Travel to Meribel Mottaret
There are various ways to get to Meribel and some research is the best idea to find the fastest, best value options but here are a few helpful tips and links to set you on your way.
The snow train!
Altiport at Courchevel
Take the train
Trains travel to: MOUTIERS SALLE-LES-BAINS via PARIS.
The train from the UK departs from: LONDON ST. PANCRAS, direct Eurostart services can be found on most saturdays.
To find out more visit:
- www.seat61.com: A great resource if you want to travel by train.
- www.sncf.co.uk
- www.raileurope.co.uk
As a rough guide, Saturday trains leave from London around 10am and get into Moutiers at around 5.30pm.
Driving
Meribel is about 600 miles from Calais and this makes it a convenient option especially if you have alot of luggage or people! The driving time is 10-11 hours and the roads are usually very good. Getting across the channel involves either taking the ferry of the Euro Tunnel car train. Here are soem useful links to find prices and dates:
The AA and RAC European route planners are also useful to work out mileage and the exact route:
Flying
Flying to Meribel is handy as you have the option of flying into four airports:
- Geneva (134 km to Meribel, Transfer time: 2hrs 30m)
- Lyon (178 km to Meribel, Transfer time: 2hrs)
- Grenoble (172 km to Meribel, Transfer time: 2hrs 15m)
- Chambery (100 km to Meribel, Transfer time: 1hr 15m)
Geneva is the main airport for Meribel serviced by numerous international carriers, but the smaller (and nearer) Chambery is served by many of the low cost airlines. Check out the various carrier websites for price and time details, almost every UK major airport flies to one of these four airports. One consideration is that the low cost airlines usually only have one flight a day so if the flight is cancelled due to bad weatehr for instance you'll have to wait till the next day, however with British Airways you can be almost guarenteed getting a flight later the same day.
Useful Link:
Another option is Courchevel altiport for light aircraft. See below for details.
Courchevel Altiport
For those with a real sense of adventure (and cash to spare!), Courchevel, a neighbouring Trois Vallees resort, has one of the most hair raising and breathtaking altiports in the world (used for the filming of James Bond: Golden Eye). The 400m runway doesn't allow enough distance for the planes to take off so they have to drop over the edge and gather the remainder of their required airspeed in free fall over the cliff at the end of the runway...
... not a travel option for the faint hearted, but certainly the quickest!
Only for light aircraft (obviously).
Transfers
| People: | 1-4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Meribel Mottaret to | |||||
| Chambery | 276 | 304 | 331 | 359 | 386 |
| Lyon | 420 | 402 | 504 | 546 | 588 |
| Grenoble | 440 | 484 | 528 | 572 | 616 |
| Geneva | 350 | 385 | 420 | 456 | 491 |
| Meribel Mottaret to | |||||
|
Moutiers |
72 | 79 | 86 | 94 | 101 |
These are some guideline transfer prices and therefore cannot be taken as definite but it gives some idea. Waiting time charge is administered at 50-70 Euros per half hour so book the taxi carefully.
The main taxi firm in Meribel is Leray Taxis: www.meribeltaxis.com, a more budget option if you're in a smaller group is shared transport: www.a-t-s.net (air transport service).
There are also bus transfer service from most airports which take around three hours but it is is a cheaper option: www.alpski-bus.com
