Les Arcs to Manches...
 

[Closed] Les Arcs to Manchester by myself on a weekday

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How would you do this? The cheapest I have found so far is a 200 euro taxi to Geneva airport and then a flight to Manchester. From what I can see, the next best option is a transfer to Bourg then the TGV to Paris then an Uber to the airport. This wouldn't be much cheaper than my original plan and a lot more time consuming, and ill have a bike bag with me.

Is there a bus from Les Arcs to Geneva?

Any suggestions welcome.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 1:30 pm
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Have you tried Cool Bus. I think they do transfers


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 1:33 pm
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TGV to Lyon and flight from Lyon?


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 1:36 pm
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We did the sleeper train from Bourg, through Paris, onto London. Then my friend get the train back to Manchester. Most of the travel was at night, so some sleep was had, although there were a few changes, the overall price was around the same as a flight.

If you factor in one less nights accomodation, it was a little cheaper. A good adventure tho'

got lots of info from [url= https://www.seat61.com/ ]A Man in seat 61[/url]


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 1:45 pm
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We did the sleeper train from Bourg, through Paris, onto London.

I thought the sleeper service had been cancelled?


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 1:53 pm
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Train* from Bourg St. maurice to Paris CDG.Prob about 6-7 hours.* indicates you will probably find it's a bus to Albertville and then changing at Lyon. But you can book it all on 1 ticket at SNCF.com

Alternatively Geneva (or possibly Turin). Lyon is useless for N England outside ski season: Car hire or find someone with space in a car on blablacar.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 2:33 pm
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I've done Bourg to Geneva Airport on the train with a bike bag. It takes a while (4-5hrs) and has a couple of changes at Chambéry and the main Geneva station.

I had an evening flight so wasn't in a mad rush, and I'd do it again. Nice and cheap too (under 40 quid).

Check out loco2.com for timetable + tickets.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 2:43 pm
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yes, i just checked and saw that the overnight has been discontinued. We did it the summer before it was stopped.

Shame, it was a nice way to get to the Alps. Sleep all the way, wake in the mountains.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 3:31 pm
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The train looked like a decent option until you look at the times. Rolling eyes emoji


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 3:45 pm
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Is there no Brits in Bourg who can help out. There were quite a few on the campsite when we were their on Monday and Tuesday


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 3:48 pm
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I've looked into this a lot after last year’s trip to Les Arcs.

I’m sure you’ve spent too long putting details into transfer websites who drag you in with tales of €50 transfers, let me save you the hassle – I tried them all, they’re all winter ones. There aren't any scheduled transfers between Geneva and Les Arcs as far as I could find anyway - you can book one, but it's expensive - €300 or more.

I personally couldn’t find any useful flights to any of the other 2 local airports in France in summer, loads in winter, none I could find last year in summer. But I was looking at Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham which meant Geneva was my only option.

You can take a train or trains from Bourg to Geneva Airport, it’s not direct and not horribly expensive - €50ish I think from memory, you can use one of those clever websites to work out what tickets you need and then just make sure you get off and on when you should, but they don’t run either very early or very late so you might find you can’t make a fight or will be spending a long time in the airport – this was the only palatable option I found until the 11th hour.

In the end a mate decided to fly with me – which meant a hire car for a week was an option as our other mates took our bikes and bags in the van. In your shoes I’d be looking at a 1 day rental dropping the car off at Geneva airport on the French side, giving myself plenty of time in case I had to strip the bike to get it into the back of a hatchback and then cramming it in the bag at the airport. Geneva always has loads of flights you should be able to fly to Manchester fairly easily.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 3:59 pm
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P-Jay where did you hire a car from?


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 4:38 pm
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I used a broker site, it was about £120 for a week for a C2 or something, but we ended up with a top spec Catcus which was nice.

If you play around with the broker sites you get some real bargains, just make sure you'll looking at the french side of the airport, it's less faffy somehow and easier to get a one-way rental.


 
Posted : 06/07/2017 4:42 pm