In the winter there there are two options for train travel to the Austrian Alps. Firstly get on a Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris, then you can take either a day train to Austria usually via Munich to Innsbruck. You can leave in the morning and arrive in resort in the evening after a relaxing day on the train. Some day services may require you to spend a night in a German / Swiss city, it may be worth considering the night train below, unless you fancy a night in a city.

However perhaps the most stressfree option is to get an overnight train to Austria from Paris.  Leave St Pancras on the Eurostar about 4pm in the evening and get on an overnighter from Paris that will deposit you in the Austrian mountains the following morning. There are usually two options for an overnight train, seats and couchettes. Unless you’re on a really strict budget then couchettes are a must, you get a bed and hopefully a good nights sleep in that case. In the Winter there is a direct overnight train from Paris to Innsbruck, stopping at Munich and this is perhaps the easiest way to travel to any of the following ski areas. The overnight train will also enable you to get an extra two days skiing by skiing the day you arrive and skiing the day you leave giving you up to 8 days skiing.

Below is a quick list of the main ski resorts in Austria and the train station you need to alight at. Visit Rail Europe to check the actual journey that you need to take on your required dates.

Ski resorts in Austria and their nearest train station if train travel is an option.

Innsbruck train station – for the Stubai Glacier and other areas

Get off at Woergl for Ski Welt areas Soll, Ellmau, Westendorf, Brixen im Thale,  Scheffau, Going, Hopfgarten and Alpbach.

Change at Woergl for Zell am See train station, Saalbach (alight at Zell am See, then taxi), Kitzbuhel train station (although a taxi will only take half an hour if the connections don’t work).

Seefield in Tirol has it’s own train station

St Anton train station (St Anton am Arlberg) – changing at Innsbruck usually

Lech – alight at St Anton Am Arlberg train station, take a 30 minute taxi or the free resort buses

Bad Hofgastein – change at Munich and alight at Bad Hofgastein train station

Schladming train station – change at Munich usually

There will be twice weekly departures from London, one day ski train leaving on a Saturday morning and the overnight ski train leaving on Friday evenings. The overnight Eurostar ski train service arriving around 7am in the morning will give you 8 days on the piste, just make sure that you can check in at your accommodation early or leave your baggage somewhere in resort.

The snow train that Rail Europe used to run / sell several years ago is still not available -see here http://ski-concierge.com/blog/snow-train-cancelled-this-season/. The Snow Train was the overnight sleeper (with couchettes) from Paris that was on the same route as the Eurostar ski train, stopping at Moutiers and Bourg St Maurice. This does mean that unless you are happy to book the French TGV from Paris independently (in my opinion the best method of travel – more in later posts), the Eurostar ski train is the only option for travelling to French ski resorts by train.

Resort Destinations with the Eurostar Ski Train:

Get off the ski train at Moutiers for the following ski resorts (transfer times in brackets).

Courchevel (30 minutes), Les Menuires (40 mins), Meribel (20 mins), Valmorel (40 mins) and Val Thorens (35 mins).

Get off the ski train at Aime La Plagne for La Plagne ski resort (30 minutes). Note the Eurostar train does not stop at Aime La Plagne train station on the way back, you will need to get to Bourg St Maurice by your own means.

Get off the ski train at Bourg St Maurice for the following ski resorts:

Les Arcs (35 minutes), La Rosiere (40 mins), Tignes (25 mins) Val d’Isere (25 mins).

Les Arcs provides perhaps the easiest transfer with a short funicular ride from Bourg St Maurice station up to Les Arcs 1600. All other resorts are accessible via public transport links, or taxi.

Eurostar ski train tickets go on sale now from £149 return, it really does offer a valid alternative to flying.

You can book your Eurostar Ski train tickets at www.eurostar.com.

Flyng is often thought of as being the only option for a ski weekend, but in reality most cheap airlines fly to the airports that are a longer transfer time to many French Alpine resorts (i.e. Lyon or Geneva), the transfer time can often be as much as 5 hours. So this time we decided to give the train a go for our ski weekend.

We arrived at St Pancras on Wednesday night and caught the 17:55 Eurostar to Paris. With the usual Eurostar efficiency we arrived in Paris at 21:20 local time. Originally we had planned to then catch the overnight train to Bourg St Maurice which would be a really good option as all you would need to do is get the Metro or taxi to Gare d’Austerlitz and then get the overnighter at around 11pm. This would get you into resort around 8am in the morning in time for your day’s skiing.

On the local train from Chambery to Aime

However we decided to stay in Paris for the evening and catch the morning fast train. We stayed at Hotel de France in Paris which was about 5 minutes walk to Gare du Lyon. This was a basic hotel, but clean and good value. We got the train from Gare du Lyon at 6.5oam, this took us to Chambery in about 3 hours. We then took a local train to Aime La Plagne. With a pre-arranged taxi to take us up the mountain we were in La Plagne centre by 12.30.

The total cost of the train journey was less than £150 return. We stayed in the UCPA in La Plagne centre and before we knew it we’d checked in, picked up our skis and were on the piste. This was helped by the fact that the UCPA is literally on the piste in La Plagne centre. The UCPA deal is all inclusive so you don’t have to run around when you get into resort picking up lift passes and skis. The lift pass is given to you when you check in and the skis can be picked up downstairs. The total cost for 3 nights stay, 4 days skiing was £250, including all meals, lift pass and ski / snowboard hire, you really couldn’t find cheaper than that! More about the UCPA in later posts.

Photo’s © Arthur Bullard

I am a massive fan of getting the train to the Three Valleys, in fact I’m writing this sitting on a train from Paris to Moutiers en route to Les Menuires for our December 09 #TwiSkiTrip. It’s a pretty civilised way to travel in France and the trains pretty much have a 100% punctuality rate, take note UK!

There are many different options for travelling by train to the Three Valleys, and I’ll just run over some of them now, you can check out all your options and buy tickets at Rail Europe

The Eurostar direct train goes from St Pancras in London to Moutiers, at the bottom of the Three Valleys. It also goes to Aime la Plagne and Bourg St Maurice. There are two options, firstly the night option which leaves London on a Friday evening and gets you into Moutiers early on a Saturday morning. It leaves Moutiers on a Saturday evening getting you home early on a Sunday morning. This option gives you the opportunity for 8 days skiing if you’re awake enough when you get there! The overnight Eurostar train does not have couchettes (flat beds), you will have a standard Eurostar seat.

Alternatively there is a day train which leaves and returns on a Saturday morning. This is possibly a better option if you can’t bear the thought of the overnighter. You’ll get the normal 6 days skiing with this option.

The Eurostar direct train takes 8-9 hours and costs from £179 return.

Your second option is to get a French network TGV to the Three Valleys. Firstly, no matter what TGV you choose, you will need to get a Eurostar to Paris. To get the cheapest Eurostar fares book early as they open bookings five months before travel. Then you can either get French TGV overnight train or a day train. The overnighters go from Paris Austerlitz which involves a tube journey across Paris. Leave yourself at least an hour between trains for this. The overnight trains have couchettes, which are basically flat beds that drop down. There are six to a cabin in standard class and four to a cabin in first class. They aren’t like real beds but you get to lie flat. The train arrives into Moutiers early in the morning meaning you can get up to resort to ski that day. The overnight trains run every night, so pick and choose what suits you best.

The trains that run in the day are sometimes overlooked. You get the train from Paris Gare du Lyon to Chambery and then change to get the local train from Chambery to Moutiers. Getting from Paris Nord to Gare du Lyon is extremely fast thanks to the RER, the speedier tube. Take line D, Gare du Lyon is two stops down the line and takes about 10-15 minutes only. It’s still probably safe to leave yourself an hour for this transfer. There are numerous times available for this option so just pop in the day you want to travel into Rail Europe and it’ll list all your available trains and prices.

The transfer from Moutiers can be done by the local bus company Altibus, or we recommend Three Valleys Transfers taxi company for the journey to your resort.

Travelling by train can be cheap but as always it’s best to book early. One issue you may come across is the fact that you can book the Eurostar, and thus get the best fares, 5 months in advance, but you can only book the French trains 3 months in advance. This is what I recommend; research the train times for your dates on the fantastic Seat 61 website, choose your times and book the Eurostar to suit. Then go and book the French trains at Rail Europe when they release, fingers crossed it’ll all work out and you’ll get the cheapest fares for both the Eurostar and French TGV. Sometimes first class tickets are cheaper or similar to second class tickets so keep an eye out for those.

I hope you enjoy your journey to the Three Valleys.  Also see our post on driving to the Three Valleys and flying to the Three Valleys.

You can book tickets for trains up to 3 months in advance, so today you can book tickets up until 14th January 2010. For journeys after this date, go online and book them “exactly” 3 months before you return journey date.

The way the ski train tickets work is that you go to Paris on the Eurostar from St Pancras, also bookable through Rail Europe, then you change trains to a French network train that whisks you to the Alps.

Resort Destinations with a ski train from Paris

Get off the ski train at Moutiers for the following ski resorts (transfer times in brackets).

Courchevel (30 minutes), Les Menuires (40 mins),  Meribel (20 mins),  Valmorel  (40 mins) and Val Thorens (35 mins).

Get off the ski train at Aime La Plagne for La Plagne ski resort (30 minutes).

Get off the ski train at Bourg St Maurice for the following ski resorts:

Les Arcs (35 minutes), La Rosiere (40 mins), Tignes (25 mins) Les Arcs provides perhaps the easiest transfer with a short funicular ride from Bourg St Maurice station up to Les Arcs 1600. All other resorts are accessible via public transport links, or taxi.

The above are the major well known resorts that people know they can travel to using the French ski train services. However skiiers often don’t realise that you can also get to other ski resorts easily by train.  These destinations also tend to be cheaper than tickets to Bourg St Maurice or Moutiers.

Get the ski train to Oulx for ski resorts Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere, Montgenevre and Claviere.

Get the ski train to Briancon for ski resorts Serre Chevalier, Puy St Vincent and Pelvoux.

Get the ski train to St Jean de Maurienne for ski resorts Les Sybelles, Valloire and Valmenier

Get the ski train to Grenoble for ski resorts Alpe d’Huez, Les Deux Alpes and La Grave amongst others.

Most of these ski train destinations offer daily services in about 4 hours from Paris or overnight services in about 7/8 hours. If you take the overnight service then it works the same way as the old, now defunct, Snow Train you will be able to ski for 8 full days.

Book your ski train tickets now.

When the ski train tickets to France are available to buy online is one of the most popular questions at the moment. Well basically Rail Europe are going to release the ski train tickets to France on 14th October for all sk trains up until 14th January. After that you can book your ski train tickets 3 months before your travel date.

Click here to book your ski train tickets online.

As part of our summer in the Alps series, I thought after cycling and walking that a more sedate activity should be in order and just as I was thinking that a brochure from Great Rail Journeys landed on my doorstep offering late availability for Alpine train journeys. Some of them sounds amazing and well worth a last minute summer booking.

All train journeys depart from St Pancras and head to the Swiss Alps for various destinations. Your journey will begin on the Eurostar to Paris, you will then transfer to a TGV train in Paris to complete your journey to Switzerland, then the real journey will begin to see the delights of your chosen tour.

Train journeys to the Swiss Alps include
Alps of Lake Geneva – based in the market town of Vevey
Glacier Express re-discovered – The Glacier Express is famous for it’s views, across the Oberalp Pass.
Glacier Express to St Moritz – this trip takes in the whole length of the Glacier Express and heads into St Moritz where you can shop, spa and treat yourself to gourmet dining.
Walking in the Swiss Alps – based in Kandersteg which is a true alpine gem, surrounded by unspoilt scenery. An ideal base for walking and for enjoying the mountain railways.
Jungfrau Express – based out of the town of Meiringen, and taking in the views of the Jungfrau and the local steam railways and cruises.

All the trips sound amazing and most of the deals include breakfast and dinner as well.

View more information and book at Great Rail Journey’s website http://www.greatrail.com/great-rail-holidays-themes/lakes–mountains.aspx?page=2

If you’re not into organised travel then you can visit these destinations independently by booking your trains seperately through the Rail Europe website, it takes a little bit of time and effort but no doubt will secure you the most cost effective price. Visit Rail Europe.

There will be twice weekly departures from London, one day ski train leaving on a Saturday morning and the overnight ski train leaving on Friday evenings. The overnight Eurostar ski train service arriving around 7am in the morning will give you 8 days on the piste, just make sure that you can check in at your accommodation early or leave your baggage somewhere in resort.

As we mentioned in a post several days ago http://ski-concierge.com/blog/snow-train-cancelled-this-season/ the Rail Europe Snow Train has been cancelled this year. The Snow Train was the overnight sleeper (with couchettes) that was on the same route as the Eurostar ski train, stopping at Moutiers and Bourg St Maurice. This does mean that unless you book the French TGV from Paris independently, the Eurostar ski train is the only option for travelling to French ski resorts by train.

Resort Destinations with the Eurostar Ski Train:

Get off the ski train at Moutiers for the following ski resorts (transfer times in brackets).

Courchevel (30 minutes), Les Menuires (40 mins),  Meribel (20 mins),  Valmorel  (40 mins) and Val Thorens (35 mins).

Get off the ski train at Aime La Plagne for La Plagne ski resort (30 minutes). Note the Eurostar train does not stop at Aime La Plagne train station on the way back, you will need to get to Bourg St Maurice by your own means.

Get off the ski train at Bourg St Maurice for the following ski resorts:

Les Arcs (35 minutes), La Rosiere (40 mins), Tignes (25 mins) Val d’Isere (25 mins).

Les Arcs provides perhaps the easiest transfer with a short funicular ride from Bourg St Maurice station up to Les Arcs 1600. All other resorts are accessible via public transport links, or taxi.

Eurostar ski train tickets go on sale tomorrow 7th July from £149 return, lower than last year, it really does offer a valid alternative to flying.

You can book your Eurostar Ski train tickets at www.eurostar.com.

Rail Europe have just announced that the Snow Train will not run this season. Their website says “Unfortunately, the current economic climate and poor exchange rates along with an increase in our operating costs, has meant that the service would not be financially viable”.

I’m sure everyone who preferred the snow train to the long drive, or flying will be thinking oh no now I have to do the Eurostar overnight ski train or day ski train. Of course this is an option, but 9 hours in a train seat to the Alps is never a favourite start to your ski holiday (a weekend trip to Les Arcs via Eurostar overnight train I’m sure will be blogged about at some point.)

But don’t dispair, all the Snow Train was was a chartered  TGV. I’ve been on this service once and it’s only notable for its extremely sticky floored disco car. In recent years I’ve booked my ski train tickets independently, so I’ve booked a ticket via Eurostar to Paris and then the TGV/Artesia secion seperately from Paris to the Alps, you can book through Rail Europe.  Don’t worry you get overnight couchettes on these ski trains too.

Trains run from Paris Austerlitz or Gare du Lyon on a regular basis to Bourg St Maurice, several during the day and one overnight every evening in peak season.  Note the overnight train is a Corail Lunea which has the couchette options like the Snow Train.

Fares can be cheap, especially outside peak season. Last season I got tickets from London to Bourg St Maurice for less than £120 all in, £75 for a Eurostar return and £45 for Paris to Bourg St Maurice via Chambery. A taxi for the half an hour drive to Tignes ski resort cost 15 euros each (for 7), and it worked out much cheaper than flying even with budget airline prices. You can book at Rail Europe.

The cheapest way to get ski train tickets to the Alps is to book as far in advance as you can, tickets on the French network go on sale 3 months before the date of travel, so get online “exactly” 3 months before and get your tickets booked.

One thing that skiiers often don’t realise is that you can also get to other ski resorts easily by train.  These destinations also tend to be cheaper than tickets to Bourg St Maurice or Moutiers.

Get the ski train to Oulx for ski resorts Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere, Montgenevre and Claviere.

Get the ski train to Briancon for ski resorts Serre Chevalier, Puy St Vincent and Pelvoux.

Get the ski train to St Jean de Maurienne for ski resorts Les Sybelles, Valloire and Valmenier

Get the ski train to Grenoble for ski resorts Alpe D’huez, Les Deux Alpes and La Grave amongst others.

Most of these ski train destinations offer daily services in about 4 hours from Paris or overnight services in about 7/8 hours. If you take the overnight service then it works the same way as the Snow Train you will be able to ski for 8 full days.

Book all these ski train journeys in minutes online at Rail Europe.

My final tip – if you are willing to sacrifice comfort for price, many of these ski train services offer reclining seats over couchettes, they’re often as cheap as 40 euros return from Paris, and you get a lot more leg room than on a plane (and much more than the Eurostar!)