Rail

Getting to your Chez Jay holiday couldn't be easier than with the EUROSTAR direct rail service from London. Leaving Waterloo on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings throughout the season, this train goes direct to Bourg St Maurice from where you'll be picked up and whisked away to your chalet. Direct return services leave on Saturday morning and evening. Should you wish to travel on other days, regular TGV express services leave Paris day and night for the 6 hour journey - services from London to Paris of course are also extremely frequent.

EUROSTAR can be contacted on 08705 186 186 for bookings, prices start at around £160 for standard class return tickets. On Friday's, trains depart Waterloo at a very convenient 8pm and you arrive in Bourg at 6:45am. Their fares and schedules are at their web site www.eurostar.com

Coach

The most economical route is to take a coach. National Express and Eurolines work together to bring you to the Alps weekly for a return price of about £100. You arrive at Chambery, a beautiful historic town, where the coach terminates next to the rail station, leaving you a half hour ride to Bourg St. Maurice.

National Express can be contacted on 08705 80 80 80, alternatively bookings can be made by their web site www.nationalexpress.com

Eurolines can be contacted on 08705 143 219, their fares and schedules are at their web site www.eurolines.co.uk

Air

Flights arrive at Geneva, Lyon, St Etienne & Chambery.  Cheap flights are offered by a number of airlines, including:

Ryan Air flies to Etienne see www.ryanair.com or call 08701 24 60 000

Easyjet flies to Geneva and Lyon, see www.easyjet.com or call 08706 000 000

From Chambery airport; the coach trip to Bourg St. Maurice takes about 1.5 hours and costs about £45 return. There is only one departure per day (11am). The coach operator, TransNeige, can be contacted on 00 33 479 35 21 74 for reservations. A rail connection is also available, however, while the train station is only 20 mins away taxis can be difficult to come by on Saturdays unless booked well in advance.

From Geneva airport; the coach trip to Bourg St. Maurice takes about 4 hours and costs about £55 return. Departures are approximately hourly. The coach operator can be contacted on 00 33 450 43 60 02 or via their website www.touriscarnet.com for reservations.

From Lyon airport (Saint Exupery) ; the coach trip to Bourg St. Maurice takes about 3 hours and costs about £45 return. Departures are approximately hourly. The coach operator, Satobus, can be contacted on 00 33 437 255 255 or their website www.satobus-alps.com for via their for reservations.

From St Etienne airport; the options are either hire a car, take a transfer to Lyon Saint Exupery airport and then Satobus to Bourg St. Maurice as outlined above or bus into Lyon and then train to Bourg St. Maurice.

For larger groups (i.e. > 4 persons) a taxi transfer from the airport probably offers the best value and convenience.  We have worked with a number of taxi companies in the Alps and are able to assist you with getting quotes and booking. You might want to check out www.mountaintransfers.com.

Car

Travelling by car is also much easier than you might believe; it's motorway or dual carriageway all the way to MOUTIERS, about 30 minutes from our chalet. French motorways are well maintained and invariably free from congestion. They even have a strict limit of 2kms for any straight section so that drivers are given regular bends and changes of views! The service stations are often quite superb with showers and many other facilities frequently provided.

And a car is often useful in the local area as well. Montchavin is only an hour or so from Tignes/Val D'Isere and not much more from Meribel/Trois Vallees. Your special Chez Jay lift pass will allow you a free day's skiing in both these famous resorts as well as a few other ones in the local area.

As for the cost of it, four passengers travelling together will need about £75 each to cover petrol, tolls and cross channel services for the return trip. That makes car travel about the best value option for any group of friends.

Cross Channel services come in all sorts of packages but here are details of some key providers:

SEA FRANCE: 08705 711 711 or www.seafrance.com

P&0 Line: 08705 20 20 20 or www.posl.com

NORFOLK LINE : 08708 701 020 or www.norfolkline.com

EUROTUNNEL: 08705 35 35 35 or www.eurotunnel.co.uk

HOVERSPEED: 08702 408 070 or www.hoverspeed.co.uk

Once you've booked that, all you need is a GB sticker and suitable insurance cover. The easiest route from Calais is shown on the downloadable map below:

You can download a route map from Calais to the Alps here:

It takes about 10 hours of average driving to travel the 800 kms from Calais to Montchavin. If there are two drivers and you step up the pace a little, it's perfectly possible to do the trip in about 7 hours. Another option is to drive via Paris and spend a night or two enjoying the full flavour of Gai France before returning home. Your Chez Jay hosts will doubtless tell you of a few favourite haunts there.

You can download a map of the local area to locate the villages here

You can download a map of Montchavin village to locate the chalet here

You can download a map of Le Pre village to locate the chalet here