on +33 616 841 450. He does airport transfers whilst showing movies (Disney for the kids, a wide range for the adults) on his in-car DVD…. He can also do late-night trips back from Chamonix if you’ve missed the last bus at 9.45pm… he charges €35 back to Les Houches, whether there’s two of you in the people-carrier or six….
Other taxi services in the area include (if calling from overseas, add +33 and remove the first zero) Taxi M. Persault - Les Houches : 04 50 54 41 09 and 06 07 27 71 61Taxi Garny Hervé - Les Houches : 04 50 54 44 60 and 06 12 35 30 72 Taxi Marc Bonin - Servoz : 04 50 47 23 42 and 06 84 66 86 73 (www.taxiservoz.com)
Car rentals
Families with small children, and those wanting to explore different ski areas, might prefer the convenience of a hire car. We have discovered that it’s a bit of a nightmare to rent a car on the French side of the airport. It means traveling through the centre of Geneva, which can double your journey time from one hour to two hours. However, it does save you €30 in Swiss motorway tariffs… we’re also told that renting a car on the Swiss side is a bit more expensive than the French side. Nevertheless, our view is that the extra €50 or so in total is worth it to avoid the sheer hassle of double border-control, no motorway, centre of town traffic and incomprehensible directions to the French side! So, our advice – if you’re renting a car – is to book it on the Swiss side, and get straight onto the motorway.
Directions
Once on the A40 motorway to Chamonix Mont-Blanc, take the first exit after about 40 minutes to Les Houches, which is just after the big viaduct. You will take a few bends up the road until you reach the main street, with the Bellevue ski lift directly opposite you at the T junction. Take a left, and then an IMMEDIATE left down the ramp into the parking area for our building. At this point, you will need to park for a moment, and get the keys and the beeper for the garage out of the postbox, information on which you will receive once you've booked. After collecting the keys, carry on down the ramp, swing right into the garage and find the car park slot marked ‘B12’ which is in the second section on the right.
Please email info@rentalp.com with any questions