So this summer me and my partner have finally decided to do an Alps MTB trip. We’re going to be going with a group of friends who luckily have been a lot before, and have pretty much sorted out a good 2 week itinerary for us to follow. In terms of what we get up to while we’re there and what areas we’re going to ride, it’s pretty much all set. (1st week Morzine, 2nd week Haute Alps).

The one dilemma we’re facing though is how to get there, and how to get around while we’re there. I’ve been told by my friend who is planning the trip that we’ll definitely need a car to get around. Problem is the only car I have is a Nissan Leaf, while it’s awesome for 99% of my driving it’s really not suitable for such a long distance (160 miles range).

Does anyone have any experience/knowledge on either renting a car here and driving it there and back again afterwards, or alternatively flying out there and renting a car over there? I know either solution won’t be cheap, but any help on it would be greatly appreciated!

driving out isn’t a huge amount cheaper than flying, so if I were you I’d fly and rent, which will also avoid all the cross-border faff.

You def don’t need a car in morzine though, I just park up and leave it for a week, I don’t know about the second half of your trip.. so you might be able to get away with just renting a car for the second week or not renting one at all..

Fly to Geneva.
Train / Bus to Morzine for first week.
Train / Bus back to Geneva mid-trip
Hire car for a week for the road trip and travel around Haute Alps
Return to Geneva and fly home

Depends on where you’re staying relative to lifts, shopping etc and the actual resort. And what you’ll need to do when you’re there (Self catering or catered etc).
I’ve done it all three ways, drive all the way, fly then hire a car for the duration or fly then use a transfer service and rely on in resort transport.

Renting in the UK and then driving into the EU isn’t likely to be particularly cheap or easy. Also, neither is renting at the airport.

Can you borrow a car from someone?

We definitely need the car for the whole two weeks. The first week in Morzine will be a base but we’ll be driving around the area, so getting it for just one week isn’t an option.

I’ll definitely look into borrowing a car but not sure anyone I know has one that has space for two bikes in the back!

particularly cheap or easy. Also, neither is renting at the airport.

in my experience, renting cars at the airport is the cheapest and easiest way of renting cars as there’s lots of competition and volume

The first week in Morzine will be a base but we’ll be driving around the area, so getting it for just one week isn’t an option.

the portes du soleil is really easy to get around using lifts – in fact normally its way quicker to do this than driving as the roads are slow and go all over the place. I find driving round the area slow and frustrating

It’s not up to me I’m afraid, like I said my friend has planned the itinerary and I’ll need a car for the whole two weeks.

are your mates driving out there? in which case see if you can piggyback on their transport options – buying a rack for their car is going to be a bunch cheaper than renting from geneva for 2 weeks

Rent at home and drive everything with you and take all the spares you need for the whole trip. Breaking something then trying to get it fixed as opposed to sorting it yourself could be a bit of a chase around. Pluss stuff from a shop is always more spendy. And you can take a track pump, workstand etc etc.

are your mates driving out there? in which case see if you can piggyback on their transport options – buying a rack for their car is going to be a bunch cheaper than renting from geneva for 2 weeks

They wouldn’t have space for more than the two of them in the car unfortunately.

Rent at home and drive everything with you and take all the spares you need for the whole trip. Breaking something then trying to get it fixed as opposed to sorting it yourself could be a bit of a chase around. Pluss stuff from a shop is always more spendy. And you can take a track pump, workstand etc etc.

This definitely does seem like the most obvious option at the moment, albeit not cheap.

You need a crewcab van, really, for 4 people plus 4 bikes.

It’ll not be cheap but split 4 ways it’ll make sense, you can share the driving etc. With one person driving and the others resting you can do UK to Alps in one hit with nothing more than toilet-stops and driver swaps.

And the beauty is, you can then take absolutely tonnes of stuff, kit, spares, etc etc.

Enterprise etc all have Caravelles, Transits etc on their books.

What about hiring a vehicle between you all and splitting the cost of it/fuel/tolls/ferry or tunnel.

£80 tolls each way (from memory)
£125 tunnel each way (if you don’t want to go at 2am)
Tank of fuel each way in France

Although hiring can be expensive you can soon make it more cost effective splitting the travel costs.

+1 to Rickmeister’s suggestion.

I think it would be great to be able to take all your spares/biking bits with you; don’t necessarily need a big car if there is only two of you plus bikes and this would save partially disassembling bikes & packing in bike bags for travel; but worth pricing up airport parking/flights/Geneva car rental, versus renting a car in UK/fuel/tolls when driving out.

2 weeks of riding in France sounds ace though!

2 weeks, 2 people with accommodation booked (no camping requirement) I’d cost out the rental options (Including Chunnel costs) and then I’d go looking at the relative cost of buying a shit-box ICE hatchback of some sort.

It doesn’t have to be a nice or new car just up to the job of doing a 2 week road trip, anything recouped from flogging it after would serve to offset the cost of your trip. Anything you rent is just going to be money paid out and you will be more worried about damage caused heaving bikes in and out…

The beauty of a shitbox is you don’t have to treat it nicely.

in my experience, renting cars at the airport is the cheapest and easiest way of renting cars as there’s lots of competition and volume

Depends massively on the airport and timing, i’ve had some of the most expensive (and cheapest) hire cars from airports.

I’d defo buy something here and resell on return.

I’ll definitely look into borrowing a car but not sure anyone I know has one that has space for two bikes in the back!

We drove down to the Pyrenees then back up via Morzine in a Corsa with two bikes and camping kit. All packed inside although we did take a folding bike rack for shorter stints. Renting then taking it overseas can be hard or expensive. Any family memebers with a suitable car?

French supermarkets (Super-U for eg) offer decent, cheap car/van hire – if you can get to one. Last summer I rented a mid-sized van, with 1 day’s notice, for a week, for about 20 Euro per day in Bourg St Maurice…

Do Nissan not do preferential rates for hiring to cover such circumstances?

Looking into it more, we might just do our own thing for the week we’re in Morzine for and stay around the PDS lifts. The second week of the trip is actually going to be a fully catered guided week so we wouldn’t need a car, and the company offers shuttles to and from Geneva.

Makes the most sense (I think?) to fly since it’s not that expensive, shuttle to morzine and back, then take the guide company shuttle. Yes we won’t be able to take a lot of spares etc but that’s offset by not having to pay for hire car, eurotunnel, tolls etc.

if you’re doing that just throw spares, helmets, tyres etc in your mates car. If possible get them to take the bikes as well (packing down for the long journey you can get 4 bikes wheels of in most cars) as it saves a load on faff later on, give them the £100 you’d have spent on taking the bike on the plane to cover their fuel

Sounds like you could choose to rent a car for just the first week, or simply a few days and then rely on mates/guides during the second week.

I suppose the less absolute need for personal transport you have the better and you don’t need to pay out to rent/borrow/buy, fuel and insure a car just for a relatively short trip.

How you getting down there if not using a car? Train or plane? Chucking bikes and kit in with friends will reduce the amount you need to lug/check but needs a bit more planning and organisation than just filling the boot and going…