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Train travel gets easier
Sunday July 19, 2009 - Email this article to a friend
A new web site is being launched to help skiers and snowboarders get to the Alps and the Pyrenees. People show a greater interest in using the train.
The web site, snowcarbon.co.uk, is going live in September and aims to help people through the seemingly complicated business of finding out how to take the train to the slopes.
At the moment the site just has a home page.
"When you compare the journeys door-to-door it's virtually as quick to travel to ski resorts by train and a lot more fun. There is space, scenery and quality time instead of the constant stop-start of airports and transfers," says Daniel Elkan, the founder of the web site.
"Going overnight gives you extra days on the slopes, which is a major plus. Reaching a resort this way is a totally different experience, where you feel like the holiday starts when you set foot on the train.”
It is also not as difficult as many people believe.
Let the train take the strainThe site shows skiers exactly how to get to great resorts in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy and Andorra – travelling daytime or overnight.
Indeed, most skiers mistakenly believe that the only way to reach ski resorts conveniently by train is to take the snowtrain Bourg St Maurice to the Tarantaise resorts.
This gives access to Les Arcs, La Plagne, Val d’Isere, Tignes and several other ones popular with the British.
However many other ski resorts have rail stations either in them or in the valley below. Switzerland is very well connected by rail and of course Swiss rail has a good reputation for punctuality and cleanliness too.
Chamonix in France is another resort with a station and is very under-used by skiers.
“I think it is a great development and I hope the web site proves popular so we get more British people coming here by train,” says Clare Burnett from the resort’s Tourist Office.
Here is an example of how to get to Zell am Zee in Austria using an overnight rail journey:
Depart London St Pancras 16.25 Eurostar
Arrive Paris-Nord 19.47
Change station (metro/taxi/walk)
Depart Paris-Est 20.20 City Night Line
Arrive Munich 07.16
Depart Munich 07.30 EuroCity
Arrive Wörgl 08.44
Depart Wörgl 09.00 Regional Express
Arrive Zell am See 10.18
Here is a daytime service to Engelberg in Switzerland:
Depart London St Pancras 08.32 Eurostar
Arrive Paris-Nord 11.47
Change station (metro/taxi/walk)
Depart Paris-Est 12.24 TGV
Arrive Basel 15.51
Depart Basel 16.03 InterCity
Arrive Luzern 17.05
Depart Luzern 17.11 Regional train
Arrive Engelberg 18.12
Both are easier than you may think though they are not cheap. A return rail tickety to Zell starts from £182 and Engelberg is £153 return.
Not cheap, but very relaxingBut other ski destinations start from £124 for a return.
So why is there growing interest in train travel?
In part it is because of the perceived environmental benefits of travelling by rail, but here at PlanetSKI we don’t quite believe it is simple as “train travel good, air travel bad” that is the mantra of some environmentalists.
It is far more complex than that, but we do support and enjoy train travel.
Our content editor also is not a big fan of airports and the whole experience of flying!
Earlier this month on PlanetSKI we reported on another development helping to make train travel easier.
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