Train to the Alps to ski

The train suits skiers who hate airports more than they mind a long day, and anyone counting their carbon: a return to the Alps by rail is a small fraction of the emissions of flying. The French Tarentaise is the easiest, because the TGV from Paris runs to three stations at the foot of the big resorts (Moûtiers for the Three Valleys, Aime for La Plagne, Bourg-St-Maurice for Les Arcs, Tignes and Val d'Isère), and in some winters a direct Saturday service has run from London. Switzerland and Austria are a change or two more; Italy's Turin line serves Bardonecchia and Oulx. The table is the finder's estimate for two adults in late January, by train against flying from Heathrow.

How the finder costs the train

The train price is the accommodation-only share of the package (60% of the flight-inclusive band) plus £250 a head for the return rail fare, which is what Eurostar and TGV tickets booked a few months ahead typically come to; last-minute or peak-Saturday fares are more. Door to door assumes nine hours from a London home to the Tarentaise stations, then the shuttle or bus to the resort. The Swiss and Austrian routes (to Zermatt via Geneva and Visp, to St Anton via Paris and Zurich) are about the same length with more changes; the finder uses the same base.

29 resorts by train

Two intermediate adults, week of 30 January, accommodation with lift passes and hire. Train costs the accommodation-only share of the package plus £250 a head for the rail fare; door to door assumes nine hours from London to the Tarentaise stations before the shuttle. Resorts without a practical rail route are left out.

What the table says

• The train is cheaper than flying for two in every resort on the list, by £30 to £310 a head. The gap is smallest in the cheap Italian resorts and Chamonix, where the flights a £250 rail fare replaces are cheap too.
• The savings are in the dear resorts: Verbier (£310 a head), Zermatt (£270), Sölden (£240), Alpe d'Huez (£230), Courchevel (£230), Méribel (£200). Zermatt and Courchevel also have some of the best rail access.
• Six resorts have the station in or beside the village: Zermatt, St Anton, Kitzbühel, Chamonix, Bardonecchia and Les Arcs (a funicular from Bourg-St-Maurice straight up to Arc 1600). No transfer at all. Verbier's gondola leaves from Le Châble station.
• The Tarentaise stations serve eight of the 33 resorts between them, with buses and shuttles of 10 to 75 minutes. The Moûtiers bus to Val Thorens is the long one.
• The door-to-door time is close to flying's, nine to eleven hours against six to eight, but it is all sitting down, with no queue at security, no wait for a coach and no baggage carousel.

The routes

• French Alps: Eurostar to Paris, cross from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon (about 20 minutes on foot or by RER), then TGV to Chambéry and on to Moûtiers, Aime and Bourg-St-Maurice. Check whether a direct winter Saturday service from London is running this season; it has come and gone. For Flaine and Morzine, TGV to Bellegarde or Geneva, then local train to Cluses; for Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes, TGV to Grenoble.
• Zermatt: Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Geneva or Lausanne, Swiss train to Visp, then the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn to Zermatt. Timed well, a morning Eurostar arrives for dinner.
• Austria: Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Zurich, then the Austrian railway's Railjet through to St Anton (two hours from Zurich) and on to Innsbruck for Ötztal (Sölden), Jenbach (Mayrhofen), Brixlegg (Alpbach) and Kufstein (Söll), with a branch to Kitzbühel. Or Eurostar to Brussels and German high-speed trains to Munich and Innsbruck.
• Italy: Eurostar to Paris, then the Paris–Turin TGV, which stops at Bardonecchia and Oulx (for Sauze d'Oulx). The line through the Fréjus valley has had long closures after rockfalls; confirm it is running before you book. For Cervinia, Turin or Milan then a train to Châtillon and the bus up.

Making the day work

1. Book the trains three to four months ahead for the £250 fare; the February Saturdays sell out and the price rises as they do.
2. Take your skis as luggage. Eurostar carries skis and boards in a bag at no extra charge within the baggage allowance; TGVs the same. Boots in a backpack keep them with you.
3. Allow an hour for the Paris crossing, and more at half term. A missed TGV is a lost day.
4. Pre-book the resort shuttle or check the bus timetable from Moûtiers and Bourg-St-Maurice; on Saturdays in peak weeks the buses are full and the taxis are not cheap.
5. The sleeper option: an overnight train from Paris or Brussels towards Austria or Italy turns the long day into a night's sleep; the finder doesn't price it, but it changes the sums for the far resorts.

Common questions