Starting points in the UK are either St Pancreas or Ashford for the Eurostar
to Paris Gare Du Nord. From there you have the choice of a regular service of
the TGV or the once weekly service of the affectionately known “Snow-Train”,
down to Bourg St Maurice. The arrival times for both in Bourg are similar and
allow you to catch the coach at 7.00 am to the resort centres of Tignes Les
Boisses, or the maison de ville of either Tignes Le Lac or Val Claret. The good
thing about this does mean that if travel on the Friday evening you can get a
full days skiing on the Saturday.
The snow train from Paris Gare Du Nord, is fairly comfortable once you are on it
and although fairly noisy due to a constant people movement up and down the
train looking for the disco carriage, it is also comfortable once the beds are
down and the rhythm of the train lulls you to sleep. It will wake you as it
stops at Moutier and all the other resort stops until it reaches Bourg St
Maurice at about 6.45am. You can take as much luggage as you can carry and skis
are included. Be a little wary of where you leave your bags at Paris during the
2 hour stopover.
The Eurostar is the quickest journey time and you can sleep in the seats quite
easily. Skis are included within the price of the ticket. However, it is worth
upgrading to a leisure select seat in order to get a better nights sleep as well
as wine and dine, onboard newspapers 1/2 hour boarding and a power point
at your seat. Otherwise food and drinks
are available from the buffet carriage up until 2.00am. ish
Both the snow train and Eurostar arrive at Bourg St Maurice. I would advise that you opt for the 45 minute coach transfer that will cost only 12.7 Euros each way. This can be pre-booked to avoid disappointment and the possibility of a long wait. The coach companies operating from here are Autocars Martin and Altibus.