On the up: The train is experiencing a renaissance and more skiers are using rail to reach the ski slopesI have fond memories, as a youngster, of sharing a couchette with my sisters on the night train, thundering through France towards the promise of our beloved family ski holiday in the Alps. Back in those days we either drove to the Alps en famille or the kids took the train while our parents drove or flew. The train was my favourite, especially since in the car I was sandwiched for hours in the back seat between my two elder sisters.
On the train I was mesmerised by the clickety clack of the rails, gazing out of the square window at whatever town was illuminated, or trying to capture the name of a rural French station as we blew past at rocket-like speed.
I loved climbing over bags and people, exploring up and down other carriages. Sometimes, when the train did stop at a big station, I would run out on to the platform, dash along to our couchette, bang on the window to get my sisters' attention and delight in watching them fly into a wild panic, scrambling out to drag me back on board before the whistle blew and the train left without me!
Then late at night, we'd break out the hot chocolate flask and Tupperware full of midnight snacks. When replete with peanut butter and jam sandwiches, I would climb on to my favourite top bunk and stretch out under a red SNCF blanket to let the rhythms of the carriage rock me into a wonderful sleep.
What an adventure it was. Through my teenage years I took the Snowtrain to the Alps - even gracing the notorious disco carriage which played host to appallingly drunken revellers all night. But then, going skiing by rail fell off the travel radar. Brand new French autoroutes made driving a cheaper, easier and just as quick option. Then budget airlines opened up new affordable routes from the UK.
But for many, the love affair with low-cost airlines is now waning and the train is experiencing something of a renaissance. This is due in the main to airlines not being so low-cost with their scandalous baggage charges, and the almost universal loathing of airports with all the undignified down-time that usually entails.
Certainly the Eurostar direct from London to the French Alps is popular but expensive. Much more affordable is to take the Eurostar to Gare du Nord in Paris, then take a taxi or Metro across to Paris Austerlitz station and head to the French Alps by day on an all-seated SNCF train or by night in couchettes.
The travel journalists Daniel Elkan and Mark Hodson can also be thanked for revitalising the concept of train travel to ski destinations.
Their website, www.snowcarbon.co.uk, launched after years of research and hard work, is a deeply informative site that you can peruse merely to research your ski-by-rail holiday, or to book it in entirety.
Daniel's brainchild stemmed not just from his accumulated loathing of airport queues and delays but also the horrifying realisation that 'each time we suffer that draining airport experience, it also costs the planet dearly'.
Daniel told me that the train journey I took from London to the popular French resort of La Plagne in January made just a modest carbon footprint relative to the same journey by air.
If I had flown to La Plagne with my three mates, we would have stamped down an XXL-sized footprint of 326.6kg of carbon dioxide. But in the comfort of our couchette, the four of us left a dainty collective footprint of just 45.6kg of CO2. So we could take our ski holiday 7.5 times before we made the same size footprint as an air-ski holiday for a family of four.
I'll admit that as a fully fledged adult I couldn't stretch out in my cosy berth in quite the way I did in my childhood but, whether or not you care a jot about carbon emissions, the 30-minute check-in for the Eurostar was a breeze, the taxi ride to change stations in Paris uncomplicated - and just £25 for the four of us, and hurrah, no queues, no delays, no stress. In the past two months Snowcarbon has scored a great coup in persuading the key rail companies to give British tour operators allocations of seats so that they can offer all-inclusive rail packages at discounted prices that could not be found by booking independently.
Going solo: Two of Neil's party tried the MonoBobPlagne 1800 is a great resort to reach by train, with Aime La Plagne station just 15 minutes' road transfer away.
The snow was great early last season and, fingers crossed, it appears to be the same this season. The slopes were fairly empty in late January and we took full advantage of the dramatic double-decker cable car over to the connected resort of Les Arcs which makes the entire area, known as Paradiski, one of the world's biggest and most envied interlinked ski networks.
We booked the comfortable ski-in, ski-out two-bedroom apartments, called Les Chalets Edelweiss, through specialist European self-catering tour operator Lagrange Holidays. These apartments have a small communal steam room and indoor pool, and fresh croissants and coffee can be ordered in the reception area each morning.
There is so much in La Plagne to keep kids and adults amused and occupied. We had a hoot of a half day at Plagne Montalbert, where you can try all sorts of new snow sports, such as linked snake sledges, airboarding - lying on an airbed and flying down the slopes (stopping not easy) - snow tri bikes and scooters. You name it, only the French can think of all these things and they're brilliant-fun for all - info and prices from 00 33 479097733.
Definitely try the nearby restaurant Le Forperet, housed in a rustic farmhouse, where we devoured a worldbeating tartiflette, but do so only after the shenanigans above!
Even more bravery (read lunacy) is required to try the MonoBob (£87 per person) on the still-operational Olympic bobsleigh track from the 1992 Albertville Winter Games. You can try the four-man bob, but the real deal comes from lying on your back in a specially designed-to-thrill, one-person-only contraption that compresses you into the ice walls at 60mph. This experience is most worthy of a schnapps in the bar at the end!
Apart from many happy hours (4 to 7pm nightly) at Bar La Mine, built on an old silver mine, the piece de culinary resistance was a hot-wine-fuelled dinner inside a real igloo, hand-built and run by the charming Joel Botta (www.monvillageigloo.com). We thoroughly enjoyed his home-cooked stew and banter. It is highly recommended and a mere £25 per head. But no matter how much hot wine we consumed, we were still very cold, so wrap up with everything you've got!
Getting there
A seven-night rail-inclusive holiday for four to Les Chalets Edelweiss, departing January 15, 2011, costs a total of £1,529 (£382.65pp) with www.lagrange-holidays.co.uk. You will travel by Eurostar from London St Pancras on daytime trains. The price includes Paris transfer taxi, transfer to accommodation at Plagne 1800 from Aime La Plagne station and a two-double-bedroom apartment. Price is based on two adults and two children aged between four and 11 sharing the apartment and represents a saving of £98 on the same tri.
source: dailymail
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