UKC

Going to Chamonix in June. I've never been. I've been told fly into Geneva - we'd like to hire a car so I was thinking hire it from Geneva but then a mate told me he was on holiday in Geneva and everything is mega expensive, so now I'm thinking car hire might be super expensive, too?

Car hire prices at the airport much the same as anywhere else, but if you can try and hire from the Swiss side of the airport. Hiring from the French side was a royal PITA from our experience in Feb this year compared to the Swiss side (which is much easier to navigate to and from). The Swiss staff were far more helpful at us finding the French desk of the same firm than the French staff themselves were).

Long and short of it is we will be driving out there again next year rather than flying.

It's cheaper to hire a car on the French side of the Airport but there are disadvantages.  You will have to pay extra to drive on the Swiss motorways which provide the quickest and easiest ways to Chamonix or avoid them altogether. I once hired on the French side and vowed never again. The door that is the border between the two sides in the Airport is often locked.  I had to wait almost 2 hours before someone came to open it. The route to Chamonix, avoiding the motorways, through Geneva is complicated and during rush hour very slow. A journey that usually takes just over an hour took me 4 hours plus the 2 hour delay at the border door. There are several Airport transfer services which are available if you don't want a car and the bus and train services are very good in the valley although I do not have any personal experience of this.

Al

Do you really need a car once you are in Cham? I've only been twice, once in a hire car from Geneva, and once in a friend's car again from Geneva. My impression was that the roads in the village can be congested, and parking can be a problem at times, and there is a very good public transport system. The car spends most of it's time parked up whilst you are in the mountains. There are regular bus services from Geneva to Cham, and if I went again, I think I would look into this as to possibly being a cheaper option.

If you haven't booked your flights yet, take a look at Lyon for flights plus car overall. Might be cheaper.

If you are definitely staying in Chamonix then a car is not necessary. But, if the weather is bad you have the flexibility - those who think the Alps is Chamonix look away now- to drive somewhere else. 

Finally, note that it might still be illegal for an EU national to take a Swiss car into the EU. Check this out on line.

Oh totally agreed! The original post said they'd like to hire a car so I sort of took that as a decision already made. Back in Feb we didn't go to Cham we were headed to La Plagne but I just thought I'd share our car hire experience. For us it worked out the cheapest option but as I say we probably wouldn't do it again

Have a look at the car hire advice on the Martin Lewis money saving expert site to find the cheapest deals and insurance, and use a cashback site. I've had good service with holiday autos. Check the small print for use in other countries, there was a thread on here about use in other eu countries a while ago. I agree with others about the French side being a pain. There is a shuttle service to cham that advertises on UKC as well.

For Cham, it can be quite doable to get a transfer (Alpybus, cham express etc) rather than hire a car.

Personally, I always use Europcar and rent from the Swiss side (you can walk to garage, it's 300m or so). I joined their loyalty scheme years ago and have never been ripped off (yet!) - I can't say the same for several of the other operators, especially those Italian bastards Maggiore

Hire from the French side if you want to drive in France. Luckily I spotted this just in time for a trip in 2017

https://tinyurl.com/y66ydpca