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Help! Chamonix to Piedmont

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Hi everyone! I’m looking for some help in finalizing my itinerary. We depart Chamonix on a Wednesday and have a flight departing TRN the following Tuesday. We want to spend two nights in Turin and the remainder nights in Piedmont wine towns (maybe La Morra or the like). We will rent a car for the wine towns. Here’s my questions:

1) What is best way to get from Chamonix to Turin? The easiest would be to rent a car in Chamonix and drop it off at TRN but that does not appear to be an option. It appears the options are car hire (likely using GetTransfer), bus, or train. As usual the trade off here is more expensive for car hire versus bus/train which will take longer and have transfers. Does anyone have experience/recommendations making this trip?

2) Is it better to rent a car in Turin (near Porta Susa station) and return at TRN, or to rent and return at TRN?

Any other recommendations for this itinerary would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Posted by
11831 posts

This is a tough connection because of those pesky alps! www.Rome2Rio.com says you can take a bus in under 4 hours.

You could also shuttle into Geneva (airport) in under one hour with one of the shuttle services in Chamonix (look at Alpybus for example) then take a train to Milano Centrale (some with changes) and connect to Torino.

Research trains at www.sbb.ch/en. Looks like 6 to 7 hours by train with transfer times after you get to Geneva.

I don't think it matters where you rent the car. The train station will be more convenient on departure.

Posted by
7325 posts

There are buses through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy. Choice of Flixbus and Savda, the former is direct so more convenient.
Train is very very roundabout and car hire is super expensive with the tunnel fare and the different country drop off.

Posted by
10372 posts

I don’t know why Porta Susa would be more convenient for the return, since they have to get out to the airport anyway.

My husband (from turin) always insists on renting at the airport (we always arrive by train from Paris into Porta Susa). This means a dumb bus out to Caselle (the airport) to pick up the rental, but he insists there is better choice of vehicles out there. You may not be as fussy as him and be perfectly happy renting at Porta Susa!!!

Posted by
3300 posts

FlixBus has one bus a day at 7:25 at night that arrives in Turin at 10:35. If you purchase tickets early, the cost is $14 per pax. Another ridiculously expensive way to do it is by cable car. Here’s Rick’s take on it!

There are a number of car rental places in Turin. I would check with AutoEurope for the best deals. I would rent it in the city and return it at the airport. Rarely have I found an extra charge for doing it. Don’t &orget your International Driver Permit.

I went to the Piedmont last fall basing in Barbaresco and loved it. Easy to visit the other wine towns from there. We stayed at the Agriturismo Tre Stelle which is a working vineyard and winery. Only 4 rooms, each with a private terrace, with views to die for. Great restaurants in the area.

In Turin, we stayed at the Hotel Concord, a business type hotel that is convenient to visit the city. If you want a great restaurant, try Pastificcio Defilippis a short walk from the hotel.

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