Traveling
We flew with SAS on the way there to Geneva and then Swiss air and Lufthansa on the way back. From Geneva we booked a transport to Chamonix that took about an hour and 20 minutes. We choose to book a private bus, which was about 57 euros for two people one way, so 1014 total. A bit more expensive than taking the coach bus, but worth getting there faster, specially since we were there for a long weekend. The bus took 13 people and was full both going there and coming back.
We booked Alpybus and it worked well, they texted and emailed us information and they were punctual picking us up on the way back. Drivers were friendly and the only thing to complain about was the legroom on the seats, since both of us are tall, neither one of us could get our legs in and had to sit diagonally all the way there.
Alpybus website – Coach bus website
Flying with SAS is fairly smooth but the seats were a little uncomfortable for a two hour flight. Alex managed to score us the exit row seats which made the flight much more comfortable.
Swiss air in Geneva was a disaster, because of a cancelled flight that had us standing in a line to get our hotel voucher for almost three hours (with two people working the booth), and there being chaos checking in our one bag the next morning. On the plus side, Swiss air gives you a little piece of chocolate when you fly with them, and the beers at the airport was a good size. Wine was not.
Local transportation
To get around in Chamonix there is a train and busses. The busses are free if you buy a ski pass, which no one ever checked if we had, but very very very crowded. Being a city where most of the people are tourists wanting to go back and forth from the different ski resorts they have not figured out that there needs to be more than two busses an hour. Sadly this created chaos and much frustration. The busses were so packed that people were standing on top of each other and had to literally push on and off. Add skis, ski boots, poles, helmets and backpacks to that.
Since we lived about 30 minutes walking from the centre we relied on the bus because the train didn’t go in our direction. The last bus left the centre at 8.21, so if you want dinner it’ll have to be on the early side, which we learned the hard way.
When we asked for help to call a taxi the answer was “Well (sigh), I can try. Ther are not much taxis here”. How is that even possible?
Anyway. Point being that local transportation works best if you don’t use it on peak hours, and prepare for an evening walk home.