Flying is perhaps the first thought when planning travel to the Three Valleys. Package holidays include flights and these will often fly into Geneva or Lyon. The transfers will also be included and it’s worth remembering that the transfer time is around 2.5 to 3 hours to the Three Valleys, and probably more if the traffic is bad. So, if you have any children prone to car sickness it’s worth remembering this. It is becoming more common to fly into Chambery or Grenoble for the ski resorts in the French Alps and the transfer times are less from these airports. If you’re looking for the closest airport then find a package that includes flights to Chambery.

If you’re travelling independently the main no frills airline fly into Chambery and Grenoble, so look out early for a good deal, unfortunately the prices don’t ever seem to be quite as good to these airports as others. If you’re arranging your own transfers, there are plenty of companies out there including Resort Hoppa. Transfers from Geneva and Lyon are going to be more expensive than transfers from Chambery or Grenoble, so factor that in when you’re comparing flight costs for the different airports.

Car hire can be a good option, giving you flexibility of when you leave, plus giving you the opportunity to travel to other resorts if you wish. One tip about car hire in Geneva is to book it on the French side, some people have had problems on the Swiss side.

Don’t forget to check the ski carriage allowance with your chosen airline. Most companies now charge for ski carriage, it usually costs around £100. Swiss Air currently aren’t charging any extra for skis, they fly into Geneva. Fly Baboo also don’t charge any ski carriage, they also fly to Geneva.

Also see our posts on driving to the Three Valleys and travelling by train to the Three Valleys.

Swiss Airlines will be further expanding its range of services between Geneva and London on 10 January 2010. An additional aircraft will be stationed in Geneva to operate the new flights. Swiss and its sister Lufthansa Group airline British Midland (bmi) also plan to collaborate more closely on their services between Switzerland and the UK.   

Swiss is steadily expanding its services to and from Geneva, despite the continuing economic crisis. From 10 January 2010 onwards, Swiss will offer six new daily services between Geneva and London Heathrow. Together with a modified service of four daily flights to London City (compared to the present six), Swiss will be doubling the number of seats it offers to and from the important London market, and further strengthening its position at and around Geneva.       

“No other airline offers a more attractive range of services to London’s biggest and most central airports,” says Swiss CEO Harry Hohmeister, commenting on the expansion. “And it’s our business success in Geneva that’s enabling us to further expand our network and take active advantage of the market opportunities here.”  

The new services between Geneva and London Heathrow will be operated by two aircraft of the Airbus A320 family. In an initial phase, one of these will be provided by bmi, Swiss’s new sister airline within the Lufthansa Group. Later, however, Swiss will operate all these London Heathrow services with its own equipment. A further Swiss Airbus A320 will be stationed in Geneva for this purpose.

Swiss’s present four-times-weekly service between Geneva and Bucharest is to be withdrawn owing to insufficient market demand. Customers from the Geneva region can continue to travel to and from Romania, however, via a daily Zurich connection.     

The planned collaboration with bmi will not be limited to the Geneva-London Heathrow route, either, but should be extended to all flights between Switzerland and the UK: in future, every one of the more than 430 weekly Swiss Airlines services between the two countries should be operated together with bmi under codeshare arrangements.

Book your flights from London to Geneva with Swiss Airlines here.