Every winter, families and groups of friends heading to the Alps or the Jura from Dijon, Beaune or the Morvan hand their departure to a private hire driver rather than taking their own car. VotreChauffeur takes care of the skis, the driving times and the last few kilometres to your residence, so your holiday starts when the door closes, not when you reach the resort.
Four and a half hours from Dijon to the Tarentaise on a Saturday in February, two hours to reach Métabief or Les Rousses, and in between, an unbroken line of cars loaded up to the roof box.
Holiday departures: the road to the resorts wears you out before the first bend
The same scene plays out every season. An alarm at five to try to beat the main rush, a stop at a packed service area, slowdowns on the approach to Albertville or Moûtiers, then the climb just as the light fades. You reach the residence, and there are still bags to carry up, lift passes to collect and beds to make.
Your ski week starts with a fatigue debt that the first two days are spent paying off. Handing over the wheel changes the equation: you get into the vehicle with your children, your flask and your files, and you step out in front of your accommodation.
Luggage and equipment: what will not fit in a boot
A family of five on a ski trip means five pairs of skis or three snowboards, as many helmets, boots that each take up the space of a sports bag, a week of suitcases, often a sledge and sometimes a pushchair.
On paper, it all fits. In reality, you drive with an overloaded boot, reduced rear visibility and a roof box that whistles at 110 km/h while using an extra litre per hundred kilometres.
A van or minibus settles the matter without compromise: the equipment travels flat, the passengers keep their legroom, and nobody decides at six in the morning what gets left on the pavement. For groups of friends travelling eight or ten strong, a single vehicle replaces three cars and some improvised car sharing, just like the other shared journeys handled by our group transport service.
Compulsory winter equipment, the rule people discover too late
From 1 November to 31 March, municipalities classified as mountain areas require suitable equipment: approved winter tyres carrying the mountain marking, or chains on board for two-wheel-drive vehicles. The Alpine ranges and the Jura are covered, checks take place near the resorts, and a vehicle without the right equipment risks a fine as well as being stopped from going further.
Many people in Burgundy drive on summer tyres all year round, because the Dijon plain does not call for anything else. They discover the rule while packing, then hunt for a fitting slot ten days before departure, or buy chains they have never put on.
A professional driver's vehicles leave fully equipped, and the driver knows how to fit chains in the snow without spending forty minutes on their knees in a snowdrift.
Ski resort transfers: how the journey from Burgundy is prepared
A good transfer is decided before departure. The pick-up time is worked out backwards from the time you can collect the keys to your rental, often mid-afternoon, taking into account how busy the roads will be depending on the school holiday zone and the day you choose.
Leaving on Friday evening or Sunday morning rather than Saturday morning can sometimes save two hours on the road. The driver follows traffic conditions and the state of the mountain passes, adjusts the route between the A39, A40 and A43, and lets you know when it is worth moving the departure by half an hour.
The rest comes down to details settled with a simple message: number of pairs of skis, a child seat suited to your child's age, a planned lunch stop or a picnic on board, a return journey at the end of your stay. The useful questions are the same as for a flight or a train, set out in our article on what to check before booking a transfer.
The last few kilometres, where door to door really counts
At the resort, a car becomes a burden. Access is restricted in several villages, parking is paid by the week, the spaces closest to the residences are gone by morning, and you end up dragging your skis across three hundred metres of packed snow.
A drop-off outside the building does away with all that. It also does away with the car sleeping under thirty centimetres of snow for six days, to be cleared and de-iced the following Saturday before the drive home.
Visitors who arrive by plane already know this end-to-end approach, whether they land in Lyon or Geneva to reach the Northern Alps. The principle is the same when leaving from Burgundy, with the same pick-up at your exact address as for an airport or station transfer.
The return journey, the one nobody plans
The outward journey gets planned, the return gets improvised. After six days of skiing, a last morning on the slopes and a rushed clean-up, you get back behind the wheel mid-afternoon for four hours of driving down in the holiday traffic.
It is the most demanding journey of the week: tired muscles, fading light, heavy traffic on the same roads as on the way out. Booking the outward and return journeys together lets you enjoy your last day, and your driver will be waiting for you outside the residence at the agreed time.
Arrange your ski resort transfer with VotreChauffeur
Around twenty drivers, premium vehicles, Wi-Fi, water and chargers on board, with punctuality and discretion as the foundation of the job: the team approaches a ski departure the way it approaches a business trip or a tour of the vineyards, as a tailored service described on our private hire page.
School holiday dates concentrate bookings on a handful of Saturdays, and vans go quickly. If your stay is booked, contact VotreChauffeur to arrange your transfer to the Alps or the Jura, outward and return journeys included.