 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm planning a half term trip by train for 2025.
I have done 10 or so trips to the Alps by train over the last 5 years or so (5 France, 3 Switzerland and 2 Austria) using information from the seat61 and snow carbon websites.
It is for me and my son only so we do not have access to the SNCF group bookings which open long before the French train tickets go on general sale.
France is my usual preference but it's not perfect for half term because the Paris school holidays are at the same time.
Austria or Italy would be better options but getting there takes a very long time.
The routes I am considering are:
Single day Saturday travel UK to Les Arcs via Paris
Overnight Friday in Paris at the Gare de Lyon and early train to Les Arcs
Overnight Friday in Lille and then train to Bourg St Maurice preferably direct (if they exist?) or via Lyon
Overnight Friday in Paris and then train to Austria via Zurich (possibly Ischgl)
Overnight Friday in Paris and then train to Switzerland vis Zurich (possibly Saas Fee or Zermatt)
Any suggestions on routes to Italy?
Am I missing a rail route that I should be considering.
Questions on specific points I may be getting wrong, please help:
The Eurostar ski train (with change in Lille) is not released until late summer and didn't run for half term last year. Does anyone know any more about this?
The TGV tickets for the trains from Paris to Bourg-St-Maurice on the Saturday tend to sell out to group bookings before they go on general sale making Saturday via Paris very difficult to book. Rail specific travel agents have said they can't really help on this unless I get a group of 10 together. Is this right or am I just messing up booking?
I can't find any direct trains from Lille to Bourg St Maurice, I thought they used to run?
Train strikes (one French one German) completely ruined the two journeys to/from Austria this year resulting in me having to spend quite a bit of extra money on last minute alternatives. Is there any way to mitigate this?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sorry i know nothing about the trains but i am intrested to follow & know the cost of your tickets
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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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| Jonny996 wrote: |
| Sorry i know nothing about the trains but i am intrested to follow & know the cost of your tickets |
No worries happy to help. This year return trains from London St Pancras to Seefeld at half term cost about £550 for me any my son. This included Eurostars and French/German trains. We also paid about £150 extra for a hotel in London before our early train out.
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@Henwc, if timings work, you could do the Amsterdam to Austria night jet train?
Leaves Amsterdam at 1930 on a Friday evening, and you can get a Eurostar direct there from London. You then disembark in Kufstein, Worgl, Jenbach or Innsbruck between 0826 and 0914 on Saturday morning.
https://rail.cc/night-train/amsterdam-innsbruck-oebb-nightjet-nj421/643
Kufstein and Worgl will give you train/bus transfers to a number of places including the Ski Welt and Kitzbuhel. Jenbach has the start of the Zillertalbahn giving you access to all resorts along the Zillertal, or from Innsbruck you've got loads of options, including a direct train to St Anton.
https://www.nightjet.com/en/
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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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@swskier, Thanks, I love sleeper trains and have used them in the past. Unfortunately the timings of getting to Amsterdam mean we'd need to leave my home at about 10am and my son would need to take a whole day off school on the Friday to get there in time for the connection. If he's going to take the day off I would probably just do everything a day earlier and stay over in Paris or Lille.
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@Henwc, Sleeper train from Paris to Briancon is always worth a look- there are regular buses over to Italy if you don't fancy Les Orres (stop in Embrun) or Serre Chevalier too.
Otherwise for day trains, look at Paris to Oulx for Bardonecchia and the Milky Way in Italy or the Maurienne (Stop in St Jean de Maurienne) resorts in France.
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@Henwc, Perhaps look at getting a flight to Amsterdam (KLM fly from lots of regional airports) just on the outbound. The rest you can do by train. I believe there are now new carriages on many of the Night Jet routes. The route from Munich to Italy (suitable for the Dolomites) also has completely new trains (should be all of them by the autumn) but it is a bit of a trek from London by train (I have done London to Munich on the train via Brussels & Cologne, leave around 07:00 get into Munich around 19:00). There are direct trains from Paris to Munich (also change in Stuttgart).
Not much you can do about strikes, they were a pain this winter.
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@Henwc, you could probably also do a Saturday trip via Lille, to avoid the terminal change in Paris. Might need to stay Friday night in London though.
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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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| ecureuil wrote: |
| @Henwc, you could probably also do a Saturday trip via Lille, to avoid the terminal change in Paris. Might need to stay Friday night in London though. |
Thanks, plan for a Lille change would be to get the late Eurostar to Lille on the Friday and stay at a hotel next to Lille station. I thought that there were direct trains from Lille to BSM but I can't find any when I look.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@nbt, Thanks yep seat61 is how I managed to plan the previous trips, any idea if the fast Maurienne valley train stops near to Orelle or does it run straight through? Might be a good 3V option.
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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 think it stops in Modane which is a short taxi ride from Orelle.
As another option, we took the train to Cluses for the Grand massif last year, that was a good trip. Morzine and Avoriaz are served by bus from CLuses (The Y92) The train continues on to Chamonix and you can get up to Megeve, the Espace Diamant etc from stops en route. You can also access the ED from Annecy
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@nbt, I just came back from UCPA Flaine last week and we went by train to Cluses. We had a bit of a faff changing trains at Geneva but the journey was pretty good. Train from Cluses to Annemasse on the way back was very busy and I had to stand for about an hour but not too bad.
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You know it makes sense.
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We stayed overnight in Paris and got a direct train (inoui? ouigo?) to Cluses. First class was about €10 extra each way. Wasn't very fast once we hit the Bugey valley (had been travelling at over 300kph from Paris!) but the convenience of not changing was great
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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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| nbt wrote: |
| We stayed overnight in Paris and got a direct train (inoui? ouigo?) to Cluses. First class was about €10 extra each way. Wasn't very fast once we hit the Bugey valley (had been travelling at over 300kph from Paris!) but the convenience of not changing was great |
This is where I think I am getting it wrong (and kind of the point of this thread). I searched tramline and SNCF and drew a complete blank for direct trains to Cluses. How did you find/book the direct train to Cluses?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Henwc, don't general tickets only open up 90 or so days in advance?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| leggyblonde wrote: |
| @Henwc, don't general tickets only open up 90 or so days in advance? |
Yep, according to the rail specialist travel agent I spoke to, the popular trains from Paris to the alps can get very booked up with group bookings before they even open them up for general sale. I booked the Geneva leg of the Flaine trip exactly the morning they were released but I couldn't find any direct trains (I remember because I had to do it on my phone on a bus from Innsbruck to Stubai). I guess it's possible that they released the Geneva tickets before the Cluses ones but I did try pretty hard to find them.
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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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I used the SNCF site. Let me see how long in advance I booked
Right, i booked 9 November for a trip in January, on the day that bookings opened. I apparently used a booking alert from raileurope, though I don't recall that bit
https://www.raileurope.com/journey/cluses-paris-p2slhk?alert_id=435917
It was an inoui train according to my booking email. I also booked the eurostar the same day, and the train from Stockport to Euston
We had a refundable booking on Eurotunnel as a backup in case the plan to get the train went south - we did have SOME issues as there was a rail strike in the UK so we had to drive to London and leave the car, but that's nothing to do with the french side. In truth, I'd have cancelled and driven if I could, given that we were already having to drive to That London but Eurostar was (is) not refundable, unlike the other legs. We refunded the eurotunnel without any issue. Shame, as the journey down the UK is the worst part of the drive. Doing the trip by train was great though and if it was easier / cheaper to book in advance, then I'd use that option every time
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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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| Henwc wrote: |
| @nbt, Thanks yep seat61 is how I managed to plan the previous trips, any idea if the fast Maurienne valley train stops near to Orelle or does it run straight through? Might be a good 3V option. |
Due to the landslide the trains currently stop at St Michel de Maurienne…Orelle is less than 10 mins away by taxi.
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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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There’s a whole pinned thread at the top of this page. Loads of info.
I’m not sure about the trains getting totally booked out before they are on open release, but I don’t go in half terms.
What I do is book a super cheap Eurostar 6 months in advance. I have always stayed in London at the premier inn on the Friday evening. But you could book a super cheap Eurostar for the Friday evening and stay in Paris. That would give you loads of trains on the Saturday to choose from. As soon as the trains are released (again the pinned post tells you the dates this happens) set an early alarm and book a train. As you are in Paris you can book early or later in the day I doubt they won’t have 2 seats left.
If you are happy with a night in Paris there’s loads of options I’m sure in Italy and Austria which you can get to
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I've fancied travelling to the French alps with the family by train for years. However our Feb half term seems to constantly clash with Paris week (so, if we can, we go at Easter instead).
I looked at the SNCF site when they released tickets for Feb half term this year just out of interest and trains were very much fully booked very quickly (Paris to Bourg St Maurice for Les Arcs). I'm guessing lots of Parisians prefer the train! Other trains with availability were just expensive or at rubbish times.
Not trying to put you off but more about you needing to be prepared. I believe the alarm will need to be set for 5am for the day they go on sale for example. It's just a bit annoying that you can book the Eurostar well in advance but have to wait until much nearer the time for SNCF.
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@nbt, Thanks useful info I'll try Rail Europe in addition to the SNCF App in future.
@andmelffion, Thanks, looks promising for 3v, I'll have a dig around to find out how busy Orelle will be at half term 25.
@Lucywuk, Thanks, pinned thread really useful. I'm very likely to do a night in Paris I think.
@kettonskimum, Thanks, agreed on the alarm point, getting in early allowed me to get reasonable TGV tickets to Geneva for my Easter Flaine trip.
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Eurostar Snow (used to be Thalys Snow) has trains on Saturdays from Amsterdam/Antwerp/Brussels to Moutiers/Bourg St Maurice. I'm planning on doing a January trip from Brussels. The SNCB website says bookings open "end of summer" and my daughter has set an alert. I think it was a 7:00 am start from Brussels, arriving BSM around 2:30-ish, with the return train departing 3:30-ish arriving Brussels 10:00 pm. The SNCB website has more info.
The train travels from Brussels-Midi station, which is where the trains from London arrive, but if staying overnight the area is not the most salubrious, particularly arriving back there 10:00 pm Saturday night.
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