Chatel is reached from Geneva along the shore of Lake Geneva rather than through the Arve valley: roughly 81 km, taking just under an hour and three quarters in good conditions. Montivo runs it as a private transfer, meeting your group inside the terminal and driving you to the door in Chatel, for one price per vehicle that is fixed at the moment you book.
Along the lake and up the Abondance valley
Unlike most Alpine transfers from Geneva, this one follows the southern shore of Lake Geneva to Thonon-les-Bains. At Thonon it turns inland up the Dranse valley and then into the Abondance valley, through the village of Abondance and La Chapelle-d'Abondance, to Chatel near the head of the valley, a few kilometres from the Swiss border.
The lakeside stretch is ordinary road through towns and villages rather than motorway, which is why the drive takes longer than its distance suggests. Beyond Thonon the climb to about 1,200 metres is gradual, up a valley rather than over a pass, without the long run of hairpins that ends the drive to the higher resorts. Snow in the upper valley in mid-winter is the other thing that slows it; the drivers know the road in winter.
Your driver at arrivals
Your group is met inside the terminal building and shown the way to the vehicle. The flight is tracked, and the time we collect you is the time you actually land. Geneva airport is split between a Swiss side and a French side; the flight number you give when booking is how the driver knows which one to wait on.
Saturdays on the Chablais roads
Changeover in the Portes du Soleil falls mainly on a Saturday, and Chatel traffic shares the road through Thonon and the lower Dranse valley with the Morzine traffic that comes this way. Thonon is where resort traffic meets the town's own, and above it the valley road is a single carriageway all the way up, with no alternative when it fills. Saturday transfers therefore take longer and carry their own rate, and a Saturday return needs an earlier start.
A village along the road
Chatel is a working village strung out along the valley road rather than a resort built around one square. Chalets and apartments climb the slopes either side of the centre and spread out towards the Linga and Pre-la-Joux sectors, some of them well away from the shops. Two addresses in Chatel can be a fair distance apart, so the full address, not just the village name, is what gets you to the right door.
Transfer to Chatelfrom €200 per vehicle, Saturday €300
Price for your dateChoosing the vehicle
There are two classes: Standard, for up to eight passengers, and VIP, for up to seven in a vehicle of higher specification. Bigger groups are booked into two or more vehicles and priced accordingly.
Car seats and ski bags
Tell us the children's ages when you book and suitable child seats are fitted at no extra charge. Ski and snowboard bags, and anything larger than a normal suitcase, belong on the booking too, so that the vehicle sent has the space.
Back to the airport
The return pick-up is calculated backwards from your departure time: the drive down the valley and through Thonon, the lakeside road to Geneva, extra slack on a Saturday or after snow, and enough time at the airport to check in skis. On weekdays the roads into Geneva also carry heavy commuter traffic at the start and end of the working day, and that goes into the timing too. If you book both directions at once, the outward and return legs are each charged at their own day's rate.
