Ski Resorts Near Lyon
Although our minds instantly tell us “Geneva” when we think of our flight route to the French alps, in fact a good many of the country’s biggest and best resorts are closer, or as close, to Lyon.
Even some that are a little further away from Lyon than Geneva can be reached more quickly from Lyon due to a more direct road and/or the likelihood of less traffic.
The route from Geneva to the French Alps is fast and well maintained, but it’s also notoriously busy as tens of thousands of skiers use it and there can be bad queues slowing progress, particularly on ‘changeover-Saturday’, especially in peak season.
By contrast the roads to the slopes from Lyon St. Exupery Airport (to give it its full name) are (usually) much less congested. You also don’t need to cross an international border (occasionally a delaying factor entering France from Switzerland via Geneva).
One other issue – and one that will hopefully never be an issue again – came during the second-wave of the pandemic in early December 2021 when Switzerland briefly closed its border to Brits but French resorts were still open. In the end there was a workaround for Brits heading to France direct from Geneva airport but until that was clarified it was all a bit stressful. Those flying into Lyon had no such concerns.
As Lyon is France’s third biggest city there’s also a good scheduled flight selection here, including early-morning and late-evening services targeted at the business community but handy for skiers wanting to use them to get on the slopes in the morning, or head home after most of the day skiing or boarding.
Here are some of the resorts best served from Lyon:
Courchevel
Courchevel is almost equidistant in km for three international airports, there’s just 10km in it, Grenoble is closets at 180km, Lyon second at 185km and Geneva Airportthird at 190km. It’s typically just over 2 hours transfer from Grenoble or Lyon, and extra half hour from Geneva. Lyon is likely to have a better flight choice than Grenoble. The smaller airport of Chambery which mostly sees weekend charter flights is the closest of all though, 110km and 90 minutes away.
Alpe d’Huez
When it comes to the big resorts of the southern French Alps, there’s no contest between Lyon and Geneva, with Lyon much closer in kilometres as well as drive time. The trip from Lyon to the resort should take about 2 hours, finally ascending the famous road up from the valley that’s an infamous ascent in the Tour De France. Grenoble is actually the closest airport, about 1 hour 40 minutes away, but there are fewer flights there. You may though get lucky and find one that fits your travel route and timings. Geneva is three hours away.
Val Thorens
Reaching the snow-sure slopes of Val Thorens, Europe’s highest resort, is a bit of a climb whichever airport you fly into. Once again, the timings from Geneva or from Lyon, are fairly similar – about three hours from either on a clear day. But Lyon does usually have the advantage of having less skiers heading to VT than Geneva, so at busier times is likely to be faster, until meeting the Geneva traffic for the final kilometres up to the village!
Les Deux Alpes
Like its neighbour Alpe d’Huez, Les Deux Alpes is another of the big ski areas of the Southern Alps with plenty of sunshine, but one of the longest and most snow sure seasons in France thanks to its high altitude, glacier-capped slopes. Lyon is the closest major airport, a 2-hour transfer, about an hour less than Geneva. The smaller airports of Grenoble and Chambery are slightly closer than Lyon though if you can find suitable flights, they’re 90 minutes and 1 hour, 45 minutes away respectively.
Val d'Isère
Val d'Isère is another resort where the major airport distance is finely balanced with Geneva 222km and on a good day 3 hours away, Lyon just one kilometre and five minutes transfer time closer at 221km and 2 hours 55 minutes, but as we’ve said that time gap can grow on busy days. Chambery is again the closest if you can find flights to suit your travel days at 144km (1 hour 55 minutes) but this time Grenoble is about equidistant with Lyon.
Meribel
Meribel is one of the easiest resorts of the 3 Valleys to reach. Again, it is about equidistant from Geneva and Lyon if there are no hold-ups on the way, each about a two-hour drive away. As mentioned above, while you can never be sure, hold ups from Geneva are more likely. If you can find flights that meet your travel plans the smaller airports at Chambery and Grenoble are a little closer, both about 90 minutes from Meribel.
