Wanna go ride in August, but not booked any flights yet and considering just driving out to miss the whole drama of bags and packing bike etc. more room for spares etc.

Plus the car is somewhere safer than a tent to leave bikes if we go for dinner/few beers/lots of beers.

Is it a huge ball ache driving to chamonix? I live in the lakes, so the fuel cost+ferry+tolls is gonna be a lot but is it gonna be a lot more than train+flight+transfer?

UK train? Probably cheaper to drive to the moon.

How many people? Two or more and it starts to get competitive. Plenty of other upsides too. It is a fairly easy drive on the toll roads with cruise control.

On your own? yes expensive. With 3 mates?, can be about the same as flights. We’ve managed – £50 for the crossing (Dover-Calais), driving all the way at 65mph, cramming everything inside the car, only using toll roads if we had to etc

One car two people. I’ve not thought about the train. Ye I just can’t be bothered with all the hassle, am I just being soft? I can just see loads of benefits!

did it about 10 years ago and it was great fun, booked a cheap ferry and drove to Morzine, stopped off at Geneva for the night but of course to save money you can drive another hour or so to the resort.

The toll’s do add up and you also have to pay road tax when you enter Geneva, well you used to?? it was about 40 euros i think but that was some time ago now.

Always used to drive (from the Lakes) on climbing trips. The Channel crossing can be the expensive bit. We used to bivvy in the French autoroute/motorway rest areas. Either down the autoroute, past Paris, Dijon etc and approach Cham from the West or over to Luxembourg, through the Jura.

6 of us are driving out again this year in 2 cars costing 300 each including accomodation. love it there

We always drive to the Alps. Loads of benefits as you say. Bikes get there in one piece at the same time you do, you can take loads of stuff including spare parts, you have a car when you get there so can get to other trails and other activities. We start down south and finish in Morzine so it’s a bit shorter. We stop overnight in an F1 near the motorway to break the journey and it makes the timing better.

Use the viamichelin route planner and it’ll tell you how much tolls will be – prob about £60 each way. You can also tweak it based on the mpg of your vehicle and it will tell you cost of fuel. It’s basically 8hrs off the ferry to Morzine (with a few stops) so prob similar to Chamonix.

Tony> where and when are you going?

I live on the otherside of the country to you and drive to The Alps/Provence most summers and have been for 10 years now…. no problem at all.
Taking your own vehicle solves a lot of (possible) logistical problems, you can stop when you want, where you want.

3rd aug 🙂

It was all £70s for me from Leeds.

£70 fuel there, £70 fuel back, £70 tolls there, £70 tolls back, £70 odd for an early booked Eurotunnel return (might have been an offer).

16 hours non-stop. Easier coming back as was setting off after a night’s sleep rather than a day’s work.

I live in the lakes, so the fuel cost+ferry+tolls is gonna be a lot but is it gonna be a lot more than train+flight+transfer?

Yes.

Just the tolls could cost you the same as trains (to Mancs/Glasgow?), flights and transfers

What’s chamomix like track wise? I’m knocking around then in Morzine / pila / somewhere

Live in chamonix and drive home to Glasgow once a year. Generally 20 – 24hr door to door using the tolls (73 euro) dunkerque to Dover (30ish) and m6. Fuel depends on what you drive and how, but I stick to about 110kph the whole way, and get the drive done in a reasonable time. It is way easier sharing the driving though! Having a car in chamonix is a big help too as in early aug means you aren’t limited by the bike ban and can ride the quiet spots nearby…