Ski train

Has anybody done the one day ski trip to the French alps using the ski train. I wondered if you would be just too tired to ski having tried to sleep the night in a train seat. Is there somewhere to put luggage while you ski ? Or even somewhere warm to wait before the ski lifts open ? I will have two teenagers with me.

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i was also looking into this when it was offered this season by lastminute.com. I had the same reservations as you, and decided not to go ahead in the end. Having travelled on eurostar before, I can tell you that the seats in economy do not recline and whilst the seats are very confortable for the 2 1/2 hour journey to paris, I am not sure they are particularly suitable for getting a good nights sleep. If you are able to, it is probably best to upgrade to Leisure Select, where passengers get a complimentary 3 course meal with wine and the seats are wider and do have some recline (not fully-flat).

as far as the luggage situation, I have not seen any left luggage facility at Bourg Saint Maurice station for a long time. if I remember correctly there was once this facility, but it was removed for the usual security reasons. it may well be possible to leave bags etc at one of the many ski rental shops along to the main road of bourg saint maurice, close to the station. does anyone know about this? If it is the same as the one advertised on lastminute.com, I am not sure that you would require very much for one day trip. a rucksack would probably be your best bet - as long as it was fairly light weight you would have no problem skiing with it.

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Re : ski train

Thanks for your reply. We did go ahead and book the one day trip in the end. As I suspected, sleeping was very difficult, but as this was the last train of the season (Easter Saturday) there were many empty seats and we managed to occupy a double seat each,as did many other passengers. Sleeping was still difficult, I can%26#39;t imaging what it would have been like in a single seat. Lastminute do not offer any form of upgrade and I feel that the daytrip would be too expensive paying Eurostar prices.

I contacted Lastminute directly re the luggage situation before we left . A gentleman who said that he had been on this trip, told me that there were lockers at Bourg St Maurice station. Not only was this rubbish, but we ended up taking bags suitable for lockers rather than a wheeled case that would have been easier to manage on the journey to and from Waterloo and around Bourg St Maurice. You suggested taking only a back pack, but we needed somewhere for the clothes and shoes that we changed out of whilst wearing our ski gear. My son, who was learning to board, got very wet during the day this late in the season, so I was glad that I had taken clean clothes for him to travel back in. As you also suggested, a ski rental shop kept our bags for a small charge - although their ski hire was much more expensive than I had been led to believe when I browsed the net before travel. I think that there must have been cheaper hire shops in the actual town, but we used the one at the base of the ski slopes.

The train arrived before 7.00 and the ski hire shop didn%26#39;t open until 8.30. Obviously people with their own skis were able to get up to the slopes earlier. At the end of the day there was another long wait for the train back.

One great thing about ski-ing this late in the season was that the slopes were almost empty - absolutely no queues for the lifts at all and uncrowded pistes.

We did have a great day, but if anybody else is thinking about this trip, don%26#39;t expect a good night%26#39;s sleep on the train in economy seats. Hope that this helps somebody else.

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Thank you for the update re the ski train. On second thoughts, I do see your point about the baggage, a change of clothes is probably essential at that time in the season.

I would be interested to know which ski hire company you used; Intersport, SkiSet, or Popcorn or another?

regards, nick.

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I%26#39;ve actually been on the snow train when we booked through Inghams about 2 years ago for New Year. We decided to go via Paris and change onto the slower train. It was the best decision we made, mostly for the disco/bar car! It was great to meet loads of other people going to Tignes as well, and when you%26#39;re done drinking/dancing, you can go back to your sleeper car and get a few hours kip on a flat bed. It%26#39;s not the Hilton but arrived in much better shape into Bourg. Plus, on the way back, you can get up at a civilised time to get to the station!

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Hi,

Sorry I am a bit late to this thread, as not been online for ages due to work and various other things that have kept me away.

Although I have not done the one day trip myself ,with regards to the luggage situation the Polairestar ski hire and service shop located next to the Les Arcs funicular in Bourg-Saint-Maurice,and just a few minutes walk from the Eurostar/TGV station might be a place that will let you leave your bags etc.The ski hire shop run by Rosa and Gordon offers a normal %26quot;Consigne%26quot; service for 4 euros per day for a ski and boots storage facility so may well let you leave your kit while you ski.

Jon.