UKC

Planning to hire a car to drive from Geneva airport to Cham but I'm confused about the Swiss/French split. If I'm going to France should I just hire from the French side (they are listed as separate airports on car hire sites)? Or is the French side only for domestic flights?

In reply to Oujmik:
You can come out of the airport in either country (look carefully for a corridor to the French exit). French car hire is normally cheaper but it doesn't include the carnet that is needed for motorways in Switzerland.

In reply to Oujmik:

Getting through Geneva by trying to avoid Swiss motorways is a time consuming faff and without a sat nav it's easy to get lost. It's also worth noting that the French/Swiss border, a door, is sometimes locked and unavailable for considerable periods of time. I've done it twice, never again.

Al

In reply to Oujmik:

I was in Chamonix two weeks ago and hired a car.

GET IT FROM THE SWISS SIDE!

I can't say that enough.

In reply to Oujmik:

As everyone else has said, trying to pick your way through Geneva in a French car avoiding the motorways is a faff you should avoid at all costs.

Not relevant this time of year, but its worth noting that hiring from the Swiss side in the winter means you get winter tyres (and maybe chains, I can't remember) since these are mandatory on Swiss roads, but not in France. The cost of winter tyres in France is usually ridiculous as an add on.

In reply to Oujmik:

Get it from the Swiss side, i have had quite a few friends who have had issues with the French side and have sworn never to do that again.

In reply to Oujmik:

And I'll add another voice to that - hired once from the French side, never again, complete nightmare.

In reply to ClimberEd:

Seems like there can be problems. However, I have hired half a dozen times without a snag. You can buy a carnet if needed at the border and it often works out cheaper.

In reply to GridNorth:

I 've done this too. Also never again - caught my flight back by about 30 seconds.

In reply to yorkshireman:



That's not 100% correct, snow tyres are recommended but not mandatory. A sign will tell you when they become obligatory. When you see the sign (Chains obligatory), chains have to be fitted or you risk a fine.

In reply to Oujmik:

Great, thanks all. I'd suspected that the Swiss side would be a safer bet. It's currently cheaper too (but not cheap, nothing is in Geneva it seems!).

In reply to Oujmik:

Hire from whichever side is easier - speaking as someone who has been lost in Geneva twice on the way to and from the airport.

In reply to Sealwife:

On the Swiss side I would expect to be in Chamonix in about an hour after picking up the car. When I went from the French side it took me well over 3 hours. 45 minutes of that were due to the border being closed the rest because of Geneva traffic.

Al

I rented from the French side, and drove to and from GVA from the mountains of France _twice_ in the last few days. Nothing bad happened to me.
I rent from the French side of GVA several times a year, and never have any problems with navigation or traffic.
How?
1) I have a GPS track (static track .gpx, not dynamic navigation).
2) I have a sequence of place-names that I follow.
3) My GPS track and my sequence of avoids the Switzerland motorways _and_ avoids going through the center city of Geneva.
4) My track and sequence connects well with the French motorways A40 + A41.

Ken

A couple of days ago I again successfully drove from the Alps of France to the GVA airport French sector during morning rush hour with no Switzerland motorway/interstate/autoroute vignette, and returned my rental car which I had hired from French sector -- then flew home.

But I have to admit it was more of a hassle than I remembered. And I’m thinking that the causes of the hassles are not going to get changed.
The silliest problems were in walking indoors from the French sector to the Swiss sector. (I think the fundamental reason is that the French sector just isn’t very important to the managers of GVA, so they’re more concerned to prevent any adverse impact from it to the main Switz side than they are to make it convenient for users of the French side.)
Next time I will first park my car on the Swiss side, check in with my airline to get a Boarding Pass and to give them my baggage, before driving around to the French side to return the rental car.

I did not expect these problems because it has always been rather easy to get myself and my substantial baggage indoors from the Switzerland sector to the France sector when I _arrive_ at GVA on my flight from home. I was told today that they make it difficult to go the other way from France to Switzerland (when departing) because the indoor walking route goes through the Switzerland baggage claim area, and there had been some problems with thefts.

The two problems walking from France to Switz are (1) getting through the automated entry gate requires a Boarding Pass; and (2) the luggage carts/chariots are too wide to fit through the automated entry gate. I encountered both problems because I had substantial baggage and I had not checked in with my (non-French) airline. I solved them in less than five minutes by going to some information desk and complaining. Turns out they are very familiar with the problem. Their first idea of a solution was to tell me to check in on the French side, using an automated kiosk conveniently located next to the automated entry gate. I pointed out that this would not solve my luggage chariot problem.

So after a short wait, a human assistant manually opened a different wider doorway so me (still with no boarding pass) and my wide chariot could evade the narrow automated entry gate. Next I had to put my chariot onto a steep escalator going downward to the baggage claim level. The human assistant told me this was would work OK if I did not hold or press the brake-release bar. And it did work.

Then I walked pushing my luggage chariot through the baggage claim area and through Switz customs “nothing to declare”. At last I was fully in Switzerland, on the Arrivals level. I rolled my luggage chariot/cart onto an elevator (how civilized!) up to the Enregistrement level and rolled out and over to my airline’s check-in desk. Everything was straightforward from there.

Conclusion: Not much of problem if your airline makes it easy to do automated check-in at the kiosks available in French sector, and not carrying substantial luggage. Otherwise solvable by first parking and checking in with my airline on Switzerland side. Or by persistently requesting human help on the French sector in to get me around the automated entry gate.

Which leaves the other problem of the driving navigation . . .

Driving from the Alps of France in to GVA without a vignette, without using the Switzerland motorway/interstate/autoroutes -- during weekday morning rush hour. I’ve done this successfully several times. But I doubt the Switzerland/Geneva authorities will ever make this straightforward because it would (a) clog the (somewhat tricky) local streets with inexperienced foreign drivers; (b) reduce sales of vignettes for the Switzerland autoroute/motorway; (c) reduce hires from Switzerland rental car businesses.

My strategies:
* avoid center city Geneva traffic
* GPS with a detailed static track to follow -- to help me avoid missing a key turn -- or to get me back on route in case I do miss a turn. I fear that relying on GPS dynamic navigation might put me into heavy traffic or some stupid narrow “shortcut” street, or onto a motorway.
* also have a sequential list of road-sign place names to follow.
* in Switzerland, select roads with place names on a Blue-color background.
* do not go toward or onto roads with place names on a Green-color background.
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My sequence of road-sign place names for driving from Alps of France _in_ to GVA:
* Assume starting on A40 or A41 France autoroute/interstate/motorway.
* St-Julien-en-Genevois (on Blue-color background)
* St-Julien-en-Genevois (on White-color background)
* Geneve (on Green-color background -- this is OK because still in France) - with some turns and curves through city of St-Julien.
* straight through border crossing into Perly, Switerland (not much marked). Several opportunities here to refill fuel in rental car before returning it. Continue straight across Switz autoroute/motorway. See signs for
* Plan-les-Ouates -- Continue straight, then soon after roundabout, critical Left turn for
* Lancy -- Enter tunnel and quickly change lanes for
* Airport -- Follow the same road for a long ways with a few curves and lane changes. At the Balexert shopping/parking center, key Left turn for
* Airport -- Go down hill a ways, then obvious Right turn for
* Airport -- As pass by airport Switzerland side, continue straight for
* Palexpo
* Ferney -- with various turns and curves and lane changes (avoid following signs with Green-color background). Cross Switz autoroute/motorway. Then cross border into France. Immediate roundabout to go back sharp Left to
* aeroport secteur Francais
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My sequence of road-sign place names for driving from GVA _out_ to Alps of France:
. . . (bear in mind that the goal is to get to Perly (the Switz town adjoining the French city of St-Julien).
* drive out from GVA French sector and turn Right to to cross border from France into Switzerland.
* Airport
* Toutes Directions / parking P51 -- then just after P51, make Right turn for
* Balexert / Geneve center, with a curve right, then another Right turn, then straight for a ways, then turn Right for
* Perly (perhaps also signs for Lancy). Continue on same road for a long way with some curves and some lane changes to keep following Perly. Enter Lancy, then in a tunnel make a critical Right turn for
* Plan-les-Ouates -- soon a roundabout (and do _not_ go towaard Carouges or Geneve) -- exit the roundabout following a small sign for
* Rue St-Julien -- Next roughly straight for a ways through+past Plan-les-Ouates, cross the Switz autoroute, roughly straight into
* Perly (Switzerland)
* cross border into France, into city of St-Julien-en-Genevois (not much marked)
* Centre Ville (straight through some roundabouts)
* A40 + A41 on Blue-color background -- curve Left, next some curves and turns - (perhaps also note signs for Cruseilles or Annecy on Green-color background).
* _reverse_ my direction by using roundabout (and do _not_ follow Cruseilles sign on Green-color background). Go all the way around the roundabout and exit for
* A40 + A41 on Blue-color background (be ready to quickly choose which autoroute/interstate/motorway in which direction toward which major city (e.g. Chamonix Mont Blanc versus Annecy versus Bourg-en-Bresse).
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