Switzerland Travel Forum

We are a party of 8 who need to arrange transport from Geneva Airport to Saas Fee and then 2 weeks later back to Geneva Airport. We have been quoted over £1,000 for an airport return transfer but feel this is rather a lot of money (taxi in England for similair amount of miles is £95 return!).

Has anybody got any suggestions - recommended companies or has anyone taken the train and bus - if so how did you find it? My husband is keen to have a stress free journey but I think over £1,000 is way too much to pay for a taxi transfer. Any ideas or advice gratefully received, thanks

I have no suggestions on transfer companies, but I am wondering about the 95 pounds...this trip is about 228 kilometers each way, and according to www.viamichelin.com, will take about 2 and 3/4 hours each way. The website estimates that the petrol costs and road fees alone will be 47 euro each way (I can't tell if the 'fess' are tolls or the annual road charge), so I can't see how a taxi going the same distance in the UK wouldn't charge much more than 95 pounds even just one way...wait, didn't I pay 150 pounds or so for a transfer from Birmingham to London Heathrow (a shorter distance) back in 2002? (Honestly, I don't remember the exact amount, but it was a lot of money).

Each trip is going to take a driver all day - driving from home to the airport in the morning, waiting for you at the airport, picking you up, driving nearly 3 hours to Saas Fee, unloading you, driving from Saas Fee back to his home (probably another 3 hours) - the driver has shot his/her entire day with you...I can't see that anyone could do that - plus out of pocket expenses - for 95 pounds...plus add a second trip two weeks later???

I can certainly see your husband's point about the 1,000 pounds - I'd rent a van and drive myself before paying that - but you shouldn't be comparing it to 95 pounds...it looks like to me that you're being quoted a per person rate (125 pounds per person for the two trips), but while 125 pounds seems like a bargain, 125 times eight for the exact same vehicle and driver does not...

Good luck, and keep looking...

Bill

(taxi in England for similar amount of miles is £95 return!).
The distance for your transfer from Geneva airport to Saas Fee is about 140 miles each way. The journey time is about 2 hours and half.
If you have a taxi firm willing to do that kind of trip in UK for £95 I would love to know. It works out at 30 pence a mile ! And for a van that takes 8 people ! Shurly shum mishtake.
Have you Googled all possible Taxi transfers available?

I also found this :
From Geneva, trains run directly to Brig. Travelers by rail reach the Saas valley via Brig or Visp, and change into the post-car with direct destination “Saas Fee.” There are connections every hour until 8:05 p.m. from Brig or 8:25 p.m. from Visp.

So you need to look into train to Brig or Visp.

Look at http://www.sbb.ch/en/
takes around 3 1/2 hours

Hey, Nige! Great minds think alike! ;-)

Bill

Bill - we could go into business together and earn a fortune.

Thanks for your replies - the journey in England to the airport takes about 1 1/2 hours so is not as long as the Swiss transfer but we had two quotes, one £90 for both journeys and one for £95 so getting the quotes for over £1,000 from the swiss side was a bit of a shock as it is only about an hour longer travelling time. I will look into the trains but seem unable to find a car to hire that takes 8 people - plus we would have to pay car park fees in Saas Fee as it is car free and we most probably won't need it as previously have stayed in Grindlewald and did not use our car at all.
I will keep investigating!
Nicola

I did this trip a couple of years back.we took a train from geneva airport to brig and then took bus from there to saasfee.the hotel owner collected us from the bus stop in his battery operated vehicle which is allowed in saas fee.we had no problems.in fact we took the train after a long flight from India!
Hope this helps,

You are going to the country with the best public transport system in Europe. Whay bother with an expensive shuttle?
Go to www.sbb.ch to find out travel times.
It's basically train to Visp, and then bus to Saas Fee. Public transportation schedules and routes have changed significantly the last two years due to the opening of the new Lötschberg tunnel, so better check the SBB website. People who where there years ago probably did take different routes...