Flying / renting car and driving to a resort.. where is suitable

timaaaaay

Hi, as the title suggests, what European resorts are suitable for renting a car at the nearest airport and driving to the resort? Wont be needing lessons, just hiring of skis and boots.

One important thing to consider is severity of road conditions, do many people do this?
Reasoning behind it is that its a cheap and flexible option to be able to go for 4/5 days, over a long weekend?
Any suggestions welcomed.

olaola

I think Austria is the handiest as you can fly into Zurich, Munich, Salzberg, Vienna or Innsbruck. And any resort there is not more than 2 hours away from one of these airports.

EileenG

Most of the main resorts have roads which are regularly cleared and accessible. The only ones which might be a problem are the small resorts with long access roads like Puy St Vincent. Resorts like Les Arcs and Tignes should be fine.

If you fly to Grenoble, you have a very easy drive to Chamrousse. Lots of nice resorts within an hours drive from Geneva. The Sella Ronda is a couple of hours from Venice, and motorway most of the way. Val Cenis (recently expanded) is accessible from Turin.

zuroph

i fly to girona and drive up to french pyrenees, to a small resort called font romeu. very handy, and cheap! last trip for a week including lift pass flights car and self catering accom cost me <€400

Poster King

I'm just back from Zermatt, 3 fabulous days on the mountain, Friday was a bit nasty but sat and sun were magic, loads of snow, empty pistes and lots of fesh powder everywhere. Lift system there is now unrivalled in my opinion. However it is expensive to eat out and at mountain restaurants.

5 of us flew to geneva and took an Opel Astra Estate with winter tyres and snow chains. Cost per head was €60 incl rental (Budget Car Hire), fuel and parking at Tasch. (Zermatt is a car free resort so you have to leave your car lower down the valley and take the train). Less than 3 hour drive though we did stop in Sion for food and shopping. Train all they way from Geneva to Zermatt would have been €80 I think and would have taken longer. On Monday morning we had to contend with snow covered roads but the ploughs had been out so we didn't even need our chains.

Last December I flew to Friedrichshafen in Germany and drove to St Anton, less than a 2 hour drive, motorway all the way to within a few km of our hotel. Whilst there we drove to Lech for a day's skiing. We did nearly get stuck on the way back to airport as we had to leave at 6am and there had been 2 foot of snow overnight, but the ploughs were soon out and we made our flight just in time.

I also driven from Grenoble to Les Arcs, about 2 and a half hours, and Geneva to Val d'Isere, also about two and a half hours.
Verbier is just over an hour and a half from Geneva. I used to do it regularly as a kid before the motorway was built to Martigny and it was a long haul but now it is easy run. Chamonix and the whole Port du Soleil area are even closer to Geneva.

I love the fly-drive option, it gives you a lot of flexibility and as you pointed out earlier, is works much better for long weekends too. It is also often less costly than trains or coach transfers and alway less costly than private mini bus transfer. You do have to consider the parking facilities at the resort and you can also be affected by snowy road conditions. But with any trip that you book independently, as opposed to using a tour operator, there are increased risks, but for me, well worth it.

timaaaaay

thanks all for the replies, plenty food for thought!

Has anyone been to Obertauern in Austria? Has been recommended to me as an option, fly into Salzburg...

loobylou

Obertauern is great, high, snowsure with good apres. Highly recommended.