Chalet Etoile

The location of the chalet on a Google map 

It is easy to reach Le Grand Bornand by car or plane.

Traveling by air:

Geneva airport is under an hours drive away from Chalet Etoile and is serviced by a huge number of airlines.  There are local taxi services that can collect you from the airport, or it is easy to hire a car.  Easyjet fly to Geneva from several UK airports including, Stansted, Luton and Bristol.  British Airways fly from Heathrow and Gatwick.  Air France and Swiss Air fly out of City Airport.  It is worth checking both as they camn be surprisingly competitive.  Several airlines including bmibaby.com and Jet2.com fly out of Manchester.

For a selection of cheap flights and different airlines, try Skyscanner (which searches various airlines) for the cheapest tickets.

Driving from Geneva Airport to le Grand Bornand is incredibly simple and takes less than an hour.  When leaving the airport from the car rental car park, it is very easy to reach the motorway to France, but there are one or two simple things to remember please see our Picasa web album for pictures of the road signs leaving the airport.

 Car rental at Geneva Airport - The most important thing to remember when hiring a car from Geneva Airport is to book it in Switzerland not France!!!!!!!!!  (If booking on the internet, when you type Geneva Contrin Airport into the pick up location, they will give you the choice of France or Switzerland) There are a number of reasons why this is very important.  Mainly that the airport is situated in Switzerland, so the second you leave the airport you need a special permit to drive on the Swiss motorways.  Cars hired from Switzerland have this permit already in the cars.  When you leave through baggage collections and customs, you exit right by the Swiss car rental companies, but have to go upstairs to arrivals to collect a car booked in France.   Cars are marginally cheaper to hire in France, do not be tempted by this, when you return the car you will be charged to buy a swiss permit, this is approximately 20 euros which apparently is approximately the difference in price of the two rentals!! so to cut a long story short, it is not worth it.  We have used  National Car Rentals  and Europcar they have always been competitively priced, reliable, and efficient, and with no queues.  Cars hired from the airport in winter will always be equipped with winter tyres and snow chains but you may be charged a supplement.  We have recently found a company called auto-europe  who will search various car hire companies and offer you discouted rates.  They give you a voucher to take to a specific car hire company (we have just booked a car via auto-europe from Europcar at nearly 50% discount).  Once your paperwork has been done at the approriate car hire company,  you will need to get a shuttle bus to car park 51.  In all honesty this car park is only a few (approx 5)  minutes walk away.  In peak season if there is a long queue, walking may be the best answer if you do not have too many bags and or small children.

 If you are renting a car book well in advance to get a good price, the prices go up as supply becomes short, and it is known for every single car rental company at Geneva Airport to sell out of cars for busy periods!! Please be warned!

Driving from the airport to Le Grand Bornand is very simple, you can use the motorway to Chamonix and leave at the Bonneville exit and follow signs to Le Grand Bornand or you can take the new A41 to Annecy.  As you will see from the website there is much excitement and anticpation about the opening of this new road! For detailed directions to the chalet from the UK or Geneva airport please contact us.

Pre booking a car parking space at Luton Airport can save you up to 30% of the on the standard drive up fare.  Just give them your dates and times and they will give you a price option in each of their car parks.  When returning, take your ticket to the car park desk in the terminal and they will issue you with an exit ticket.

 For a transfer from Geneva airport or a taxi in an around Le Grand Bornand you can try Eric Bastard  who we have used several times, or Taxi-Grand Bornand.  For airport transfers  friends have used Geneva-taxi  and Mel at Aravis-tours .  Our agent in France ,Emma (see booking/availablity page) can also arrange a transfer for you.

 Driving from the UK:

The drive from Calais to Le Grand Bornand takes approximately 8 hours and is easy to do in one stretch.  Eurotunnel is the simplest way to cross the channel, the best alternative is P&O Ferries.  Again beware Eurotunnel can get sold out at peak times, so book ahead.  Bison Fute is a very useful advisory website produced by the French Government giving up to date information on the road network in France, including all roadworks and anticipated problems.

If you want to break your journey, we have found Le Val Moret an excellent place to stop, just 100 yards from the motorway junction (exit 22 of the A5) just beyond Troyes (approx 4 hours from Calais) it is as close to half way between Calais and the Alps as possible.  Rooms are motel style, clean and comfortable and approx 80 euros for a family room.  The food there is fine although a bit pricey and there is a playground for the kids

 If driving your own car it is a legal requirement when in the French Alps to have snow chains in your car.