Lyon Saint-Exupery to La Plagne is roughly 197 km and takes just under two and a half hours in good conditions. La Plagne is a collection of high stations and lower villages rather than one place, so where you are staying shapes the final part of the drive. Montivo drives it privately, door to door, for one price per vehicle fixed at booking.
Met inside the terminal
Travelling with young children is easier when nobody has to hunt for a car park with a pushchair and a pile of cases. The driver meets you inside the terminal and walks you to the vehicle, and because the flight is monitored, the pick-up follows the time it really lands. Put the flight number on the booking and that is taken care of.
The road through Aime
The route is motorway from the airport past Chambery to Albertville, then the N90 up the Tarentaise past Moutiers to Aime. The climb to the high stations starts just outside Aime and winds up the mountainside in a long succession of hairpins, gaining well over a thousand metres before Plagne Centre at around 2,000 metres. In snow it is by far the slowest part of the journey, and the drivers take it at the pace the road sets.
Stations and villages
Plagne Centre, Plagne Villages and Belle Plagne are among the high, purpose-built stations reached by the road from Aime. Montalbert sits above Aime on a road of its own, Montchavin and Les Coches are approached from Bellentre further up the valley, and Champagny-en-Vanoise is reached from Bozel, on the far side of Moutiers in a different valley altogether. Two addresses that both say La Plagne can be a long way apart by road, which is why we ask for the full one.
Paradiski from either side
La Plagne and Les Arcs together make up Paradiski, joined by the Vanoise Express cable car between the Montchavin side of La Plagne and Peisey-Vallandry on the Les Arcs side. If you plan to ski both, stay wherever the accommodation suits you: it is the address, not the lift pass, that decides the road we take.
Transfer to La Plagnefrom €320 per vehicle, Saturday €475
Price for your dateSaturday on the N90
On changeover Saturdays the traffic for La Plagne shares the N90 with everything bound for Les Arcs, Tignes and Val d'Isere, and it slows well before Aime. The climb from Aime then fills with arriving guests and departing cars. Saturday journeys are planned with that in mind, and the Saturday rate reflects the extra time. Allow the same extra margin for a Saturday flight home.
Standard or VIP
Standard: up to eight passengers. VIP: up to seven, in a higher-specification vehicle with more room per person. Two families sharing an apartment may need two vehicles, and the booking prices however many are needed.
Children, skis and luggage
Child seats are free when requested at booking with the children's ages; list every child, because the right seat depends on age. Declare skis, snowboards and bulky items such as a pushchair, so the vehicle has room for them.
The way back to Lyon
The pick-up is worked back from your flight: the descent to Aime, the valley, the motorway and check-in. From the high stations after overnight snow the hairpins above Aime set the pace, and the driver may propose an earlier start. The return can be booked together with the outbound, with each leg charged at its own day's rate.
