 Poster: A snowHead
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| HandyHand wrote: |
| How about a route with two sleepers? Caledonean Sleeper Thurs night Edinburgh-London, then Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Munich and Nightjet sleeper to Venice Mestre arriving Sat am for the ski shuttle to Arabba. Route to Venice as suggested by The Man in Seat61: https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm#london-to-venice-by-sleeper. The ski shuttle is mentioned on the Arabba website (https://www.dolomiti.org/en/arabba/how-to-get-there/) but the timetable isn't published yet. |
That's the sort of thing that I have looked at a few times for travel from North Cumbria. But it is not particularly cheap and when taking children it can be difficult to leave on a Thursday night and miss a Friday at school. Similar for the return trip.
I am not knocking it. just saying that it is sadly not a viable option for many.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you do the Innsbruck to Ponte Gardena (Waidbruck) route, beware you won't be able to use the Faster EC trains as they don't stop there. You would either have to change at Fortezza or Bressanone onto a local train or use local service train from Innsbruck and change at Brenner onto another local train. For both options you will need separate tickets for both trains which can be a pain.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Caledonian Sleeper is not bad these days (new trains), and did that myself the other day. Bit steep in terms of prices, and the cabins a bit poky. Not sure what time the Carlisle pickup is (I only did the northbound journey).
I'd probably consider the new el cheapo Edinburgh-London service with the blue trains if I was going from there.
But it seems an awful lot of faff overall if going entirely by train from so far North, to a ski village with not very good train connections. If BB/PreBB were in Selva or like originally in Kronplatz, then train and a quick bus/taxi up 1 valley becomes a lot more appealing, especially if travelling only from London-ish (or Amsterdam, Germany, etc).
Good that people are looking at options though. For me, even coming from Frankfurt (ie half way there), it's still just a bit to inconvenient/impractical. Best for me is blag a bonus day off work, do the Frankfurt-Graz/Villach OeBB Eurocity to Munich (once daily), then the Munich-Verona Eurocity service to Ponte Gardena/Waidbruck (every 2 hours?), then blag local transport. Or get off that last train at Fortezza? and take the Pustertal/ValPusteria train to Brunico or San Lorenzo, where there may be a local bus up to Corvara and a cab over the pass to Arabba.
There was another train I found but it's something daft like 7am at Innsbruck to go home and losing a day skiing to travel 1/4 of the way home.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Love all this train travel conversation. When you do take these trips please let me know. I'd love to feature a report on how it went on www.skiflightfree.org
I'm off by train to Val Thorens, Verbier and Meribel this winter - simpler journeys, but all via Paris on Eurostar
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I just love going skiing by train, I pour over Seat61 for hours.
It might be the the most direct route but...
London -> Paris
Paris -> Zurich
Zurich -> Trivano (Bernina Express)
Trivano -> Venice
.... It will be an adventure.
If you buy your tickets in advance you can get a great deal except on Eurostar
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@DrLawn, i think you can get fairly good deals on Eurostar if you book in advance, i just did a quick search, fri eve departure and sunday return, taking into account a trip to the alps.
you can seem to book at least upto next june on eurostar if required
i put in for roughly feb half term dates, and they came out to be approx £100 return, where same trip for a couple of weeks time were about £250 return.
the issue i have always found when trying to look at rail journeys to the alps, is that although you can book the eurostar quite a bit in advance, it has been hard to plan the french side as the sncf timetable release has always been hit and miss.
i could not "test" book any tickets on the french side on either the SNCF or Trainline website.
you cannot even book tickets sncf for december at the moment!!
so potentially you could be taking a risk that any services could be running, although unlikely, to suit your requirements 
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Hi @terrygasson,
Yes the problem is that Eurostar have a similar booking agenda as low cost airlines ... book ASAP and then watch the price increase.
But SNCF, DBahn and SBB only want to take booking 2 months in advance. (best check what Seat61 says)
The European railways offer fantastic discounts for early booking.
Paris -> Zurich , I'm not sure if they are (just checked its back on) at very reasonble prices even for 1st class
Zurich -> Trivano (Bernina Express) could be done for as little as €29 single ... amazing ... if you book it via DBahn (See seat61)
Italian trains are just as cheap as chips.
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Guess what ... I'm going by train in February half term.
I left it a bit late to book a reasonably priced flight to Geneva or Zurich (Half Term)
So I ended up buying some pretty expensive rail tickets.. but my misses will enjoy the trip more if she does not have to sweat about flying home.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Just looking at travel to the PreBBWUW10 and S19BB, and we were thinking of booking an interrail ticket and getting seat reservations for Eurostar, TGV, Nightjet sleeper (Stuttgart to Venice). But concerns about UK rail strikes leading to cancellations on Eurostar (as is the case today because Network Rail manage the highspeed line that Eurostar relies on) are making us reassess the flying option. If we book rail and Eurostar is cancelled, we'd have to buy ferry tickets (as foot passengers) as the cross channel ferries are not included in Interrail as far as I can tell - and a couple of thousand other people might be doing the same. Then we'd be begging a lift down to the ferry from family. Driving to LHR or LGW with hotel + parking and flying to Marco Polo or Treviso looks like a safer option, even if it will mean paying for ski carriage.
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You may want to check the new German ticket. Could work out cheaper. 49 euro & valid for a month.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Yes, but there's still the issue of getting acroos the channel if there's no Eurostar
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I love this sort of thread ... I spend hours (if not days) trawling through permutation of tickets and times
Keep up the Good Work.
I've managed to bag some very cheap tickets from Zurich to Crans Montana using a suggestion from Mr Seat61.
You can purchase advance tickets from DBahn from as little as €29
From or to a Station in Germany to a Station in a neighbouring country.
i.e. Singen to Sierra/Sliders via Zurich
also the Bernina Express to Tirano can be done for €29 is you start your ticket from Germany.
I don't know if DBahn still have their offer on for a Months worth of Travel for €9
Perhaps that was just a summer thing.
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| Sarma wrote: |
| Yes, but there's still the issue of getting acroos the channel if there's no Eurostar |
Lots of dinghys at dover 
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You know it makes sense.
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Ooops .. I seem to be repating myself on this thread... its an age thing.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I am still intending to travel interrail to BB and take a chance on Eurostar = at the end of the day there could be eg. air-traffic controllers/baggage handlers etc on strike by then anyway.
I travelled by interrail to PiPau in Tignes and will be posting a trip report on it - not without it's teething problems  for me but will definitely do it again.
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Poster: A snowHead
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BTW, has anyone any tips on getting cheap Eurostar tickets as this seems to be the biggest stumbling block on making rail travel competitive with air travel. Even with an interrail pass I had to pay €32 for a seat reservation each way.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Eurostar can be really expensive when booked last minute. My son got round this by taking an overnight ferry to saint malo as a foot passenger followed by tgv to Paris and then tgv to moutiers. The Brittany Ferries winter cabin prices are reasonable.
If you have an interrail pass eurostar is less but there are limited interrail seats on each train.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@snowymum, Any idea of the cost of that trip?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| I have done London to Munich on the train, reasonably straight forward, London - Brussels - Cologne - Munich, |
….everybody talk about… Pop music….
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@snowheid, I think cheapest Eurostar return to Paris is £78.
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FAQ
