The pursuit of slow, tranquil travel is not without its stressors.
International travel has its headaches and disorientation. Our family tries our best to be in the know as much as possible before we leave home, to alleviate some of the headaches in the more crucial moments of stress.
In the late spring of 2019, we spent a month in the French Alps. It was glorious. But planning on my own, having never been there before? Not gonna lie: it was brutal. So many hours of research, so many decisions to make in the dark. But I learned so much!
Here’s a little peek into my own family travel planning process, and the joys & frustrations of learning along the way.
Part 1: The Swiss Vignette: To Buy, or Not to Buy?
Geneva Cointrin International Airport offers a challenge, as it sits on the border between France and Switzerland. You can rent a car on either side, but it seems you’ve got to get it right, as it affects which route you can take as you leave. If you rent on the Swiss side, it is more expensive (as everything seems to be in Switzerland), but it includes the motorway vignette. The vignette is the sticker that gives you the right to drive on Swiss motorways for up to a year.
APRIL 2019. We are within a month of leaving for Europe for the summer. Most of our time will be spent in the French Alps, but we will be exploring the entire region, which will take us into the Swiss and Italian Alps as well. Oh, the rabbit hole I have gone into as I research this! In short, what I can see so far is that you must pay to use the Swiss motorways, and you must pay for it in Swiss francs, not the Euro. Our route from the airport to our rental home in the French Alps either takes us through Switzerland, or adds a half hour to the drive by avoiding Switzerland altogether. We have tortured ourselves researching the Swiss motorway vignette and how it should affect our car rental. On top of this, the numerous reports online about the many driving complications when trying to leave the airport on the French side have begun to intimidate me.
In the end, we have chosen to rent from the French side and purchase our vignette separately, only in the event that we need it. This will add 30 minutes to our arrival drive-time, but it saves us about 250 Euro in car rental fees for the month. We shall see how it goes. I promise to report back with our findings!
Part 2: Buy it! Super easy!
MAY 2019. Well, that was easy peasy, and we certainly made the right decision. Thank goodness for navigation systems. The GPS in our rental car took us straight from the French side of the airport to the Swiss border, where I pulled over and bought the Swiss Vignette for 38 Swiss Francs. To my surprise, the border guard accepted my 40 Euro as payment, giving me 2 Swiss Francs as change. The vignette is now on our windshield, and we were able to breeze through the border, which allowed us to take a shortcut to our French AirBnB. There were two toll stops after this, but it was worth it to take the shortest driving route after a morning of air travel with three tired kiddos.
Part 3: Expect Delays on your Return
JUNE 2020. Spent a lovely, awe-inspiring month in the French Alps. Then … Oh. My. Heavens. Finally onboard the plane with a good stiff drink in hand. The last two hours was madness!! Our GPS simply would not recognize a French car rental return option, so we went round and round and round the airport. At one point I accidentally drove into the taxi queue, and you would have thought I had brought on WWIII. Oo-wee, were those taxi drivers mad! “Oui, oui, je comprends,” I laughed nervously, while they gestured wildly at me and yelled words I’m so glad I couldn’t understand. I finally left the airport and wandered nearby country backroads until I stumbled upon a hotel and a brilliant idea came to me: Hotel concierge! They’ll be able to tell me where to go! Bless that wonderful uniformed man who took the time to print out a map and highlight by hand the roads that would lead me to my poor over-worked rental car’s rest.
So our final recommendations if you are using Geneve Cointrin Airport as your entry point to the French Alps as an independent traveler?
To adventurers ready to embrace the challenge, we say: Save some money. Get your rental car through the French side, and purchase the Swiss Motorway Vignette separately. But be prepared for very poor signage and GPS capability for your return to the airport — plan plenty of extra drive time to your final day.
To those who want to reach your destination with as little fuss as possible: Keep things simple: Pay the higher price and pick up your car on the Swiss side.
New sundresses from a French alpine farmer’s market!
Just a little advice from one wandering family to another. Happy travels – bonnes vacances!
