Ski holiday by train - recommendations please

[XelaM]

Hi everyone,

My daughter is begging for us to go on a ski holiday, but I would really prefer to go by train rather than fly/drive if at all possible. Can someone recommend any destinations? The only website I found is the Travelski website. Is that the only site where you can book ski trips by train?

France would be the obvious destination, but has anyone been to any of the Scottish ski resorts? Ideally, I would like this to be as cheap as a ski trip can possibly be 😬 Any recommendations that won't cost the world? My daughter is nearly 13 and fairly confident on skis and I grew up in Austria as a child and used to ski quite seriously, but haven't been in a few years.

Eurostar no longer runs direct trains to Moutiers/Bourg St Maurice. You can still do it but you need to change at Paris and you need to switch stations (from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon) in Paris which wouldn't be fun with baggage. Travelski charters Eurostars there and back once a week so is the only company that runs direct trains to the Alps. Means you have to book the whole package with them though - we are actually using them this year to go to Tignes. But I've no idea what they're actually like - good I hope!! The train is overnight on a Friday evening, getting into Moutiers or Bourg St Maurice very early Saturday morning. So early you could get an extra day on the slopes if you were keen and cope without much sleep! Then it's a day train on the Saturday home to St Pancras. If you went to Les Arcs, you literally just have to cross the road from Bourg to get the funicular straight up the mountain! Although they arrange bus transfers too.

I learnt to ski in Scotland - I've only actually been to the Lecht though. And, it's a brilliant place to learn because it makes you sooooo grateful for even a bad day in the Alps! If you get it on a good day, it can be fun/bearable but you can't plan for it in advance and I had many more rubbish days than good days. You really need to be able to drop everything and head to the slopes. Which is fine if, like me, you lived close-ish to the slopes. But I wouldn't plan a holiday for it. I went on a school ski trip to the Cairngorms once and there wasn't a single drop of snow. We spent the week mountain biking and dry slope skiing instead.

PickleSarnie has it well summarised.

We've done it four or five times. There used to be an overnight TGV sleeper from Paris to Bourg. It was great, evening Eurostar to Paris, take the metro to the other station, board the sleeper around 11pm (with proper flat beds) and wake up in Bourg around 6am.

We'd cheat slightly and get the day Eurostar back, direct from Bourg to London.

I did recently look into alternatives (as mentioned, the Eurostar isn't sold directly for that route). The best option seemed to be around 4 hours from Paris and you could stay overnight in Paris so you don't waste a day of skiing travelling. But it's not quite as convenient.

The snowcarbon website was an excellent source of info on train options for different ski resorts.

Thank you Both! That's very helpful.

I was actually looking at the Snowcarbon website as well as Travelski, so I guess I was on the right track. I think we would have to go with a package holiday that Travelski offer (although they're so pricey 🙈 especially for February half term I would imagine).

I heard that slopes in Scotland are often closed because of the weather so it's too unreliable for a holiday.

Scotland is great for skiing if you can be flexible but for sure much riskier than the alps if you need to book in advance as the snow is unreliable and there can be high winds. Aviemore is very easy by train, and Glencoe and the Nevis Range are also quite easy - the sleeper from London calls at/near all of them. Glenshee and the Lecht are harder to reach by public transport.

Do you have to go Feb half term? We always go at Easter. Limits where you can go slightly. But not hugely. Still expensive obviously but slightly less need to sell a kidney/remortgage house than Feb half term.

You almost certainly won't get powder days (although we actually have been pretty lucky a couple of years and had fresh snow) so it'll be a bit icy first thing in the morning after the slopes are posted but before the sun has softened them slightly and may be spring moguls in the afternoon (good for your thighs though!). But the upside is that you don't have to wear a bazillion layers and can chill with a drink in the sun on a veranda in a tshirt. I love Easter skiing!

Ohh I would love to do Easter skiing, but I thought it would be too unreliable for snow and that the season would be over? My daughter's school breaks up for Easter on 29 March

Definitely not too late. You need to go high/snow sure (some of the Austrian resorts are lower but apparently snowsure at Easter. I've not been to Austria at Easter though so can't confirm)

I've been to the following at Easter:

Tignes, Les Arcs, La Plagne, Alpe D'Huez. All been brilliant. Even when Easter has been late. Alpe D'Huez is probably the only slightly risky one because its all south facing. It was fine the year we went though.

Other options would be Val Thorens and Val D'Isere.

Lots of places in Switzerland too but Switzerland even more expensive than France so not been!!

^^you won't get much in the way of tree lined skiing at Easter though. But there is less need to shelter from the elements at Easter.

The only tour operator doing Eurostar packages is Travelski and you have to buy their entire package with hotels etc.

One alternative is to organise the whole thing yourself to France, using Eurostar and then French trains to Bourg St Maurice.

Another alternative is the Nightjet service from Amsterdam to Zell am See and Salzburg, taking Eurostar from London to Amsterdam. See the Nightjet website: www.nightjet.com/en/

Easter is still a good time to ski in many Austrian resorts (and Easter falls early in April in 2023). Although the villages are in the valleys, the skiing takes place up on the mountains where there is plenty of snow in the larger resorts (and at some resorts such as Saalbach, children up to 16 ski for free at Easter).

For all things related to train travel, including skiing by train, the guru is The Man in Seat 61 (www.seat61.com)

Unless you live within 2 hours of Aviemore, don't bother with Scotland.

Can I hijack the thread slightly and ask about Easter + ice please?

We're in Austria now and conditions have been steadily icier over the last couple of days. Today is our last day and no lie, the main blue here was an ice rink today and yesterday, especially on the steeper bits. Yesterday I slipped on a patch and slid 5 feet, it was clear like an ice rink under me. I had to take my skis off and walk to the edge of the piste as I couldn't get any grip to get up. In the time it took me to get myself sorted, two other people hit the deck in the same spot. Further down, people were going down like skittles.

We were thinking of skiing at Easter next time (2024) and were looking at La Plagne/La Rosiere/Avoriaz amongst others, but I'm really keen to avoid icy conditions if possible.

@RhubarbFairy At this time of year, pisted slopes that freeze overnight often never melt in the day - they rely on people skiing over them to break them up.

But with ice at spring time, because its generally sunny and quite warm, the icy pistes (from being pisted and it freezing overnight) melt fairly quickly. Late in spring, I tend to avoid skiing until about 10am to avoid it. Last year I didn't adhere to that rule and me and my son went down a steep red in the shade that was sheet ice. We both fell, neither of us could get an edge to stand up so we slid on our arses down to the bottom and drunk hot chocolate on the nearest terrace until the sun had done its job!

Spring can get a bit slushy late afternoon but if you stay high and just ski back to resort at the end of the day you only have to endure the slush once!

While I agree that's a good general description, as with most things skiing, conditions may vary!
I went for a week late March in the three valleys and we were in a lot of sun and slush early in the week as described especially coming back to resort total porridge. Some steep reds i skied particularly in Meribel remained extremely icy well into the day because of the shaded aspect. Proper ice not just crusty refrozen pistes. Temps and visibility dropped mid week and there was some snow - was a massive dump at the end of the week but it only lasted a few days as it warmed up again. There's a reason the French stop skiing after February! but there is still plenty of fun to be had if you don't mind variable conditions!

I once went to Megeve by train and bus

Skiing at Easter isn’t possible in many Austrian resorts. Our local one is closed 26/03 this year for example. That’s when entire resort closes, as the cable cars close also and won’t open again until beginning June for hiking season.
Some others further away are open, but generally from beginning April will only be open Thursday-Sundays, then the last two weeks only 9-12am.

Theres often thick snow here in March/ April, especially up high. But the dates of closure are fixed before the season even starts, and aren’t adjusted if weather is good

Ww skies at the Stubai Glacier at Easter a few years ago and it was rammed. Made February half term (also a local holiday there that year due to the start of lent) look calm. Less resorts open means more people at the open ones.

The smaller, lower Austrian resorts close by the end of March, but the larger internationally known ones do all that they can to keep open until Easter, although this depends on when exactly Easter falls. Easter 2023 is early in April so many resorts will be open. In 2022 Easter was quite late (18th April) and only a few resorts could keep open until then.

The big eastern resorts - Kitzbuhel, Zell am See, Saalbach etc. - are open until 16th April 2023, as are the big western resorts like St Anton, Lech and Zurs. The glacier resorts (not recommended for beginners) such as Kaprun are open until the end of April.

Thank you all you wonderful people!

Having thought about it, we can't actually go during early April 2023 as my daughter has a show jumping competition then and she will need to train a lot in the run up to it, so she won't be able to go.

Our only option is February half term. Having looked at the prices for the Travelski packages for that week, I am now thinking of risking it and trying Scotland. 😬 We're in London so the sleeper train to Aviemore that a poster above has mentioned would be ideal and much(!!!) cheaper than Eurostar. Does anyone who has been to Aviemore have any recommendations as to where we should stay to be able to have easier access to the slopes? Also I wanted to book an instructor for my daughter (although she's not a total beginner and has been going on the red slopes). There appears to be a ski school in Avienmore, but not sure if I'm looking at the right thing.

Seriously - don't bother with Aviemore.

I wouldn’t go to Scotland. Too unreliable unless you can do it at the drop of a hat.

Go to Aviemore by all means but don't expect to actually ski! Skiing in Scotland is all about being able to drop everything at a moments notice for those rare days that the slopes are open and the roads arent closed.

It's a really long way from London though to visit in winter and without a car. Is flying absolutely not an option? I'd really consider that above getting a train all the way to Aviemore.

This is typical for when there's snow (admittedly the Lecht is a single road through a valley but that road is closed soooooo many times when it snows).....

^^flying abroad that is! Not flying to Scotland!!

If it's the same service as the Caledonian sleeper, I'd advise to look carefully at the room allocation on the train. We booked two (standard family?) rooms this summer - one was enormous (I think at the end of the carriage and possibly an accessibility room).

The other was minute - barely room to shut the door and then you had to clamber past a fixed ladder to get into the bottom bunk. Not entirely sure why I let my kids take the bigger one so I was squashed in the little one!

I hear you all about Scotland being a wasted trip if we want to be able to ski.

So I think we will have to fly. I've developed a bizarre fear of flying for some reason, even though I've been flying a lot since early childhood and used to have to fly for various work events. Train would have been my preference, but going by train to the Alps during February half term is unfortunately beyond my budget.

If you’re looking for a budget ski/snowboard option, have a look at Action Outdoors
They are in most French resorts and sell UCPA spaces, they are a bit youth-hostelly, but a much nice European all-inclusive version. You normally pay a bit more than the ski lift price for a weeks accommodation, food, lift pass, hire and instruction!

Would you drive?