WESTERN EUROPE - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 69

Take the train to the slopes

Over a million skiers and snowboarders fly to the Alps each winter, yet many of the ski resorts in France, Switzerland,
Austria and Italy are easily accessible by train. Cost-wise there's little difference to flying (once you've factored in transfers
to and from airports) and travelling by train has many advantages: the check-in times are far shorter, there's free baggage
allowance for your gear and the journey has a much smaller carbon footprint. In addition, the overnight service that leaves
Paris on Friday evening and arrives early Saturday morning (returning the following Saturday evening) means you can
fit in two extra days' skiing on the relatively quieter Saturday changeover days - without having to pay for extra nights'
accommodation. Below are the options available.
Eurostar's Ski Train is a direct service from London St Pancras to Moûtiers, Aime la Plagne and Bourg St Maurice. The
daytime service leaves on Saturdays at 10am and arrives at Moûtiers at 5.30pm, Aime la Plagne at 6.02pm and Bourg St
Maurice at 6.20pm. The overnight service (which does not have couchettes) leaves on Fridays at 8.31pm and reaches the
Alps early Saturday morning (6.27am at Bourg St Maurice). For prices, reservations and details of onward transfers by bus
to the resorts (40-90min) see W www.eurostar.com; T [phone].
RailEurope's Snow Train is an overnight sleeper service (with six-berth couchettes and a “bar disco” carriage) to the
Alps on Fridays, returning Saturday evening the following week. It includes taking the Eurostar from London St Pancras at
5.35pm to Paris Gare du Nord, then changing platforms for the overnight service, which leaves at 10.28pm and arrives early
Saturday morning in Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers, Aime la Plagne, Landry and finally at 8.44am to Bourg St Maurice. It
returns on Saturday evening arriving at London St Pancras on Sunday at 11.16am. For prices and reservations see W www.
raileurope.co.uk; T [phone].

A final option is to take the Eurostar to Paris (or Brussels) then switch to ordinary scheduled national trains to the Alps,
though in Paris this usually involves a change of station across the city. For prices, reservations and connections see
W www.raileurope.co.uk or W www.europeanrail.com. See also p.375 for more train resources.

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