Lyon Airport Transfers — French Alps & Three Valleys

The route, in practice

From the airport we join the A432 then the A43 towards Chambéry, before branching onto the A430 to Albertville. From there the RN90 continues as a dual carriageway to Moûtiers: the backbone of the Tarentaise valley, and the point where the six destinations part ways.

At Moûtiers, exit 41 serves Courchevel, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains and the Bozel valley. Exit 40 opens the Belleville valley via the D117, which climbs 27 km to Saint-Martin, Les Menuires and then Val Thorens. Val d'Isère lies further up the valley, reached via Bourg-Saint-Maurice then the D1090 and D902. Megève does not go through the Tarentaise at all: we leave the A43 towards Albertville, then take the D1212 through Ugine and Flumet.

Those last kilometres are what separates a transfer from a taxi ride. Twenty-five kilometres of hairpins separate Moûtiers from Courchevel 1850; the D117 climbs nearly 1,800 m of elevation to reach Val Thorens. That is where a chauffeur who knows the road stops being a comfort and becomes a safety margin.

Why fly into Lyon rather than Geneva or Chambéry

Lyon-Saint-Exupéry is the largest of the four airports serving the Tarentaise and the one with the most long-haul flights and connections. It is also the only one that stays fully operational out of season: Chambéry lives mainly off winter charters, and Geneva saturates on February Saturdays.

The trade-off is a longer drive: allow 2h30 to Courchevel or Méribel, 3h to Val d'Isère. If your flight allows it, Chambéry remains the shortest access to the Three Valleys and Geneva the fastest to Megève. We serve all three — the right choice depends on your flight, not on the distance.

Winter: equipment, chain checks and changeover Saturdays

From 1 November to 31 March, France's loi Montagne II requires winter equipment in the designated mountain communes. Our vehicles run winter tyres with chains on board across all of these routes. In heavy snowfall, the gendarmerie or municipal police set up chain-fitting checkpoints and turn back vehicles that are not equipped.

Saturday is changeover day for rentals across the whole Tarentaise: the RN90 and the climbing roads fill up, and a 2h30 journey can take four hours. We monitor conditions on savoie-route.fr and track your flight in real time, then agree the departure time with you the day before rather than sit in the traffic.

Arriving in resort

The Belleville resorts are pedestrian: the rule is a drop-off as close as possible to your accommodation, after which the vehicle drives back down to park. At Courchevel, the dual naming of the levels is the single most common arrival mistake — Le Praz (formerly 1300), Village (formerly 1550), Moriond (formerly 1650) and Courchevel (formerly 1850). Confusing Le Praz with Moriond means twenty extra minutes of driving and 350 m of elevation.

Give us the exact name of your chalet, hotel or residence when you book: your chauffeur drops you at the door, not at the car park on the edge of the resort.