France is Europe’s number one ski holiday destination with hundreds of different resorts ranging from picture postcard to purpose built and practical, and a whole host of something in between. If you know what kind of resort you want to visit, now it is time to think about how you want to get there?

Everybody likes to maximise their time in resort or on the slopes when they come on a ski holiday to France. Less time spent negotiating traffic and toll booths is often a critical factor in peoples holiday planning, often allowing for a hasty departure from work on a Friday to arrive in resort in good time for a nights sleep and be up for first lifts on a Saturday morning.

Other times its parents of a noisy and excited brood who don’t want the kids to sit on a transfer for hours on end, bored to tears before they’ve even had their first hot chocolate.

We have listed below some French resorts which have transfer times of less than 2 hours from destination airports. If you are thinking of a quick getaway, then look to some of these resorts.

NB – All routes have a price attached, based on 4 people travelling. All prices are per person for a return trip to specified airport although alternatives are available, prices are current and subject to change. * denotes no shared transfers available, these transfers are only private. Travel times are indicative and obviously vary with heavy traffic or adverse weather conditions.

Les Carroz – 1hr (Geneva) – £64.21
Chamonix – 1hr (Geneva) – £58.07
Megeve – 1hr (Geneva)* – £92.12
Samoens – 1hr (Geneva) – £64.21
La Grand Bornand – 1hr (Geneva)* – £69.79
La Clusaz – 1hr.30 (Geneva)* – £69.79

These resorts are within an hour’s drive from Geneva airport, that to me is hardly enough time to take in the mountain views as you are checking out the snowline, assessing resort conditions with your driver, looking for your first lift cables and all of the other associated habits of a ski transfer passenger.

Nice often gets overlooked as a ski airport what with its Cote D’Azur location and glamorous summer reputation but from here you can also get to the lovely Isola 2000 in just 1hr.

Argentiere – 1hr.10 (Geneva) – £58.07
Valmorel – 1hr.10 (Chambery)* – £166.88
Les Gets – 1hr.10 (Geneva) – £56.69
Valmenier – 1hr.15 (Chambery)* – £129.53
Morzine – 1hr.20 (Geneva) – £56.69
Les Menuires  – 1hr.25 (Chambery)* – £165.50
Valloire – 1hr.25 (Chambery)* – £134.56
Flaine – 1hr.30 (Geneva) – £64.21
Chatel – 1hr.30 (Geneva) – £69.79
Courchevel – 1hr.30 (Chambery)* – £160.81
Meribel – 1hr.30 (Chambery)* – £160.81
St Martin De Belleville – 1hr.45 (Grenoble)* – £160.81
Alpe D’Huez – 1hr.45 (Grenoble)* – £125.00
Les Deux Alpes – 1hr.50 (Grenoble)* – £125.00

The above resorts range from 1hr to 2hrs transfer time from the airport, more than reasonable really.  I suppose that , as with most things, its horses for courses and some people might prefer to have a longer transfer time to take in the  stunning scenery en route. Some might have a special favourite resort which is only accessible after a 4 hr trek. I cannot speak for everybody’s tastes, but for those who want to get to town quickly, these are hard to beat.

Now we might have missed a few hidden gems here, I apologise in advance .Please feel free to share any secret spots you might have stumbled across.

I will follow up with a similar piece on other countries resorts soon, but for now, if you are going to France for your ski trip this year you could do much worse than to take a look at these resorts. Here at Ski-Lifts we look forward to helping you get to the slopes as quickly as YOU would like.

For now though let’s just take a moment to forget being back at work and think of the nice little ski trip you’ve got coming up in a few months.