nanp

Driving, leaving GVA French sector, going towards Macon, what road do we take to leave the airport? The A route or the western D984?

nicolas75

I am afraid the best way is to take E25/E62 highway, and then drive from French side... to Swiss side of the airport.

To do so, you need to buy a Swiss motorway sticker ("vignette").

AAL

Here's a link to a map to road access to GVA from France that may be helpful: http://www.gva.ch/en/Portaldata/1/Re...cations/af.pdf
The first itinerary ("A") requires a vignette but the other itineraries don't. (Obviously, you would want to do these itineraries in reverse.).

Your rental car may already have a Swiss vignette on the windshield; the car we picked up in Montpellier did.

monahos

Excellent answer. Take the 'A' itinerary in the link above if your car already has a 'vignette', otherwise take 'C' (D984). Avoid the 'B' routing though, it is slow and confusing. 'C' is only slightly slower than 'A'.

nanp

I had seen that map of GVA but was unsure of D984. If we do not have a vignette on the vehicle, we will take that route.
Is finding the French sector and our Sixt car rental pretty straight forward?

monahos

I assume you will have checked luggage. If not, there is a direct exit for France, but IIRC you cannot backtrack to it from the luggage claim area.

In that case, just exit to the normal Swiss sector, go up one level to the departure lobby (the luggage carts are designed to go on the escalators, if needed, and IIRC accept the larger € coins), and go to the rightmost (facing the check-in counters) end of the building. You will see the entrance to the French sector, with usually unmanned passport control booth and customs; once in the French sector's diminutive departure hall, you'll see the car rental booths straight ahead.

nanp

Yes, we will have luggage. Collect luggage, then we "exit to the normal Swiss sector, go up one level " etc. Sounds easy enough.
Coming back to the airport from the French side to return the vehicle to the French sector, is it well marked(for those of us who do not know where we are going)??? At CDG we always seem to make an incorrect turn and circle around and around. That is one reason(besides always making a wrong turn leaving CDG) we are flying into GVA.
Have you ever seen the Michelin Atlas being sold at the airport? Ours is well worn and is from 2003, read that the 2012 atlas is laminated

monahos

The entrance to the French sector is hard to find (try to remember the details when you drive out of it, it is the very last exit before the Ferney-Voltaire border crossing, across from the Audi dealership near the roundabout), but once on the French sector's access road, there are only so many options. Think of that road as a tree trunk: you'll see entrances to various parking lots branching off (i.e. the further the cheaper). IIRC the rental car lot is the last branch, already underground and within sight of the terminal's entrance.

If you stay on the 'trunk' you'll get to the dead end where the terminal's entrance is (you might want to do this anyway to drop off your luggage and have one person stay there), whence you can just circle back. The rental lot's entrance however is angled and difficult to turn into coming from the terminal; turning around a bit further above ground might be easier.

Unlike CDG, there is virtually no traffic on that one road


Hm, my atlas is an antique compared to yours... There is a kiosk on the Swiss arrival level, not far to the left as you exit. Otherwise, a French gas station would be a good bet. A40 opened in 1990, and D984 eons ago, so your atlas will be fine.

nanp

"entrance to the French sector is hard to find - last exit before the Ferney-Voltaire border crossing, across from the Audi dealership near the roundabout"
I will print this out, & we will look for the Audi dealer upon return.
Thank you for your insight on the Geneve aeroport. When we land in France, it is always around 2 a.m. our time(8 a.m. Geneve time), we are sleep deprived, and we are not as sharp as we should be. I like to ask what appear to be no-brainer questions before our arrival as when we've arrived the answers do not always sink in.
Oh yes, within last 15 minutes or so to airport, will we have access to any gas stations to refill rental car? And what is IIRC?

monahos

A photo of the entrance to the 'route douanière' - i.e. access road to French sector.

There is a gas station at the Leclerc supermarket on D35 2km before the Ferney-Voltaire border crossing, and another at the Carrefour supermarket one roundabout past the Audi dealership (0.11km heading towards 'Gex').

Make sure to fill up in the section with a human operator at the exit booth if you don't have a chipped credit card of the sort accepted in French automated machines.

Not sure about normal gas stations; supermarkets sell the lowest-priced gasoline in France, for some reason.

IIRC - If I Remember Correctly

Before 9am itinerary C (D35>D884>D984>D1206>A40) is preferable to A, as it has negligible southbound traffic, unlike the Geneva ring highway, which will be heavily congested at the time, especially so in the next 6 months due to construction work on a tunnel.

AAL

I ordered my Michelin atlas from Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/France.../9782067170094

nanp

Well, looks as though we should be taking the western route, D984 coming and going. We will allot for extra time upon return, just in case. And will look for the LeClerc on leaving GVA.
Thank you again for advice. We are looking forward to flying into GVA and an uneventful drive away.

Re:Michelin Atlas. Seems all 2012 ones are in Great Britain. Too late for our upcoming trip.

b1513

Why don't you get a GPS with the car? Makes things much easier.

Bobette

nicolas75

I am not quite sure the GPS indicates the French sector access to the airport.

If you use google map, select Hertz France Geneva airport to get destination to/from GVA French sector.

slawecki

i have changed planes in gva, but for our french vacation, we are using lys. similar services, a tva, and much less hassle and many fewer miles. tatl price was the same.