Transfer with Bike from Geneva to Bourg-d'Oisans

Platti

Hi. Myself and 6 friends are heading out to hit Alpe D'Huez and surrounding areas in June. Planes booked, accommodations booked but we forgot to plan getting from the airport to the accommodation. Worst case we'll cycle it (about 178k I guess) but we'll all have bike boxes which will create another issue.

I know there must be a lot of you on here that have done this trip but having googled for infomation I'm struggling to find how to make this trip with all 7 bike boxes and if there's anyway we can book it before we go.

Any links or tips would be appriciated.

Cheers.

lemon63

Minibus or car hire from from Geneva airport.
I know some lads who hired a van from Geneva to Bourg but there were only 4 of them.
I've gone from Grenoble train station to bourg by bus with bike bags. Bus was direct to bourg no probs, regular service and there were blokes who'd come from the airport.

Platti

Thanks, I'm thinking I may have to wing it when I get to Geneva. Guessing a train/bus from there to Gronoble then another to Bourg.

Were the buses big enough to allow us to put 7 bike bags on (plus anyone else that want the smae bus) ?

Anonymous

You'd better get this sorted Platti! In fact, I need to sort a box out!!

Platti

I know !!! Ted's just asked me to have a look about but there's not much info around. I'm sure it'll be fine :?

CumbrianMan

Platti/Nap, we've done this a couple of times. We hired cars from airport and drove down. It's only about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive depending on traffic, and so dead easy.

We banged all the bike bags into one car, with 2 guys up front, and then 3 guys in other car with all other luggage (appreciate there's 7 of you, so you may need 3 cars, or like one guy said earlier, a minibus). You do have to be careful what size car you get though. Deffo an estate at least, or one of those people carriers, as the roof height means you can stack the bike bags in nicely. If I recall, we put the bike bags in side by side as opposed to on top of each other, as some bike bags were fairly tall (Planet X for example). Oh, and diesel cars as it's cheaper and fuel efficient. We just booked via EasyCar off the EasyJet website.

If you drive, don't forget to take have some Euros handy for the tolls on the motorway. You can get a route map off ViaMichelin.co.uk, which even tells you the toll fee, where they are, and even where the speed cameras are positioned. And when you come back and need to fill the car with fuel, as your back in Switzerland, don't worry about the petrol stations needing Suisse francs, as they'll have your Euros as well.

Out of interest, what routes have you got planned ?

Platti

I'll get back to you as soon as we have the route arranged. Still a few ideas in the planning stage from someone whos been before.

Ideally dont want to hire cars because we'll need 3 and I think the cost will be quite high (? will have to get a quote). Thanks for the reply though, given us another possible way of getting there.

CumbrianMan

Yeah, the hire cars from Geneva airport were expensive. It cost us £300 for 6 days for a standard estate car (all taxes and insurances). Each extra driver was about €15 (Euros). Maybe a transit van and a car eh ! Bang all luggage in van with 2 up front, and 4 in car.

Train is probably the other best bet. I believe there's a train to centre of Geneva, then from there to Grenoble, and then bus to BDO.

There's a guy called Russell, who lives in Grenoble. He has a very good website called www.grenoblecycling.com that has some good route ideas, and he may know of various different ways to get down there.

I've seen a few of Nap's postings on the forums, and the sort of rides he goes on, so no doubt the Marmotte route will be on your agenda eh. It's a good ride :twisted: