A first look at Eurostar’s revitalised ski train

As our sleek high-speed train skirted the edge of Lac du Bourget, I watched the glowing sun set behind the summits of the Chaîne de l’Épine range. Taking the train may be better for the planet than flying, but it also delivers better views.

I was on the inaugural Eurostar Snow Train service, taking me from London St Pancras to Bourg St Maurice, the gateway to a cluster of France’s largest and most famous ski resorts – including Val d’Isère, Tignes, La Rosière, La Plagne and Les Arcs.

In recent years this route has been teetering on the brink of extinction. It has been over 160 years since the original snow train to the Alps was organised by Thomas Cook. By the early 21^st century, over 30,000 British skiers travelled to the Alps each winter on the direct Eurostar service.

But the rise of low-cost airlines undermined demand and as the pandemic hit, in July 2020 Eurostar cancelled the route to focus on their “core” destinations.

A petition and lobbying by French and British activists led to a new service, organised by the tour operator Travelski, but when the announcement came last summer that this was to be cancelled too, lovers of sustainable ski holidays despaired.

It transpired that Eurostar had been biding their time until their merger with Belgian rail operator Thalys was finalised. Shortly after, the new Eurostar Snow Train was announced, albeit with one major difference: instead of travelling from London direct to the Alps, passengers would be routed via Lille, changing onto one of the newly acquired Thalys trains.

Although capacity has been limited to eight weeks only, between mid-December and early-February, the new service has proved popular. Eurostar reported that over half of the available tickets were sold within their first week of sale.

Tour operators such as Inghams Ski and Travelski are also offering holidays including the service instead of flights, and Inghams confirmed last week that their train packages were 84 per cent sold already.

With over 4,000 travellers set to use the service this winter, I wanted to find out whether this new low-carbon option for skiers could match up to the hype.

As someone who has travelled by train to the Alps since the hedonistic disco-carriage days of the 1980s, when you had to take a train to Dover, ferry to Calais, then join the overnight train sleeping in spartan couchettes, I was excited to find out.

Despite warnings that up to 35,000 passengers a day were expected to depart from London St Pancras throughout the Christmas period, I was relieved to sail through security and customs in just 15 minutes.

The first surprise was that, although many excited skiers were bundling their skis and boot bags onto the train, it was just a regular London-Lille service, completed by couples and families mostly on their way to shop at Lille’s Christmas markets.

Encouragingly, there was ample room for everyone, despite the additional bulky baggage. Eurostar had set aside rows of seats specifically for ski storage, leaving plenty of space in the aisles.

After crossing the Medway and then plunging beneath the Channel, our swift arrival at Lille rather took me by surprise. At just one hour and twenty minutes, Lille is almost an hour quicker than the Eurostar to Paris, and there was a frisson of panic as skiers awkwardly hurried to unload their bags, before the train continued to Brussels.

Changing trains at Lille was as simple as promised by Eurostar. The onward train to the Alps left from the opposite platform, with ample time to stow luggage in dedicated bagageries for Moûtiers and Bourg St Maurice respectively, and to visit the patisserie in the station concourse for a first continental croissant.

The most significant change from the previous Travelski service is the lifting of their puritanical alcohol ban. While we barrelled our way to Alps, the popping of champagne corks echoed along our carriage as skiers celebrated our progress to the snow.

This doesn’t mean that the new service was free of teething problems. Clearly, no one from Eurostar has read Asterix in Britain – in which the fierce Britons refrain from fighting the Romans at 4pm each day so they can have a cup of hot water – as the train ran out of tea bags within an hour.

Despite the affront to British tea-drinking habits, the fellow passengers I spoke to were positive about the new service. Clare Crosby and her family had started from Newick in East Sussex and chosen the train as “it’s quicker than driving, even if it’s more expensive.”

Charlotte Roberts was cradling her six-month-old son Joshua when she told me her decision to travel by train was because “the whole journey is so much easier than flying when you’ve got a baby.”

Other passengers were more motivated by the environmental benefits. BBC Ski Sunday’s Chemmy Alcott was enthusiastic: “It’s like any normal travel day, but guilt-free and with a lot more excitement.”

Has the future of sustainable travel been saved? Only if enough people take the service, according to Alcott: “If we can get bums on seats and show that it’s popular, then hopefully they will put on more trains. That’s what we really need.”

Essentials

The Eurostar Snow Train departs at 09:01 every Saturday morning until February 4 2024 from London St Pancras via Lille, stopping at Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers (17:30), Aime-la-Plagne (18:00) and Bourg-Saint-Maurice (18:20). The return is during the day the following Sunday.

Train-only tickets were available from £99 each way, but there is only limited availability left for this winter. The cheapest return currently available is now £365, departing 20 January.

Packages are available from Inghams, with a seven-night stay in Arc 1950, self-catering, including train travel and transfers, from £1,109pp, based on four sharing, departing February 3 2024.