Self drive to the Alps with your family this ski season

France is one of the world’s most popular self drive ski holidays, with people travelling from all over Europe to experience all the exhilaration a week on the piste has to offer. Many French resorts are interlinked to form huge ski circuits, offering you the chance to try out many different places and runs during one trip. Plus with amazing scenery and fantastic après-ski, a French skiing holiday offers unbeatable leisure choices for both day and night.

Along with all this, the other major reason many people choose French self-ski drive is the lack of baggage restrictions, which means you can bring exactly what you want with you (even if it is that extra pair of jeans you know you’ll never wear!). Add that to the fact you can bring up to 9 people per car, and with prices starting at just £25, it’s easy to see why more and more people are choosing to visit the Alps with their car for family ski holidays.

It’s easy to reach the mountains using the French motorway network, and recent improvements to the road system have meant the long jams once experienced are now a thing of the past. Driving to the Southern Alps via Chambery you can easily reach resorts such as Val d’Isere, Les Arcs and La Plagne during your second day out from the Channel Ports — the more adventurous could do it in one long stint. Or if you choose to fly and hire a car Morzine, Avoriaz and Flaine, are little more than an hour from Geneva Airport.

The costs will depend on how fast you drive, the type of car and your exact destination. In a recent excursion to Val d’ Isere, the total return cost to take a mid-size family car with 4 people in it was approximately £300 – including autoroute tolls and fuel. Add in a cheap rate Eurotunnel crossing (£100) and the total cost becomes approximately £400. With 3 or more people in the car, you can see how the costs can look quite favourable compared to flying.