What's Eurostar Snow like?
Have you been on the Eurostar Snow service?
Until a two days ago, I hadn’t. Hopefully this account will give you some insight into what it’s like.
As you’ll probably know, Eurostar Snow is Eurostar’s replacement for the direct Eurostar Ski Train.
The direct Ski Train had a daytime and overnight service each week of the entire season, carrying 900 skiers on each service.
Eurostar Snow has only a daytime service each week until the start March, carrying only 347 skiers.
That's only a quater of the numbers per week. And the service doesn't run beyond the start of March.
Why? Nobody knows.
Part 1 – London St Pancras to Lille Europe
The first part of the journey is an ordinary Eurostar train from London St Pancras to Lille Europe, in order to change train there. My destination was a chalet in La Plagne, for an article I’m writing for InTheSnow magazine. Fortuitously, at St Pancras station I ran into some fellow ski writers on an Inghams press trip to Les Arcs, including my friend Richard, founder of Green Traveller, a pioneering website that has helped inspire many people to travel further by train instead of flying.
Richard, Kaz and...on EurostarPhoto: Daniel Elkan
At St Pancras, boarding the train was pretty smooth. Baggage check and passport control is quick, there’s time for a coffee at Pret a Manger and then you board. The waiting room at St Pancras needs to be double the size, but there you go.
Because this first Eurostar is an ordinary one headed for Lille and Brussels, the ski-train feeling is somewhat diluted by other travellers. It's not quite the same buzz as when people used to board the direct train.
I was in Eurostar Plus, which is the unmemorable name for what was formerly called Standard Premier.
What you get in Eurostar Plus is more space, more table seating and a meal. In this case the meal was breakfast (see picture).
Eurostar Plus breakfastPhoto: Daniel Elkan
While the breakfast is nothing to write home about and I'd obviously would rather have had a cracking FULL ENGLISH FRY UP with extra rounds of tomatoes, mushrooms and hash browns, this more continental offering is obviously easier for caterers to prepare. So I wasn't going to let this spoil the holiday.
Part 2 - switching trains at Lille Europe
The switch of trains is literally this.
a. Get off the Eurostar
b. Walk along the platform
c. Get onto the continental Eurostar (formerly Thalys), which is on the adjacent platform.
And that’s it. Like the Jacksons sang, it's as easy as...
To me, someone who has changed stations in Paris to change from Eurostar to TGV many, many times, this relatively simple switch of train felt, well, relatively simple. But interviewing people on the train later, some still viewed this as a relative faff, compared to the direct Ski Train where no change of train was necessary.
I guess everything is relative (and also, we need the direct Ski Train back - and more of them!)
Part 3 – Lille Europe to Moutiers, Aime la Plagne, Landry and Bourg St Maurice
On the Eurostar continental (Thalys) train everyone present is a skier or snowboarder. The atmosphere is more like the direct Ski Train: everyone is headed in the same direction to do the same kind of thing, on snow.
It’s a nice ambience. Travelling in mid Jan, it was mostly groups of friends and couples. A range of ages. A few families with older children. A couple of families with young children. The whole journey had a calm, gently excited atmosphere. There were a few bottles of bubbles being enjoyed in celebration.
Photo: Daniel Elkan
After an hour I decided to make a tally of what people were doing on the train. Slightly wierd, I know, but also perhaps slightly interesting to know.
Walking down two or three carriages, I counted:
24 people on laptops or tablets
17 people on phones
12 just chatting with each other
8 reading books
6 reading newspapers
4 reading magazines
4 drinking bubbles
3 crocheting or knitting
2 playing cards
1 journaling
1 writing a script of some kind
Interesting that in this survey sample more people were reading on paper, overall, than on mobiles. Although laptops and tablets smashed it out the park.
What skiers on board think of Eurostar Snow
Fun on Eurostar SnowPhoto: Daniel Elkan
As the journey progressed, I interviewed people at random to give you a picture of what some people think of the Eurostar Snow service. I chose people of different types of groups, ages etc and also sample people travelling in Eurostar Standard and people in Eurostar Plus.
Eurostar Snow - scenic viewsPhoto: Daniel Elkan
Tracey and Andy and friends, travelling to Les Arcs 2000
“We were invited by friends to join us on the trip. They are very eco-friendly and always go by train. We compared coming by plane and by train. The duration of the journey was going to be similar, and the train has been a lovely thing to do. When we initially looked at the ticket the transfer at Lille was 30 minutes, thinking crikey that’s 30 minutes with luggage. But actually, it’s just the adjacent platform so you literally walk 20 feet across to change onto the next train.
In advance, the information that you get about what food and drink on the Lille - Bourg section wasn’t clear at all. We read something on the train website that said ‘refreshments are limited’ so we bought a load of stuff from Marks & Spencer at St Pancras just in case.
There’s not a huge amount of space for luggage but at least your luggage is with you and there’s no waiting at an airport carousel.
The atmosphere on the train is very relaxed, really pleasant. You know that people are all heading to the Alps and at this time in January it’s not a lot of people with children. The Thalys train is very comfortable, although it’s definitely an older train with an air of faded glamour about it! We’ve really enjoyed the journey, it’s great for relaxing and switching off.”
Mark and friends, travelling to Meribel
“It’s our first time by train, and it’s really nice actually – everyone is enjoying it. With the train, there’s less changing of modes of transport. I tallied up the time it takes and the cost vs flying with all the transfers etc, and it worked out a good option. I’ve flown many times before and it’s a bit of a pain: you have to get up early, then you are cramped into the flight, whereas here on the train you can always walk around.
What would I improve? If there was no change of train, that would be ideal, as it’s annoying to have to move your bags off one and onto another, cos you are carrying a lot of stuff. But still, that’s much easier than getting a flight and lugging all the stuff around airports and transfers.”
Photo: Daniel Elkan
Adem and Robyn and friends, travelling to Les Arcs 1800
“There’s six of us in our group and this is our first time by train. It’s so smooth and seamless. You’ve got your luggage with you and you can all sit together. We got through security in 20 minutes, onto the train in ten minutes, and the change of train was easy. We’ve spent the journey catching up with everyone, watching films, reading, doing a crossword, looking out the window. Door to door it’s not much different from flying. The only thing that’s annoyed us is that we paid €3.20 for a can of water on this train, which is a rip off. When water costs more than petrol you know something's wrong! So we’d definitely advise to fill up a water bottle in advance if you tend to get thirsty.”
Lewis, Ashley and Mae and friends, travelling to Courchevel 1650
“There are six of us altogether. We’ve done the Eurostar Ski Train once but this is the first time via Lille. The big downside of this is the stress of changing, cos you’ve just stored your luggage in London and then an hour later you’ve got to take it off, and when you are skiing it’s a lot. Apart from that, it’s a good experience. We’ve spent the time watching stuff on iPads and coming to the bar...we’re simple people really! Our ski holiday is Saturday – Saturday but the Eurostar Snow service comes back on Sundays. So we aren’t able to come back on this service but are coming back next Saturday via Paris.”
Jane, Ian, John, Amanda and friends, travelling to Meribel
“The food could be improved – it’s a bit experimental. The other thing we think is that It seems like these Thalys trains from Lille were designed for commuters because there’s not quite enough space to fit luggage easily. We’ve had a bit of difficultly trying to stow it. When we were getting on the train, a member of staff told us that there is a special luggage carriage at the front of the train for skis and big bags etc that we could use. But having walked down there, staff then asked us where we were getting off, and we are getting off at Moutiers. They told us that they only open the luggage compartment once the train terminates, at Bourg St Maurice. So then we had to walk back to our carriage with all the luggage and stow it in the carriage. But we quite like having the luggage with us in the carriage, in fact.
“On the positive site, the principle of the service is brilliant. What we can’t understand is why they can’t continue to run a direct service all the way through. The other thing we’ve found is that the staff on both trains have been absolutely brilliant all the way through. They are lovely, friendly, very obliging. They have engaged, chatted, joked with us. We’d sooner do this than go through Geneva airport, any day!
Thoughts on Eurostar Snow food
Eurostar Snow mealPhoto: Daniel Elkan
Firstly, from Lille onwards there was always a queue at the cafe bar. At any one time they only had one or at best two members of staff. Clearly, they need more.
Richard and his group, travelling in Eurostar Standard class, got some snacks from the café bar that they were quite pleased with, like toasties and things.
Cafe-bar foodPhoto: Daniel Elkan
I was sat in Eurostar Plus. The meal included was either salmon or pasta with vegetables. I opted for the pasta, while Tracey sitting opposite got the salmon. This came with some soft French cheese, a roll and desert, as well as a small bottle of wine. I enjoyed the meal, it was nicely presented and tasted fine. But perhaps that’s because my expectations were low and it exceeded them.
Salmon meal on Eurostar PlusPhoto: Daniel Elkan
I got off the train at Landry station, one stop before Bourg St Maurice, because I was going to La Plagne Montchavin les Coches.
Eurostar Snow cafe bar queues
Photo: Daniel Elkan
Almost every time I went to or through the cafe bar there was a queue.
Here's another one:
Photo: Daniel Elkan
Its ridiculous that they can't get enough staff to serve people without people needing to queue about 10 deep. Although really a queue is just an opportunity for a chat with a friend or someone next to you.
You are all going skiing, after all.
The cafe bar queue eventually died down a bit and people stayed and enjoyed drinks there.
Photo: Daniel Elkan
Is Eurostar Plus worth it for the Eurostar Snow journey?
Whether something is worth it is, of course, highly subjective.
This is demonstrated by people paying for ‘Speedy Boarding’ on Easyjet and Ryanair flights. You are literally paying extra to move from the departure lounge, where there is space, to your seat on the flight, where it's cramped. Why would you pay extra to be cramped for longer?
Yet what looks like being irrational on the surface, isn’t really irrational. If standing for less time in a ‘Priority queue’ makes a person feel special, or if the idea that they won’t be stuck at the end of a long queue and miss their flight, or any other reason they may have, then maybe it’s worth it – for them.
A harsher view: it’s a tax on stupidity :)
The point is, value is subjective.
Eurostar Plus consistently seems to cost, for non-peak dates, about £40 more expensive each way than Eurostar Standard. If the journey one way is eight hours, then that’s £40 / 8 = £5 for every hour.
What you get is wider seating, fewer people per carriage, more table seats per carriage, and a meal on each train.
As Shakespeare said: ‘Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so’.
Final thoughts on Eurostar Snow
People definitely like the Eurostar Snow service, although there are ways it could be improved.
Also, why on earth can’t Eurostar continue its direct service? It was direct and it carried lots more skiers each week.
Skiing is amazing, trains are good – and we need more train options to help more people travel this way.