By Road

Chalet Le Moulin is located in the closest part of the Alps to the UK.  In France you can travel down to the Alps on blissfully smooth, private motorways. Do buy some snow chains for the mountain roads. But you can easily buy them when you arrive - even the big supermarkets have them and they are much cheaper than in the UK. If you are coming for more than a week, in a spacious car, then driving is an option.  

By Air

Arriving in Geneva Airport is a smooth Swiss efficient operation, just like the Swiss watch advertisements dotting the airport. Pick up your pre-booked hire car, and you can slip past the milling crowds of tourists still sorting out their coach transfers.

Just follow the motorway that takes you into France and 20 minutes further leave it behind and follow the road into the famously beautiful Giffre valley with a series of villages just 5 minutes of so apart. The most notable are Samoens, Morillon, Les Carroz, Sixt and on the other side Les Gets & Morzine. all about 5 minutes apart on the valley bottom and in the huge mountains above each has ski resorts which are usually linked into each other.

At the Chalet, drop off your bags and drive the last bit up to the slopes to ski the same day at Sommand and over to the linked village of Praz de Lys. It really is that simple. Here is what driving there is like - squeezed into a minute - and the climb up to Sommand’s main ski chair lift.

Not only has Sommand the closest skiing to Geneva, but also one of the highest with a reputation its abundant snow, and unspoilt scenery - its a designated natural reserve so hotels must be hidden in the forest.

By Rail

Eurostar/TGV will whisk you at blinding speed across France and in comfort. Tickets are obtainable from RailEurope at the French Tourist Board. The TGV train transports you via Paris and Annecy to nearby Cluses. Eurostar from London, Brussels and other European starting points as far afield as Edinburgh, are integrated into the schedule. Go on, lower your carbon footprints or ski-boot prints!

Fly-Drive-Ski - why is it better?

Geneva’s International “Cointrin” airport is the only airport that truly nestles up against the Alps. The others are all at some distance from the mountains and for this reason it has more ski tourists than any other in the world. Most of the surrounding villages, each have their own ski resort and are nearly all linked up into two groups on either side of the valley. These allow you to explore for miles and miles, and a good skier can manage to cover Morillon, to Samoens to Flaine for example and get back perhaps via Sixt.  

However, the majority of skiers at Geneva will pass it by and spend a full day being bussed down busy and winding roads to the Southern French Alps or further off into the west of Switzerland. By the time they reach their final destination they will have wasted a day of a typical weeks holiday. They will then lose another day coming back doing it all again. Its just stress and time you wont get back.

Hiring your own car bypasses the crowds and delays at the airport by avoiding all the usual “herd stress” of a coach transfer. Later it gives you back the freedom to visit any of the surrounding village ski resorts by just parking up next to their main chair lift and the car provides a place to keep all your extra warm kit and spares. Or why not spend a day exploring the Alpine towns, like Annecy, or visit Geneva on your last day on the way back.

Fly-Drive-Ski saves time and gives you choice. Geneva airport has all  the normal car rental companies and you can book with Europcar directly through Easyjet’s own web site. But Rhino Car Hire gives much the best deal. We find they’re the cheapest and like Holiday Autos they use the same car pool that the big firms all use.