Les Arcs is near the Swiss border, 200kms east of Lyon and 170kms south of Geneva, and is fairly straightforward to get to. The quickest route here is to fly to Geneva and hire a car or take a Skibus, while self-drive is also popular, as is taking the train to Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

Geneva-Cointrin Airport receives flights from numerous destinations worldwide and has four return buses daily to Les Arcs. You can also travel to Bourg-Saint-Maurice by rail from the airport, but this journey is long-winded. Alternative airports are Chambery and Lyon-Satolas.

If you hire a car, take the A-40 southeast towards Mont Blanc, and then go through the tunnel into Italy and Pre-Saint-Didier, from where the SS-26 heads back into France and on to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Take the D-119/20 for the villages.

The best self-drive route from Calais goes via Reims, Dijon and Geneva (Annemasse), and then continues as above (980 to 1,000kms; 10 to 11 hours). Arc 1800 is 20kms from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, from where a gondola links with the valley of Arc 2000 (or you can drive around).

By train, there is a direct Eurostar service in the winter months from London’s Waterloo station to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Alternatively, a high-speed TGV leaves from Paris, gare de Lyon, for Bourg, from where a bus or taxi will take you to the villages. Paris is connected to London via Eurostar.