How skiers can travel by train to the slopes this winter

Tickets for Eurostar’s winter snow train will go on sale on Tuesday, July 9, nearly two months earlier than last year. In an extension to the previous schedule, this season’s programme will include trains during the February half-term holidays and capacity on the train has been increased by more than a third.

In 2023, Eurostar relaunched its winter service to the slopes with a major difference to pre-Covid: a change of trains in Lille instead of a direct run down to the Alps. The so-called “snow train” will run for a month longer than it did last season, from December to March, but will still require skiers to pause at Lille.

The train will carry 347 skiers and snowboarders (last year, it took just 250), setting off from London St Pancras every Saturday morning from December 21, 2024 until March 1, 2025, before connecting in Lille with a service that will stop at Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-Les-Bains, Aime-la-Plagne, Landry and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Return journeys take place every Sunday, from December 29, 2024 until March 2, 2025.

The Saturday outward-Sunday return service means, like last season, skiers heading to the Alps using the snow train this winter will be able to enjoy seven full days on the slopes without losing sleep.

Last winter, tour operator Inghams trail-blazed a new ski holiday by train that offered seven nights’ accommodation, seven days’ skiing and an eighth night’s stay at a hotel in Bourg St Maurice ready for the early Sunday return to the UK. Prices for these holidays start at £689pp. This year, Travelski is following the same pattern of a hotel close to the station, though promises to accommodate skiers in resort for their eighth night “wherever possible”.

Inghams managing director John Mansell told the Telegraph: “We’ve tripled our allocation of tickets for the snow train this year because the eighth night close to the station worked really well. We take skiers from the slopes to their hotel in Bourg where they have a chance to shower and have dinner and be closer to the station for their early departure for the train home.”

Mansell warned that packages for the snow train sell out early, and that peak dates were sold by mid-September last year. However, he said that other options which involve changing trains in Paris – and a transfer from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de Lyon, sell even better than Eurostar’s service.

“The snow train is great for families and people who like to take their own equipment, but many more take the train via Paris,” he said. “If you’re renting a kit in your resort, going across Paris isn’t that difficult and it’s an option all season.”

When do the tickets go on sale?

Tickets from Eurostar will go on sale on Tuesday, July 9, but skiers need to plan early because peak dates – Christmas, New Year and February half term – will sell out quickly. Ski-by-train packages will also be available from Inghams, Skiline and Travelski on July 9.

Which resorts can I get to by rail?

Eurostar’s snow train will offer easy access to Les Arcs (connected to Bourg St Maurice by a seven-minute funicular ride) as well as Val d’Isère, Tignes, La Rosière and resorts in the Three Valleys. Travelski, Inghams and Ski Line all offer holiday packages within these resorts, but the latter two operators also offer holidays by train to Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

Skiline is also working on a partnership with Rail Europe to offer ski chalet packages with a return – via Paris – on Saturdays.

“Transfers are so expensive now, and lengthy, that we hope these chalet packages will be competitively priced,” said Angus Kinloch, managing director. “Plus, many skiers like to get home from holiday on a Saturday night, to have Sunday free to prepare for work.”

Last autumn, a landslide in the Maurienne Valley closed the line between Paris and Oulx in Italy, but UK operators hope this will reopen for winter 2024-25.

“This was a big seller for us pre-Covid,” said Kinloch. “When you arrive in Oulx, the Italian ski resort of Sauze d’Oulx is just 15 minutes away.”

“We’re also hoping to do something on the City Night Line, a sleeper train that goes through the Austrian Alps, because so many people – especially younger generations – are limiting their air travel now. A lot of skiers want to travel by train.”

What about extra border checks?

And finally, allow extra time at St Pancras this winter. With new EU border checks – expected to arrive in the autumn – requiring Brits to leave biometric data, including fingerprints, in St Pancras before leaving for France, skiers are warned to allow extra time at the station. While the Entry Exit System (EES) rules apply to all non-EU travellers headed for Europe, unlike airports where border checks are carried out at the airport when travellers arrive, French border control will carry out checks before passengers board ferries and trains from the UK.