French Alps by train

[PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle]

I'm planning for next year, either late Jan or first week of Feb. After years of waiting hours in the airport and being cramped in a tiny plane seat I'm looking into taking the train instead. Has anybody done this? And do you have any tips or recommendations?
I've been looking at the Snowcarbon website for some advice. And the more I read the more tempted I am.
Does anyone have experience of this?

Into Bourg?

Did it years ago. I hated it - didn’t realise it was just a big excuse for a massive piss up (at the time) which is not my style!
my auntie went a few weeks ago and loved it. She doesn’t fly anywhere for eco reasons.

The eurostar sell tickets (seasonally) to ski resorts

Yes I’ve done it, it’s fine, and the transfer from Bourg st morirz is shorter than from the airport.. do make sure you book a couchette though . We mistakenly didn’t one year and we had to sleep sitting up in ordinary seats and that was an uncomfortable night!

Thanks for your replies.
I've been looking at La Plagne as a destination. There is a train leaving St Pancreas at 6.30 which would arrive at La Plagne around 16.00. From there it would be a 20 mins transfer up the mountain. Seems a lot less fuss than passport control, waiting for luggage and then a 2 hour transfer.
I'm hoping the train would be more comfortable than the plane.

I’m sure that they stopped doing this train a few years ago as you could only book it as part of a package ski holiday. Perhaps it’s changed? We have done it in the past. Avoid the overnight ones as it’s utter carnage, party central. It was a very long day. Not sure if it was any better than flying tbh!

There is a massive ongoing train thread on snowheads (with a lot of feedback positive and negative) — the earlier stuff may be a bit old now but lots of know how:
snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=166241&highlight=

Lots of tips and recommendations for all train travel in Europe from the Man in Seat 61.
https://www.seat61.com

I took the eurostar to les arcs this year. Personally love the train. Did it in 2019 before covid too, when it was direct from London to the alps. Now you have to change in lille. All very easy, i just booked direct with eurostar. It's usually down foe booking in the Summer sometime, but check with them. It's Saturday to Sunday, so you do need think about booking accommodation for the 2nd Saturday night. Our apartment let couldn't accommodate us for an 8th night so we stayed in a hotel in Bourg. Pluses include relaxed travel, extra day skiing, very short transfer. Only downside, in my view is its pricer than flying but well worth the cost.

We took the 6.30 eurostar and then the 11 something Paris to Bourg train this year, then the bus to Tignes. Stepped off the bus at 1730. All extremely smooth.

The queue to buy the metro cards to load tickets across Paris onto was probably the longest, but it was ok. Once you have the cards you can load them with more tickets very easily, though we just bought 4 tickets the first time. Maybe you can order them in advance - worth doing if so. We ended up stopping off in Paris on the way back for a spontaneous night which was lovely.

I'm not sure if you absolutely have to book the Alpibus tickets from Bourg in advance but I was told that you did- we booked them on the train on the way down which was fine, but we were going out of season so if a higher season week I would book earlier.

The 'party' train is something I did once years ago and even aged 29 I felt much too old for it, to avoid.

You can get tickets for the Paris Metro now on your phone.

I’ve travelled to Serre Chevalier, Flaine and Geneva by train, with an overnight in Paris beforehand. I once got a sleeper train to La Plagne from London but I don’t think that service is running anymore.

Snowcarbon and Seat61 are very useful for planning and you can look up timetables on SNCF or RailEurope. If I lived in London and got a very early Eurostar I probably could have done the journey in one day.

The trains in France are excellent (although one year there was a strike which didn’t affect me but did affect others at my accommodation). Paris to Geneva is less than 3.5 hours on the TGV.

We did it two years ago when travelski chartered weekly direct eurostars. It was overnight on the way out and day train on the way home. The overnight train was hideous. It was quiet but impossible to sleep on a train seat. Gave us an extra day on the slopes technically but we were all too knackered to ski more than a couple of runs.

Eurostar does direct trains not but only up until February. Otherwise we would have got the train (we are in Tignes right now). I'd definitely consider going to Paris on Friday evening then getting a train to BSM on the Saturday morning next time. It helps though that I live on the train line that comes into St P. But the train is so much less stressful than airports and 3 hour coach transfers on coaches where the toilets are always out of order.

We go skiing by train every year. This year went to Val d’Isere at Easter. It was a Sunday to Sunday stay so travel slightly different. Got the 11:30 Eurostar to Paris on the Saturday and stayed overnight in Paris - we usually do this because I don’t want to miss the onward train to the Alps! Got a train the next day at 0945 to Chambery, then a regional train to Bourg St Maurice and arrived there at 1515. Bus (booked through altibus) up to resort. In reverse got a regional train from Bourg to Lyon at 0837, then TGV to Paris arriving into Paris at 1500, then the 1800 Eurostar back to London. As it happens we could have got the Eurostar before but I leave 3 hours between TGV arriving into Paris and the Eurostar to allow for delays into Paris.

The two trains in France was due to engineering works, usually in (French) school holidays there are direct TGVs to Bourg St Maurice. Usually leaving about 0915/0930 both ways.

I’ve also done the train to Austria and Italy for skiing. All very easy. The Man in Seat 61 website is excellent not just for route planning but also transferring across Paris and hotels around Paris Nord and Gare de Lyon.

We have been taking the train to the slopes for years and tried all the combinations. Second both Mark at Seat 61 and Daniel at Snowcarbon, both really helpful if you can't find what you need.

We book everything including bus (unless to Les Arcs in which case no transfer required just go up from Bourg on the the funicular) in advance. Eurostar is on sale months before the French trains so you have to hold your nerve to get the best prices. We usually book the very last Eurostar of the evening from Paris and then wait for the SNCF to put their routes up - usually at midnight so 11pm UK time - to get the best prices, as we have been restricted to peak season / school holidays and they book up quickly. Alternatively use the Eurostar direct to the Alps with the change at Lille (super easy walk across the concourse) but you need to factor in the additional night in resort and it is a little more expensive.

One tip is the tunnel between France and Italy is open again now - opening up Sestriere, Mongenevre etc from Oulx on the Italian side. There is an early train from Gare de Lyon but you would need to spend the night in Paris - but you are then correspondingly early in resort for picking up skis etc.

This year we did the night train to Briancon (cannot recommend highly enough, had a 4 person cabin for our family and slept like logs) and were on the slopes by 10 in Montgenevre so effectively an extra day's skiing.

It can work brilliantly. A previous poster mentioned the train to Sere Che. If you book in advance you can get Eurostar + overnight train incl couchettes for £150 return. I think that’s fab. It’s also a lot less in demand than the train to Bourg so with exploring if you’re open to other resorts.

It’s a fab train… we stop further down the valley and use links to Vars/Risoul, Puy St V and Les Orres. And you can time it to have a quick dinner and 🍷 in Paris.

I've not taken the direct night Eurostar down to France but I've been at St Pancras at the same time as it departs and booze is now banned. They're not allowed to sell it to people with boarding passes for that train at the bars in departures. Obviously people weren't happy with the whole thing.

I've accidentally found myself on the German version down to the Austrian Alps and it was... lively.

Thanks all.
@TheOriginalSinclair I spoke to Daniel from Snowcarbon, who was very helpful. We've now booked accommodation in Belle Plagne, and the owner will be booking the train for us when the timetables are released. We're aiming to leave on the Friday and spend a night in Paris. Then the TGV onwards the next morning, arriving in Belle Plagne early afternoon.
really looking forward to it.

Good stuff! Impressed with people organising already.

If anyone is interested Eurostar have released more information about the 25-26 service - it is into March and two return trains, Saturday and Sunday, tho booking is not yet open.
Snowcarbon have a guide up on their website here

Has anyone taken the Eurostar ‘snow train’ though? It seems specifically aimed at skiers/boarders so goes straight through (change at Lille) but I’m concerned by all the mentions of overnight travel.

This seems to be a same day journey leaving St Pancras at around 9 and arriving in Moutiers at 5/Bourg at 5:30-ish pm. The Eurostar website isn’t very clear, unless I’m looking at the wrong thing. The last time I took the train was 2000, the Eurostar still departed from Waterloo!

Just followed the link with seat61, panic averted!