A thriving service that offers a low-cost way of travelling between Geneva Airport and various ski resorts within Les 3 Vallées is expanding this winter.
Le Van Rouge is a shared transfer service operated by the long-standing professionals in airport transfers in the region, Three Vallee Transfers. It’s targeted at anyone travelling alone or in a small group who is looking for the cheapest and most convenient door-to-door transfers to either Courchevel, Méribel or La Tania.
However, despite the low price for transfers being a modest €65 (£58) per person each way, the Van Rouge service is a premium-quality transfer operation. You don’t need to wait around for hours because you’ll know what time your transfer will leave, and you get dropped off and picked up at your accommodation. No dragging your bags through the snow in the dark to and from a central point.
So it’s very much like a private transfer service; the only difference is the cost is shared between more people. They even use eight-seater minibuses, not coaches. The only real difference to their private transfers is that, because the service collects and drops off passengers at different places, it can take a little longer. Le Van Rouge will operate at least five shared transfers to and from Geneva each Saturday, four on a Sunday and a minimum of two guaranteed every single weekday of the main winter season. Check the shuttles’ departure times from Geneva before booking your flight so as to minimise your wait. Likewise on the return.
Pick-ups from Geneva are timed to coincide with most inbound flights from the UK with the first at 10:30am on Saturdays and Sundays, running every few hours after that throughout the day. During the week, daily departures are at 11:15am and 16:15pm. On the return trip, collections start as early as 06:30am on Saturdays and Sundays and 08:00am on weekdays. Again, collections are every few hours from resort after that.
The company has 6,000 seats available on the Van Rouge service for the coming season, and places can be reserved via the Quick Quote Calculator on the website at 3vt.ski (remember to tick the “shared” box or you’ll be quoted for a private transfer).
So, why call the service Le Van Rouge? Arguably, it’s not a pun on the French name for red wine; it’s just that the minibuses used are, well, red. Simple.
