Travel

Travel to Snowdonia, North Wales

Road

Llanberis is a convenient place to stay for climbing in the Snowdonia area. It is approximately 4-5 hours driving time from London, 3 hours from Birmingham and about 90 minutes from Manchester or Liverpool.  The nearest airports are Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon, which are both around 90-120 minutes driving time from Llanberis.

From London: Take the M1, M6, M54 to Telford, Shrewsbury and then the A5, then A483 towards Wrexham and Chester, where you can pick up the A55 North Wales coast road towards Conwy and Bangor. Take the first Bangor turn-off and follow signs to Llanberis.  Alternatively follow the M6 to Manchester and follow the ‘North ‘route.  A slower but more scenic route is to continue along the A5 all the way to Capel Curig, then turn for Llanberis.
From the North: Take the M6, M56 to Chester and North Wales, then as above via the Bangor turnoff on the A55.

Rail
For rail travellers the nearest mainline station is at Bangor (Gwynedd) from where there is a bus or short taxi ride to Llanberis. It may be possible to arrange a pick- up from Bangor at certain times. The direct train from London Euston to Bangor takes approximately 3 hours 25 minutes.

 

Travel to the Alps

By Air   –   For Chamonix you can fly direct with Easy Jet to Geneva, from a number of airports in the UK, often very cheaply if you book well enough in advance. (Click on their website www.easyjet.com for details). Several other budget airlines fly to Geneva.

From Geneva there are several shuttle services which take you to the door of your accommodation anywhere in the Chamonix valley, for approximately €50 per person return (it varies a little between companies)

Cham Express www.chamexpress.com
Cham-Van http://cham-van.com/en
Airport Transfer Service (ATS) www.a-t-s.net
Mountain Drop-offs www.mountaindropoffs.com
Alpybus www.alpybus.com

By Rail

Ski trains from London with Eurostar operate through the winter months and work well for many French ski resorts. It is an excellent alternative is you want a greener and more relaxed way to travel , and no restrictions on luggage. Chamonix is not linked by Eurostar however, so the best option is to travel on the Swiss ski train to Martigny and then travel from there.  For  up-to-date info on rail travel I’d recommend checking out the following website for travel tips and information

https://www.seat61.com/ski-by-train.htm

By Coach

Travelling by coach is a cheaper, greener alternative to flying, with even lower carbon emissions per person than travelling by train. You can also carry ski luggage at no extra cost.

Snowexpress runs weekly coaches to the Alps. The Snowexpress leaves every Friday at 18:30 (18:00 on 14/02) from London Colonnade coach station (Also known as Green Line Coach Station) with a later pick up at Folkstone before catching the ferry then travelling over night to the Alps. The Snowexpress arrives in the Alps between mid morning and mid afternoon on the Saturday (depending on your destination).

The return journey is every Saturday with departure times varying over the afternoon depending on which resort you are in. The coach travels overnight and returns to London Colonnade Coach station (Also known as Green Line Coach Station) at approximately 11:00am on Sunday.

Check out times and availability here: https://www.snowexpress.co.uk/home