November 5th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
Travel to the French Alps – Snowtrain or Slow Strain?
I recently read interesting an article in the Telegraph Online about the merits of using the Snow Train to travel to the French Alps. The journey involves catching the Eurostar at either St Pancras or Ebbsfleet International then changing at Paris Gare du Nord to the Snow Train which stops at Moutiers and Aime and terminates in Bourg Saint Maurice. On the outward journey you depart from the UK on Friday evening, travel overnight, and arrive early Saturday morning. On the return leg, you depart on Saturday evening. It’s a clever schedule on paper that makes for 8 days skiing but I wonder what passengers make of the service in practice.
Since I’ve never used the Snow Train myself I decided to get some genuine passenger feedback from www.snowheads.com, a forum for wintersports enthusiasts to discuss all things snow related. I’m a new member and it is proving to be an invaluable resource.
Rail Europe claims that the Snow Train’s convertible seat-beds make “for a great nights’ sleep” but I wasn’t sure how much sleep I would get spending the night on a train with a disco carriage in a compartment shared with 5 others. Here’s what the Snowheads had to say:
When we did an overnight train from Paris it worked OK, because the other 4 people were young Italians who actually wanted to sleep, not young Brits who wanted to drink and brawl… You don’t necessarily sleep all night, but it’s comfortable lying down.
I did not find it too difficult to get to sleep (once we had got rid of the party animals!) A touch of spirit alcohol helps, as do the earplugs which they supply.
I would rather sleep in an airport than take the sleeper again. It may be ok for elves or pixies but not good if you are full size and like life’s little treats (such as a shower).
The space issue is exacerbated by the Snow Trains baggage policy. It seems you can take as much as you want as long as you don’t mind sleeping with it:
There’s no room for baggage; essentially you stow it on your bunk. You must travel light.
The debate about whether it is worth sacrificing a good night’s sleep for an extra day on the hill permeates the thread and is never resolved. It’s all about priorities, I suppose. As someone who values both in equal measure I’d probably take the view of these 2 Snowheads:
Cheaper and FAR BETTER to fly and have an overnight in a hotel.
I could have flown Easyjet from East Midlands to Geneva, and spent two nights in Geneva (Friday on the way out, Saturday on the way back) and paid for transfers, and it would have been cheaper, and I’d have got the eight days skiing, and two nights of better quality sleep.
It doesn’t sound like these Snowheads got value for money either which is something at the forefront of everybody’s mind in the current economic downturn. I checked the Rail Europe website for up to date prices to see what they were talking about. Prices range from £249 to £279 per person for a return ticket – cheaper than flying on peak dates but more expensive off-peak. Perhaps this explains why I failed to find any availability on the Snow Train for Christmas, New Year or Half Term when there is still good availability on ski flights for the holidays.
See more insightful comments on train travel to the French Alps from the Snowheads.
Tags: budget ski holidays, Snowheads, Val d'Isere
Posted in News from the Alps, Skiing in France, Travel to the French Alps | 5 Comments »
November 6th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I have taken the snow train to Val D’isere, it was awful.
The first part of the trip by Eurostar was perfect and fast unlike the snow train which was cold and slow. As described it is cramped, male and female strangers to share a 4 or 5 bed cabin. I could not find any kiosk on the train serving food, only alcohol, peanuts and crisps. After 10 hours on this train I could not wait to get off.
The best and cheapest way travel, is to go from Ebbsfleet International in Kent to Lille, then catch an internal flight on to the Alps.
If you book in advanced, the entire trip should cost £200 per person and its faster too!
With the remaining money you could probably hire a car for £15 and find a local hotel near Ebbsfleet for a night!
November 6th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Thank you for your comment Chelsea. To me that seems like a rather convoluted route especially given that you can fly direct to the Alps from a whole host of UK airports. View a map of ski airports serving French ski resorts.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Begging to disagree!
For us the flight option from the tour operator was hellish. 0600 dep LGW would have meant leaving home at 0200. 0830 arrival at Geneva then 3.5 hours in a coach to Tignes. Departure from Tignes was 0500 (so getting up at 0400) to arrive back at LGW at approx 1200. Add in a week’s car park charges to dear old BAA. Ugh.
Snow train departure was Friday 1730 St Pancras, arriving Saturday 0830, with a 45 minute transfer to the resort. Leaving the resort was 1700 Saturday, St Pancras 0930 Sunday.
Did I sleep as well as in my own bed? No, but I got about 6 hours good sleep both directions. The bar/disco is not obligatory, and frankly if it hadn’t been for the hype on the web about it, I would never have know the bar car was on the train.
Luggage? Yes, we slept with our bags in the compartment but we could have checked bulky stuff in the baggage van if we’d wanted, but as we only had two of us in a six berth compartment it didn’t seem worthwhile.
And you can’t argue with eight days skiing, compared with the six that flying would have offered.
One more thing. The train was on time. I can’t remember the last time I took a ski flight that wasn’t late in one or both directions.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 am
[...] skiing public were as divided about the Snow Train experience as the general public are about Marmite, so undoubtedly some fans will mourn the loss of the [...]
October 1st, 2009 at 12:27 am
Hi I would agree. I have not been on a trip there, however as many customers travelling the route have stayed at our hotel and have compared rail as much better as they can carry more ski gear by train than on airlines. We offer free parking for short stay.