How do you reach the French side on arrival?
The airport's instructions: collect your baggage as usual, and once in the Arrivals hall and through customs, go up one level to the Check-in area, where the French sector desks are. Moving between the sectors inside the terminal is for passengers with a valid ticket for the same day, give or take a day. Anyone else changes sector by road through the Ferney-Voltaire customs point, which is closed to pedestrians and bicycles.
Which car hire firms are on each side?
The airport lists nine car hire companies in the Swiss sector, at Arrivals level, and six in the French sector, at Check-in level, including Sixt, Hertz and Enterprise. It is possible to rent or return a car in the French sector without being a passenger.
Why the French side can suit a French resort
Most of the resorts that list Geneva as their first airport are in France: 19 of the 23 in our data, from Chamonix and the Portes du Soleil to the Tarentaise. A car hired on the French side starts on French roads.
Whichever side you hire from, the car must meet the French winter equipment rule in the mountain areas from 1 November to 31 March: four winter tyres, or chains or socks carried in the car. Every commune in Savoie and Haute-Savoie is covered. Swiss motorways need a vignette. Check with the hire company what the car comes with. Our driving guide has the rules and sources.
Christmas week from Geneva
For Christmas week 2026 the Saturday changeovers are 19 and 26 December, so collect and return the car on those days. Our ski resorts near Geneva guide gives transfer times to each resort and the buses from the airport.
Booking Christmas week from here
The links below give flights from London on Kiwi.com, car hire at the airport and Expedia's flight + hotel search for 19–26 December 2026, for each resort named here. Chalets are on each resort page. Prices and availability are on the partner's site; we do not quote them.
Sources
- Genève Aéroport — Swiss sector at Arrivals (9 companies), French sector at Check-in (6); route to the French sector inside the terminal; same-day ticket rule; Ferney-Voltaire customs road
- Genève Aéroport — Sixt, Hertz and Enterprise at Check-in level in the French sector; renting there without being a passenger
- Chalet for Christmas resort data — resorts listing Geneva first, checked 25 September 2026
- Chalet for Christmas guide — driving to the Alps at Christmas (French winter equipment rule from the Savoie and Haute-Savoie prefectures; Swiss vignette from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security)