EoSB from Oxon by train (and some buses)

A snowHead

One big advantage of trains over planes is the scope for tastier catering Very Happy

A snowHead

This site gives lots of useful information about traveling to ski resorts by rail, including how to get from the station to the ski resort itself:

https://www.snowcarbon.co.uk/

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The Man in Seat Sixty-One . . .

This guy's done it all!

https://www.seat61.com/

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I'll add my support to train travel. The only downside for us was of our own making, a huge heavy duffel bag each plus a big ski bag with two pairs of skis in it made for very laborious transfers between stations. A book and/or headphones make the less scenic parts of the journey painless.

Thanks to @Inboard for the tip of wrapping a bungee round the ski bag, very useful for lashing it to the side of luggage racks.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@j bFrom York, it's about as quick and easy as from Abingdon, but I don't know where in Yorkshire you're starting from. The most recent we did by train was:
Outbound:
Afternoon train from York to KGX
One of the later Eurostar (19:30?) from St. Pancras to Paris
Stay overnight in a hotel near Gare de Lyon (i.e. travel from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon before sleeping)
Morning train to Geneva. For this trip we hired a car in Geneva and were on the slopes at La Clusaz for the afternoon

Return:
Ski during the day, and drop car off late afternoon
Train from Geneva to Paris
Stay overnight in a hotel near Gare du Nord (i.e. the reverse of outbound and travel from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord before sleeping)
Morning Eurostar to London, then train to York to get home mid afternoon

The only embuggerance was that this during a French general strike. Getting between Parisian stations with skis was the main pain (outbound via the few metro lines, return via a long taxi queue and drivers reluctant to take skis), but as we were staying by the departure station station in Paris, it just meant a delayed bedtime, rather than worrying about missing trains

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks @viv.

I was actually thinking about the feasibility of doing the whole trip in a day, as @sugarmoma666 did on return. But the idea of an evening in Paris each way is pretty attractive if the price of hotels is economic.

We are in Beverley which means something like 3 hours to London assuming we start from home. Since our ski gear lives in our place in France, we would just have a couple of suitcases which we can wheel to the local station.

Actually the biggest obstacle to a single-day trip is probably at the French end. St Gervais station is at the bottom of the valley, and while it is possible to walk up to the village it is along an unlit rough gravel track which isn't great with suitcases (fine with rucksacs) and wouldn't be practical at night or bad weather. In the ski season the free navette makes the connection easy during the day, but in the evening there is just one bus at 7.30. (The buses are great but take a bit of planning since the timetable changes 4 times a year, for winter and summer high seasons and the two intermediate low seasons).

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

j b The hotels were a pretty good price. I'm pretty sure we paid under 100EUR between us for a double room including breakfast at a decent hotel (3 or 4 star, and well recommended by online reviews).

I like the overnight as it gives contingency for possible delays. AFAIK it's not possible to buy tickets for the whole route in one transaction, which makes it a bit more complicated if a delay causes you to miss a subsequent train

After all it is free

@viv, thanks, might sometime get back for advice on hotels. As you say, an overnight stop is convenient if a booking is for two separate trips (UK home to Paris, Paris to destination).

Help!!

EoSB from Oxon by train (and some buses)

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports