Should you drive yourself or hire a private minibus transfer?
Tours TravelThere are several options for traveling from the airport to your ski resort: you can take the train, a coach, a private minibus, or you can drive yourself. However, train and coach times often don’t always coincide with your flight arrival or departure times, so it can mean a lot of waiting and you still need to hire a taxi or arrange to be picked up. at the station to get to your resort accommodation. .
Smaller groups often look to rent a car as a cheaper option than a private transfer service, but there can be many hidden extras when renting a car that can add to the quoted cost substantially. If you are driving to a ski resort you will need snow chains and ideally snow tires. Chains are required on several roads up the mountains and without snow tires it could be quite a slippery and treacherous drive if there is fresh snow.
Another point to take into account is the availability of parking. Many apartment blocks and villas have limited parking, if any, so you may end up paying for parking during the week. And, of course, there’s the hassle factor. If you choose to use a private transfer company, there will be someone waiting for you at the arrivals gate, someone to help you with your luggage, you can walk straight out the door and into the minibus and sit back and relax, without the worry of having to navigate to the station and fighting traffic, looking for change for the toll booths, worrying about putting on snow chains…
To give some examples of prices:
Ford Fiesta through RhinoCarHire, with capacity for 4 adults and carrying around 3 suitcases, costs 31.95 euros per day. This is ‘all inclusive’ of taxes, airport fees and insurance, but if you are bringing skis and need a ski rack that is an additional 35 euros. Snow chains (mandatory for driving up the mountain) are 3.5 euros a day, so that’s an extra 24.5 euros a week, snow tires (recommended) are 7 euros a day, that’s another 49 euros per week. If you want an additional driver it’s an extra 63 euros a week and a child seat is around an extra 30 euros. So for a week’s rental with chains, ski racks and snow tires, you’re looking at just under 330 euros per week.
Easycar.com has an Opal Corsa that you could shove four adults into and a couple of suitcases for €274 and this includes snow chains and tyres. A bigger car like a Golf costs 316 euros a week with snow tires and chains. Car seats, extra drivers and ski racks are all extra and there are no prices listed on the website and are paid when you pick up the car, but availability is not guaranteed.
The cheapest car on BudgetInternational is a Renault Clio that costs 278 euros per week. There is no information on the site about what snow tires, snow chains and ski racks cost more, but an additional driver costs almost 10 euros a day.
Avis, renting in the Swiss part of Geneva you get a Polo for about 54 Euros a day (378 Euros a week) which includes snow tires and chains. A ski rack is 42 euros extra per rental, a child booster seat is 34 euros per rental, an additional driver is 50 euros per week.
Europcar has a VW Polo for 380 euros with winter tires. Hertz has a Ford Fiesta for 330 euros with snow tires and snow chains. Sixt makes a VW Polo from €343 a week and snow tires are an extra €4 a day. Snow chains and a ski rack are also around an extra 4 euros per day.
You can also rent cars on the French side of the Geneva airport. Car hire from this side can be cheaper, but often doesn’t include a winter package and you’ll also need a Switzerland vignette if you want to use the motorway in Switzerland. You can skirt the edge of Switzerland, but this adds about another hour to the trip.
On top of this there will be fuel and tolls of around 45 euros each way (based on Geneva airport to Three Valleys area). The Swiss vignette (30 euros) should come as standard from a pickup on the Swiss side of the Geneva airport.
So you can get a compact car with snow tires and chains for around 330-380 euros a week. A ski rack is extra. In total, you might be looking to pay around 420 to 470 euros for a fully equipped car rental with fuel and tolls to and from the airport.
A transfer for 1-4 people costs around 480-520 euros round trip, so renting a car is only slightly cheaper than a private minibus transfer, and of course you have to worry about driving in the snow, finding the resort and lodging, putting on snow chains if conditions are bad, and parking.