That's La Plagne

25 Practical Tips for Self-Drive Family Ski Holidays

Everything YOU didn't even know you didn't know about planning a great family road-trip!

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The Pros and Cons of Family Road Trips: Is It Worth It?

If you're planning a family ski holiday, you may be considering the usual option of flying to your ski holiday. However, there are many reasons why self-drive family ski holidays can be a more enjoyable and stress-free option. However, self-drive ski holidays also come with their own set of challenges and potential drawbacks. Before you pack up the car and hit the open road, it's important to consider both the benefits and potential downsides of a family ski holiday road trip.

From the convenience of packing your own gear to the flexibility of your travel schedule, I’ve already put together the ultimate guide for how to drive to your family ski holiday. Now, to build on that, here are my – top 20-something! – practical tips for driving to your ski holiday.

Self-drive family ski holidays: winter car safety

To drive to your family ski holiday, you do need to feel comfortable driving in another country. Plus, make yourself aware of the safety regulations of driving in France. Also, remember that the weather could be bad, snowing heavily on either arrival or departure. Here are some top tips:

Make sure you have snow chains for your car. Don’t be tempted by cheaper snow socks. They are cheaper and easier to get onto wheels, but they don’t work anywhere near as well as chains.
Make sure your chains are the right size for your car and tire size
If you can practice putting them on, do. It’s tricky, and you don’t want the first time to be in the dark and snow on the side of the La Plagne roads!
After use, let them completely dry out before packing them away otherwise, they will rust and break before their next use.
Keep a pair of gloves with your chains. You will need them!

The next thing to do is to up your windscreen fluid. These mountain roads are dirty, and you will find yourself using them a lot! Make sure to find one with anti-freeze. Usually, down to -20C is ideal.

WARNING! Some of the windscreen washes with antifreeze smell strongly of alcohol. Avoid these if you can! Spraying these throughout your journey makes your car smell like you’ve been drinking tequila slammers, awful.

Finally, take your car for a service and get everything checked over. Halfway through France is not when you want to realise your oil has run out or your brakes are fried. Trust me, I’ve had friends have both problems en-route to their ski holidays and to work a ski season. Don’t be the cautionary tale for your friends!

Should I rent a car in France for my family ski holiday?

Yes, renting a car in France for your family ski holiday can be a great decision, offering numerous advantages and flexibility. Firstly, in a ski resort, weather conditions can be unpredictable, and a rental car provides a safe and comfortable way to travel, and you know that the car will be fully equipped with all the local legal requirements. This is often a cause of stress, especially when traveling with children. It allows you to travel at your pace and provides an ideal retreat after a day on the slopes.

I have even had friends where it has been cheaper for them to rent a car for their ski holiday that to service their own car, buy snow tyres, increase their car insurance etc etc! So it is well worth checking into. Read this article with all my top tips on where to find the cheapest car rental for your ski holiday.

Renting a car in France for your family ski holiday grants you the flexibility and convenience needed to create cherished memories together while enjoying the winter wonderland of the French Alps.

TOP TIP: Check out DiscoverCars.com to compare prices of cars across loads of different car rental services. I love DiscoverCars.com because they pull information from small car rental services you might never had heard of. And I'd always recommend checking directly with the supplier to compare prices, but I've yet to see a car being rented cheaper elsewhere than DiscoverCars.com.

Driving: channel tunnel over the ferry

From researching with locals, family, and ski seasonnaires, the answer is unanimous. The Eurotunnel is the best choice over the ferry. This is for a few simple reasons

Its usually a lot cheaper
It’s much faster, only a 30-minute crossing
There are more trains running regularly and on time
It’s much easier when self-driving with children as you can stay in the car rather than having to get out.
- Although, do be aware that your kids will be disappointed that they can’t see the sea or fish out of the windows!

TOP TIP: Check out Tesco Clubcard vouchers. In recent years you have been able to trade them in for tunnel crossings, and the value transfer has been quite high, often covering the whole cost of your Eurotunnel tickets. Recently, the rate was that £5 worth of Clubcard vouchers gets you £15 credit with Eurotunnel. And you get a £1 Clubcard voucher for £100 spent.

Drive through the night to your ski holiday

When I’ve researched this question on forums like SnowHeads, opinions are split on this. However, most people do tend to agree with us that driving through the night is the better option when you are self-driving to a ski resort with children.

Whenever we have driven our family from the UK to La Plagne or another ski resort, we have always opted to drive through the night rather than stop en route somewhere. The reasons for this were:

We could pick an off-peak Eurotunnel crossing, meaning we got reduced or discounted tickets
Empty roads driving through France
The kids would sleep through the journey in the dark, making for fewer meltdowns and quieter, stress-free journeys
We saved money not stopping and staying overnight somewhere
Arriving in Albertville at around 730 am is ideal for a decent breakfast stop and to scratch your legs. It’s also a great stop point for making a supermarket shopping trip (more on that in a bit)
It meant we arrived ahead of the crowds, especially on busy transfer days – mainly Saturdays but also Sundays too.

However, if you do choose to drive through the night to get to your ski holiday, you do need to feel comfortable driving in the dark on French roads. And also, remember that the weather could be quite bad and snowing as you get closer to your ski resort destination.

Driving to a ski holiday: Avoiding busy peak ski season transfer days

The main arrival day throughout the ski resorts is Saturday, with Sundays being much quieter. Peak weeks: Christmas, New Year, and February half terms can see the 1-hour journey from Moutiers to La Plagne take you over 5 hours. And this is without snow or bad weather.

By choosing to drive your family to your ski holiday, you can opt out of this chaos! If you can book accommodation from Sunday to Sunday, this will make a significant difference to your travel time and experience.

Even if your accommodation is booked from Saturday to Saturday, you can book accommodation for the shoulder nights in the valley. For example, if you are driving to La Plagne, you can book a hotel room in Aime, just 30 mins down the mountain.

By doing this, you can enjoy the extra day on the mountain, and BONUS TIP Saturdays are by far the quietest day on the ski slopes. Whilst the rest of the world is on a transfer day – either working to get accommodations ready or in transit to their ski holiday, you can be enjoying private pistes. Perfect.

Self-drive family ski holidays: Toll road TAG options

One of the questions I get asked the most is how to drive a righthand car in France. And honestly, it’s not that complicated – until you get to toll roads. We are currently driving a UK model car (now on French number plates), and when we do long journeys using the toll roads, it can be a real pain that the passenger has to sort out the tickets and payments, especially if you are driving through the night and the passenger is trying to sleep.

The best way to get around this is to get a TAG scanner ordered and set up in your car. It’s very straightforward, and the way it works is that it is connected to your bank account. So the tag scans as you drive through the toll bridge. The amount is then deducted from your bank at the end of the month. In great news, there is also a 5% reduction in toll costs for electric cars.

The electric tag also allows you to skip the queues at the tolls booths, as you can roll through the dedicated lanes.

The Tag with liber-t costs €1,70 for the month you use it and nothing in the other months. This is great for those family ski holiday drives. Plus, of course, the cost of the tolls themselves. And the TAG is the post to you within 2 days. Find out more about the liber-t here.

Driving to a ski resort: Toll roads

You can opt to avoid the toll roads along your journey, and we have done this in the past, mainly out of curiosity to see what the cost difference was. To break it down roughly, we probably saved €150 to €200 in tolls on a return journey, but it added 4 to 5 hours to our journey, each way, and then, of course, the extra fuel for the additional time taken; approximately an extra tank.

A nice compromise if you want to enjoy some of the scenery is to use the toll roads to get you to Annecy, and then come off the toll roads. You can then either take the usual route along the Annecy Lake, which is stunning. Or, for an even more picturesque route, take the road around the far side of the lake through Talloires. Both roads are beautiful, but you do run the risk of hitting traffic. Sometimes, it’s worth compromising!

Self-Drive: the benefits of arriving early into your ski resort

By self-driving to your family ski holiday, you can arrive earlier at your resort. And as you might know, there is a lot to get organised on the arrival day at your ski resort. From ski rental to lift pass collection, meals, and food shopping. By arriving earlier in the day, you give yourself more time to get organised.

TOP TIP: If you arrive early into La Plagne, a bonus of the flexibility of a self-drive family ski holiday, you get a free ½ day ski pass on the arrival day into a resort. So you can get in an extra ski day to loosen up those ski legs!

Self-drive family ski holidays: Accommodation check-in times

Do be aware that a lot of accommodations are not available to check into until 4 pm at the earliest. Of course, it’s always worth asking if there is an early check-in available, but it’s not likely. However, you might be able to drop off bags and ski equipment.

If you can’t get into your accommodation, I’d recommend heading to lunch and relaxing and enjoying your surroundings. You can look to organise your ski rental and lift passes, etc., but before you get your accommodation, you don’t have anywhere to take your ski equipment.

Also, be aware that baggageries or places to leave your luggage are very limited in ski resorts. In La Plagne, there is only the tourist office in Plagne Centre that can help with this. And they also close over lunchtime during the week, meaning you can’t get hold of your luggage at certain times of the day.

Driving to a ski resort: How to find parking

In La Plagne, as with most ski resorts, the building of new accommodations has taken priority over the facilities needed to support these new accommodations. Simply put, parking is hard to find and can be much more expensive than you imagined. If you are driving to your ski holiday, here is the list to work through in order to find your best parking option:

Check with your accommodation provider. Whilst it might not be listed, landlords often have private spaces they rent out by the week.
Contact the tourist office for your ski resort. They will have maps and contact information for the parking options in your resort.
Ask them also about your free parking options. For example, in La Plagne, you can park in the Belle Plagne underground parking for free for up to 1 hour and 45 mins to unpack and then pack at the end of the week. Throughout La Plagne, there are free car parking options along most of the public roads. But they might be quite far from your accommodation.
Ask in the ski resort forums, on Facebook or SnowHeads, and find out from locals and other tourists where your best options are

If you are coming to La Plagne and are looking for parking, then you can relax because I’ve done it for you. Read here for all the La Plagne parking options: free, paid, and underground.

Getting lift passes organised ahead of arrival

Whilst the lift pass systems change from ski resort to ski resort – even La Plagne is different from Les Arcs, and both resorts are part of the Paradiski region! However, the principles still stay the same. I’m going to use La Plagne ski passes as an example of a reference point, but the advice will work, whichever ski resort you are heading to.

There are always multiple options available for your ski lift passes, depending on:

Age
The number of days to ski – these are always consecutive and can’t be split up. So, for example, a La Plagne 6-day lift pass is 6 days one after another and can’t be split up over several weeks.
Group size – in La Plagne, there are Duo, Trio, and Family Ski passes. The same is true for Espace Killey, 3 Valleys, etc.
Ski area to cover – In La Plagne, you can opt for a La Plagne ski pass or a Paradiski ski pass, covering La Plagne and Les Arcs. Your decision will come down to your ski ability, which village you are staying in (close to the La Plagne and Les Arcs lift connection, the Vanoise Express?), and budget.

Read more here to understand the differences and how to buy the right lift passes for your family ski holiday.

However, the one point I want to make here is that you can order your lift passes ahead of arrival. The queues for buying lift passes can be huge if you hit the kiosks at a peak time. It can also be a point of stress if your transfer or drive is delayed, meaning you have to buy them the morning after arrival, cutting into that first ski day and first tracks on the mountain!

My top tip would be to buy them online before arriving. If you have lift passes from last year in La Plagne, keep hold of them and recharge your lift pass. They will be automatically restarted for your first ski day. To do this, you just need to use the “WTP” code on the top of your lift pass – see the photo here.

If you haven’t got old lift passes to recharge, then you can still order new passes online, but you will have to collect them from a physical location at the lift pass office – still quicker than queueing up to buy them in person. Each La Plagne village has a lift pass office, and you can see where they are on the maps here.

Self-Drive Ski Holidays and Food Shopping

In ski resorts, the locals often refer to the expensive price of everything – from beers at après ski to food shopping at the local Spar supermarket as the “mountain tax.” Or the price you pay for living in the Alps!

If you are driving to your family ski holiday, it is likely that you have also chosen a self-catered ski holiday rather than the catered chalet model. Self-catered ski holidays have several bonuses:

Much cheaper than catered chalets
Flexibility to arrange your meals and dining as you want
Privacy with no staff or hosts around during the days
Freedom to relax as a family or friendship group in your home away from home.

However, it does mean that you also take on the responsibility of organising your food and drinks throughout the week. It can be tempting to dine out for each meal and to rely on the local Spar supermarkets, but the prices can quickly skyrocket. Especially if you are feeding children as well. To manage your food budget more effectively, here are some top tips:

Get your food shopping done at a supermarket in the valley.

You have a couple of good supermarkets and food shopping options on the way to La Plagne. I would recommend:

Geant in Albertville, about 1 hour from La Plagne. The biggest and cheapest supermarket in the area. If you are looking for specialty foods or dietary requirements for baby items, this is going to be your best option.
E le Clerc in Aime, 30 minutes from Plagne Centre. This is a good supermarket but can have limited options, especially on busy weekends.
Super-U in Bourg St Maurice, 45 minutes from La Plagne. This might seem a little backward, as it means driving past the climb to La Plagne, but hear me out. Super-U in Bourg St Maurice does a click-and-collect service. So whilst you might drive a little longer, you might actually save yourself time and peace of mind by ordering in advance to collect. This is a great option if you are travelling with small children that you don’t want to drag around the supermarket.
- If you do this, just be aware that the pickup point is not at the big Super-U but is about 1 km further along the main road., near the large Weldoms shop. You can see it from the main road on your left.

TOP TIP: Check out this article if you are taking a ski holiday with dietary requirements and need to know what products you can find in La Plagne, from gluten-free to dairy free I’ve done the research for you.

One additional thing that you can do is to order Huski food delivery. Huski prepares and then freezes gourmet meals and delivers them to your door. They are ready to pop straight into the oven and onto your table. You can order for the whole week or for set meals. So you could, for example, order a meal for:

Your arrival evening takes the pressure off of that first night
For dietary requirements, Huski has vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and other options
Children’s meals, plan ahead, and make sure the most important people are taken care of!

That’s La Plagne & Self-Driving Top Tips for your Family Ski Holiday

I hope these top tips help you with the logistics and planning phase of driving to your family ski holiday. There are lots of things to think about, from booking to arriving into La Plagne or your ski resort. So if I’ve missed anything that you’d like to know more about, just pop me a comment here or send me a DM on the That’s La Plagne Instagram account, where I’ll pick it up quicker.

P.S. Check out this article if you want to read more about how to make self-drive ski holidays and family road trips a success.

Safe travels!