Private chauffeur from Lyon to Val Thorens, at 2,300 m

From central Lyon, 212 km and 2 h 45. From Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport, 199 km and 2 h 25: motorway to Albertville, the Tarentaise, then the turn into the Belleville valley. We follow your flight and the pick-up moves with the actual landing, without you having to call.

By TGV, the access station is Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains. From there 35 km and 45 min remain, almost all of it climbing, the last kilometres in hairpins up to 2,300 m. That stretch decides the departure time long before the motorway does: when the road is busy or covered in snow, your chauffeur leaves Lyon earlier. Waiting is included, thirty minutes at a station, one hour at an airport, counted from the scheduled landing time.

A week at altitude means skis, boots and a case each. The V-Class carries seven passengers, the E-Class or the GLE 400 three, the S-Class two, and the Sprinter VIP offers fifteen seats with a hold for twelve large cases. We count one piece of luggage per person and choose the vehicle on the real volume, not on the seat count. For a group, several cars leave from one address and arrive together.

Val Thorens is built in tiers and the buildings look alike. Give us the name of yours and we stop as close to the door as the road allows. On changeover Saturdays the Belleville valley fills early, so we leave earlier too. Night arrivals change nothing about the price: on private journeys the rate is a single one, with no night, weekend or public holiday surcharge. On board, Wi-Fi, a bottle of water, and a chauffeur in a suit who speaks French and English.

At 2,300 m winter is long and snow falls late in the season. Your chauffeur checks the state of the road and the equipment before setting off, and warns you if the departure time moves. We drive fully equipped and would rather leave with a margin than make it up on the climb. In summer the resort opens again, for the glacier, the passes and walking, and the same 212 km run without the Saturday pressure.

Going home, everything starts from the flight time. We work the calculation backwards: check-in, 199 km to Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, or 35 km down to Moûtiers if you are taking the TGV, plus a margin for the descent. You are given a pick-up time outside your building, and the chauffeur is there before it. The same contact stays reachable day and night, and an urgent request is set up in under an hour.