Eurostar + TGV

One popular way of travelling to the Alps is to combine the Eurostar with a TGV.

You take a Eurostar to Paris (or in some cases, Lille) and from there take a TGV train to your ski resort. This type of rail travel has several merits:

1. You can reach a huge range of resorts (because there are many route options).
2. You can travel on any day of the week, with multiple departures each day.
3. TGVs are comfortable and have a decent café-bar on board.

Via the Eurostar and TGV, you can reach almost all of the French Alps, some Italian resorts, some Swiss resorts (with onward Swiss trains) and some Austrian resorts (with onward Austrian trains). 

As you might be aware, Eurostar has a more direct service, called Eurostar Snow, which requires only a platform change at Lille, and that's a great experience too. But travel by Eurostar + TGV is a good alternative that gives you far more options. 

Below, you’ll find our step-by-step guide on how to travel via Eurostar and TGV.

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Step 1: Take a Eurostar to Paris

Photo: Eurostar International

At London St. Pancras, you’ll board the Eurostar, sit down, have a chat with your friends, go to the rather bland café-bar, read a book, watch the scenery gliding by— perhaps chat with fellow travellers too.

There are lots of great ways to use your time on board, and then, before you know it, you'll arrive at Paris Nord.

You may also want to read our guide to what the Eurostar is like on board.

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Step 2: Change from Paris Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon

Photo: Daniel Elkan

Next, you’ll want to get from Paris Nord, where the Eurostar arrives, to Paris Gare de Lyon: the station from where TGVs depart for the Alps.

If you have lots of luggage, the easiest way to do this is with a pre-booked taxi where the driver will wait for you at the end of the Eurostar platform holding a placard with your name. There’s also a taxi rank 50 metres to the right of the Eurostar platform, where you can hail a cab if you haven’t pre-booked.

Another easy way to switch stations is the RER (part of the Paris Metro system). It's not glamorous, but it is fast and simpler than ever to navigate. 

When you get to Gare de Lyon, you can have lunch if there is time, or bring some food onto the TGV (which also has a café-bar).

You can read about these options in depth in our guide to changing stations from Paris Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon

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Step 3: Whizz to the Alps on the TGV

Families on TGVPhoto: Daniel Elkan

After boarding your TGV train, Paris will slip away as you speed out of its suburbs and through the French countryside.

Fields, lakes, farms, and houses; you'll see what people do with their back gardens and what little villages look like here.

Head to the café-bar, grab a meal, some snacks, a coffee or a bottle of wine. Have a snooze, do some work, play games, chat, dream about the slopes. When you arrive at your destination train station, it’ll be a relatively short taxi or bus ride up to your ski resort.

You may also want to read our guide to what the TGV is like on board.

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Step 4: Transfer to your resort

Photo: Daniel Elkan

Your final step will be to get from the nearest train station to your chosen ski resort.  These transfers are typically between 20 and 45 minutes. This is far shorter than airport transfers, which can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours (and sometimes longer, when roads are clogged with traffic).

It's a good idea to pre-book a taxi transfer, although at popular stations like Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Moûtiers-Salins you should find taxis waiting at the taxi rank too.

There are also buses from train stations to ski resorts, usually timed to coincide with the arrival of the TGV.

For every ski resort on the Snowcarbon website, we have a transfer guide page to show you taxi and bus options and how to book them.

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TGV durations from Paris

TGVs travel at speeds of up to 300km/h. Below is a table showing some key train stations near ski resorts, accessible through a single TGV journey from Paris. The table shows how long the journey takes from Paris, and the average number of direct TGV departures to a given destination per day, based on Saturday schedules in winter.

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Stopping over in Paris

Photo: Eurostar International

One of the main benefits of rail travel is that you can get off at any station en route, and board the next train whenever you like. In this way, the journey really becomes part of the holiday.

Given that most rail journeys to the Alps from the UK go through Paris, the capital of France and City of Love (or rather, good pastries), Paris is one of the most popular stopovers for skiers travelling by train. Depending on your schedule, you can stay there for one or several nights, turning a simple ski holiday into a combined city break.

Two additional advantages of making an overnight stopover in Paris, however, are that you can A) get more time on the slopes, by taking the Eurostar in the evening and an early-morning TGV the next day and vice versa (similar to a sleeper service) and B) get to more resorts farther afield, with more options overall, as you can take earlier trains from Paris the next day.

To find out more about the extra journeys you can make, check out our guide on Paris stopover journeys to the Alps.

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Your Eurostar + TGV stories

Travelling to the Alps from Cornwall by trainPhoto: Tim Barton

We love getting stories from our readers about their journeys to the slopes by Eurostar + TGV.

Travelling from Cornwall to Meribel, Tim Barton persuaded his friends that rail travel was better value-for-money than flying and wasn't disappointed. Using an Interrail pass, he was able to get serious discounts, including on domestic travel from Truro to London.

With the help of tour operator Peak Retreats, Ruth Newton was able to book a combined ski + rail package from London to La Plagne. She said the journey both ways was comfortable and relaxing, and despite missing her Eurostar connection on the return leg, she was helped by Eurostar staff at Paris to get onto the next train with "no stress at all". 

Finally, Kathryn Maddalena and her daughter went from Bristol to Les Contamines for the February half-term, stopping overnight in Paris. She said that her seven-year-old much preferred it to flying, adding, "I would really love it if train companies could start running London-to-the-Alps trains to more destinations".

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Eurostar + TGV vs flying to the Alps

Taking the Eurostar + TGV is as fast as Eurostar Snow, but is it as fast as flying?

Incredibly, the answer is yes—it's often a close-run thing, door to door. Check out this Top Gear-style plane vs train race where Snowcarbon co-founder Daniel Elkan races experienced ski writer Neil English to the Three Valleys. 

In this film, you'll watch Daniel travel in Standard Class on Eurostar and TGV, while Neil flies by EasyJet.
Daniel certainly had a more comfortable journey, but who won the race?

 

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How to book Eurostar + TGV journeys

Photo: Daniel Elkan

There are three ways to book Eurostar + TGV journeys.

1. Book the journey yourself, independently, online. 
This option is great in principle because you have the control and flexibility to book what you like. In practice, however, some Eurostar + TGV journeys are easier to book than others. Why? Because the algorithms on rail-booking websites like SNCF, Trainline, Rail Europe, etc., don't always show you all or the best available options. 

A factor to note is that the Eurostar leg of your journey will be bookable further in advance (330 days) than the TGV leg (60–120 days). So you might book the Eurostar leg first, or you might wait till everything is available. 

Advice on this is available in our train-travel booking guide. 

2. Book the journey independently, using a rail booking agent. 
There are rail-booking agents that can put together the whole journey for you. They have booking systems that are more sophisticated than public-facing websites, and they can pre-book the Eurostar and then add the TGV when it goes on sale.

Rail-booking agents can be an excellent option, particularly if you have less experience booking online yourself, or when booking for a group. There are two that we recommend in particular, which you can find in our train-travel booking guide.

3. Book a rail-inclusive package with a ski tour operator
Recognising the increasing popularity of rail travel to the Alps, a few ski tour operators have begun to offer rail-inclusive packages travelling by Eurostar + TGV. These offer the advantage of the rail travel being part of your ski holiday, and in many cases, with the rail travel booked by the tour operator in advance, price predictability too. 

You can browse some of these holidays in the ski-holidays by train section on Snowcarbon. 

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How much do Eurostar + TGV journeys cost

Photo: Daniel Elkan

Predicting rail fares isn't an exact science. In the past few years, rail fares have risen and have also become more difficult to forecast. 

However, the range below is our best guesstimate for return rail travel from London to the French Alps, by Eurostar + TGV, in standard class.

In general, the earlier you book, the lower the prices.

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When to book Eurostar + TGV journeys

TGV trains at Paris LyonPhoto: Daniel Elkan

Tickets for Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Lille and Brussels go on sale 330 days in advance. Tickets for TGVs and other trains within France go on sale approximately 60 to 120 days in advance.

While you can book the Eurostar trains in advance of the TGV trains, the table below shows the dates you can book combined Eurostar + TGV journeys.

Again, as a rule of thumb, the earlier you book, the lower the fares.

When important dates that trains go on sale are confirmed, we send out a newsletter so that you are in the know in advance. You can sign up for SnowCarbon's newsletter at the bottom of any page on the SnowCarbon website.

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Ski holidays by train — Ask SnowCarbon

At SnowCarbon we are always happy to help you with suggestions for great resorts, fantastic accommodations, and how to get where you're going.

We look forward to helping you.

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