I travel frequently and often leave my car in the long term parking at GVA, sometimes for a week or two at a time. The official valet parknig by Europcar doesn't seem to make any sense, since it's cheaper just to leave your car in the airport car park and pick it up yourself.

I've been pointed in the direction of a company called Parking Friend which charges a very reasonable CHF15 per day, and they pick up and drop off your car for you

Obviously I'm reluctant to leave my beautiful new car with someone I've never heard of

Has anyone had any experience of dealing with these guys?

And Merry Christmas!

Never heard of those guys. Must be some guys who have a vast space somewhere to store cars. But then what if your flight is late? Is the dude going to hang around for the number of hours it takes?

Europcar valet parking only makes sense when you're in a terrible rush and the parking is full, otherwise not.

For what it's worth, I always leave my car across the motorway, next to the hotel right across the road (will look up it's name). Parking on the tiny road side is free, and only 5 minutes walking to the airport.

Has anyone an update on this. I'm just about to start a weekly return to the UK and whilst the free option is appealing the thought of landing at 23.00 on Sunday and finding a problem is not quite as appealing.

Both www.parking-friend.com and www.citywide-valet-parking.com look appealing but has anyone any personal experience of them ?

It's a small world. My sister-in-law just thought about citywide for her holidays 2 weeks ago. Mrs. Zappa did loads of Googling and found that they are bankrupt. May be a great bloke otherwise, but hardly reassuring.

Nice idea from Shorrock. It's the Ibis isn't it? Must check that out. The two nearest carparks (1 & 51) have been chocka the last couple of times I flew.

Has anyone used parking-friend?

I'm flying out of Geneva next Friday, and I'm trying to decide between taking the train or driving to the airport and parking. Since Friday's a holiday, I just don't know how crowded airport parking will be, and since I am very unfamilar with the area (basically I've been to Geneva once, the airport never) I am rather risk averse.

personally, I would take the train & cut out the potential hassle.

I agree. Take the train. It arrives right by check-in. Probably saves you money too.

Nope, doesn't save money. I'm thinking about it though.

I used Parking Friend for the first few weekends of my return trips to the UK. Train may have been slightly cheaper/easier but my return flight was due to land at 23h00 with last train at 23h10 hence resorting to the car.

Parking Friend were/are great and the extra CHF20 for cleaning the car was well worth it. Only reason I stopped was it was actually cheaper to leave the car in P1 and I have never had problems finding a space (17h00/17h30 on Friday evening).

In summary Parking Friend were thoroughly recommendable.

Just a small question. Can I use these services for parking my sisters car for the weekend when she is visiting from Basel( driving down with kids and luggage)? I dont have an extra car park and P&R would be too far from our house. Any other tips would be appreciated.

Probably the best thing to do would be to call them and ask. Here's their website
http://parkfriend-001.vm.brightbox.net/

Seems like it might work, as long as you're leaving the car there. You do pay CHF 15 per day, CHF 5 for insurance, CHF 20 for handling (an administrative fee), and if I'm not mistaken, 7.6 % tax.

For me, it's not necessarily less expensive to take the train because I have to factor in some taxi rides to get back and forth between the train and my house. As long as I can get a taxi Friday morning (I'll check that out tomorrow), it is much less hassle to just take the train. But I have to get to the train........

thanks for the info, tho...

e.

does anyone know of a station between Lausanne and GVA airport where I can leave my car for a few days at a time and then take the train to the airport?