Around two and a half hours to the mountain villages. Four resorts staggered from 1,600 to 2,000 metres above Bourg-Saint-Maurice — and as many different approaches.
Les Arcs is roughly 165 kilometres from Geneva Airport, two and a quarter to two and a half hours in normal conditions. The route follows the Tarentaise to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, then climbs in tight hairpins to the mountain villages.
What defines this resort is its verticality: four villages staggered over four hundred metres of altitude, plus Peisey-Vallandry on the neighbouring slope. The climb from Bourg is short in distance but demanding — a succession of hairpin bends that calls for a stable vehicle and a driver who does not force the pace.
Les Arcs and La Plagne together form the Paradiski area, linked by the Vanoise Express cable car. Many of our passengers stay in one and ski in the other: we also cover the road link between them during your stay.
We set out from Moûtiers, about forty minutes away, where our vehicles and drivers are based from December to April.
The return deserves as much attention as the outbound leg, and more anticipation. From the mountain villages you have to come back down the hairpins to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, cross the Tarentaise and then reach the motorway. On a Saturday morning the traffic coming down meets the traffic going up on a two-lane road: the valley floor between Moûtiers and Albertville becomes the choke point of the entire Northern Alps.
We therefore calculate departure time from your flight, your village, the day of the week and the actual state of the roads that morning — not from an average duration. For a midday flight on a February Saturday the margin is significant and we are happy to defend it: a coffee in the departure lounge costs less than a missed flight.
Do also allow for returning hire equipment and handing back keys. Tell us what has to happen before you leave and we build it into the schedule rather than discovering it on the doorstep with the cases already out.
A word on families and equipment, because Les Arcs is above all a family and group resort. Our bookings here rarely involve two people: more often five, six, sometimes twelve split across several vehicles. And it is almost always the equipment, not the passengers, that decides which vehicle we send.
The classic mistake is booking "for six" while thinking about seats. Six adults travelling light fit in a van. Six skiers with ski bags, hold luggage and cabin bags do not. So we always ask for the number of ski and snowboard bags: that is the figure that matters, and the one nobody thinks to give.
Children. Baby seats, child seats and boosters are supplied and fitted before you arrive. Give us each child's age and weight when booking — French law requires an appropriate restraint up to ten years or 135 cm, and we would rather have it in place than be hunting for it in a boot while the terminal empties.
Pushchairs and bulky kit. Pushchairs, sledges, baby carriers, ski-touring equipment: say so, it can be planned. A properly loaded van leaves in five minutes; a badly sized one costs an hour and a mood that lasts all week.
Groups. Beyond seven people we run a convoy: several vehicles leaving together and arriving together, coordinated by a lead driver. You deal with one person, and everyone reaches the chalet at the same time — which matters when key handover is at a fixed hour.
One last practical note on the funicular option, because it changes how you should plan. The Bourg-Saint-Maurice funicular runs to a timetable and is not a taxi: if we drop you there late in the evening, the last departure matters. We check it before recommending that route, and if the timing does not work we say so and drive the road instead. Being in the valley means we know which of the two is the better answer on the day, rather than defaulting to one of them.
Les Arcs is the only major Tarentaise resort connected to a railway station by a funicular. That is a card worth playing, including on a transfer from Geneva.
The TGV terminus of the Tarentaise and the arrival point of the seasonal Eurostar. The funicular links the station to Arc 1600 in a few minutes, making it the most efficient rail-to-road switch in the Alps.
After heavy snowfall the mountain road may be managed. The funicular still runs. We then set you down at the station rather than leaving you stranded at the bottom of a hairpin — the kind of decision you only make well if you know the ground.
Many of our British passengers arrive by train at Bourg-Saint-Maurice rather than by air at Geneva. We meet trains exactly as we meet flights. Station transfers →
Fly to Geneva then take the train, or train then road: we adapt. The objective is the same — that you never carry your own cases or wonder where you are being met.
When the mountain road closes, the funicular keeps climbing. You just have to know that before you commit to the hairpins.
Geneva ↔ Les ArcsThe first village, the funicular's upper station, set in forest. Quickest to reach and the most passable in heavy snow.
The liveliest and most spread out — Charmettoger, Villards, Chantel. The hamlet name genuinely changes the drop-off point, so please give it.
The high villages, ski-in ski-out, with upmarket residences. The final climb is the most exposed: winter equipment matters most here.
On the neighbouring slope, at the Vanoise Express departure. A separate approach from the valley — not to be confused with Les Arcs when booking.
The 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in the French Alps. Several confirmed venues lie within an hour's drive of our base in Moûtiers: Courchevel for the speed events and ski jumping, Val d'Isère for the technical events, and La Plagne for the sliding track.
Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Les Arcs sit at the centre of that triangle, with the TGV station making it a natural point of entry. The four winters ahead will see site visits, delegations, technical teams and preparation work build steadily — and then, in 2030, an influx with no equivalent since Albertville in 1992.
We are planning for it now. A company established in the Tarentaise five months a year, with its own vehicles and its own drivers, is not in the same position as an operator driving up for the day. If you are preparing group travel around these dates, let us talk early: winter capacity in the Tarentaise is booked a long way in advance. Get in touch →
Your flight or your train, your village in Les Arcs, your equipment.