Geneva car hire, French or Swiss side?

Hi,

I always hire through Autoeurope and when booking car hire from Geneva the french Side is the offered start point, as Ian mentions the main difference is the Swiss side will have Snow/winter tyres fitted as standard ( legal requirement in winter ) and possibly chains also, hiring from the French side these are only fitted/supplied if requested at extra cost.

Also hiring from the Swiss side the car will have a " Vignette " sticker on the window for using the Swiss motorways, if you hire from the French side and do not know how to get back into Geneva without using the 3 mile stretch of Swiss motorway you will be required to pay CHF40.00 . For anyone not sure of getting back into Geneva and avoiding the "Vignette" charge below are the directions I sent another user via the PM facility.


"I hope you are well and had a good weekend, I'm not entirely sure if you've mentioned where you are driving from to get to Geneva but I'm assuming Tignes , Val'Disere etc....

Drive the following route Tignes/Val > Bourg-St-Maurice > Moutiers > Albertville to start with, once at Albertville you have a choice take the exit off posted on a Green signpost saying "Annecy" or you can stay on the road past Albertville and carry onto Chambery ( this may be the easiest route, possibly quicker also.....

So carry on > Moutiers > ( A430 )Albertville > Chambery ( A43 ) , at Chambery you will come to a Toll, take the exit marked Geneva A41 ( this will take you past Annecy ) wholst driving along the A41 you will see junction signs for Annecy travel past all these until you clear Annecy, about 5 - 8 km north of Annecy you will arrive at a large toll , take the lane posted for " A410 Annemmasse" this is the 3 very right hand toll booths at the toll, once past the toll you will then be on the A410 to Geneva, carry on this road ( Geneva is about 35 minutes or so from here) staying in th lanes for Geneva after a while you will see a large silver factory with big red letters spelling " SAMU " when you see thid you know you are on the right road.

Carry on past the " SAMU " factory which is on the right , and head towards Geneva, at some point the Motorway splits off to Chamonix don't take this exit stay in the correct lane, once past the Chamonix exit off the motorway the A410 joins the A41 into Geneva, again stay on this road ( you will go through another toll and also see signs for " Telepherique de Saleve " again you know you are heading in the right direction when you see this sign ).

Once on the run into Geneva you will start to see signs for " A411 " & " Valliard " posted on large blue signs with white lettring, on the right you will also see a large white building ( I think it's a kind of shopping centre and has large green lettering from memory I think it says " GACON " or something similar ) at the end of this building you will see a small flyover over the motorway, as you approach this ( going under it )the road bares slightly round to the right, directly here you will see a lane posted " A411" thi is the important exit to take.

Take this A411 exit which goes up and round to the left making sure you stay in the lane and not deviating, this exit then comes out onto the backroad into Geneva.

Stay on this road and keep in the lane marked for cars etc, you will then go through a Border Security checkpoint, once out the other end carry on along the road, go over the cross road, past the small football pitch which is on the right, once past the pitch the road starts to head uphill and bares to the right, about 100 yards up this road you will see an orange bus lane and a turning to the right ( Rue du Vallon ). Turn right into the Rue du Vallon and drive to the end, where you come out onto a large crossroad junction.

At this junction turn left and stay in the kirbside lane, this road takes you all the way down to the bridge at the bottom end of Lake Geneva, once on the bridge get into the far right lane and turn right at the end of the bridge, this road takes you up the side of the lake to another crossroad. Carry straight over the cross road ( this is the Rte de France ) stay on this road all the way up past the UN building on the right and carry on up the hill over the cross road again ( once over the cross road past the UN building the road then becomes the Rte de Ferney ).

Stay on this road up the hill in the kirbside lane and down the hill which bares to the right a little, carry on past the petrol staion and drive down the hill until you come to a small red & white round about, take the first exit off the round about " marked Airport/Ferney and down to the junction at the crossroad, go staright over the crossraod and through the tunnel ( this is the tunnel under the runway at Geneva ) once out of the tunnel go through the Border check about 50 yards on the right is a petrol staion to fill up the hirecar. Once you exit the petrol station and depending on traffic you can cut over the road and through the gap in the barrier turning directly right into the airport carhire entrance gate, or turn right out of the petrol station, at the next round about double back on yourself and the airport carhire entrance is on th right just before the laybye before the border check.

Take the entrance and follow the road under the bridge, along the road baring round to the left then right, carrying staright on until you come to the underground carhire parking bays.

I hope some of this helps, if you log onto Google Earth and highlite the road names and numbers tab much of the route can be followed on there by scrolling along the route."

P.S - when leaving Geneva and you have just got on the French Motorway if you are heading via Annecy and onto the Trois Vallee's or Val & Tignes etc, do not take the 1st posted exit for Annecy outside of Geneva, but stay on the motorway and take the 2nd one about 10km further along the road which will put you onto the A41.

Happy trails :-)

jon.

Crumbs, this is a no brainer - Swiss every time - trying to get in and out of French side is a nightmare!