Travelling to The Alps by Rail by Claire Antrobus
Claire recently travelled by train to the Saastal Valley in Switzerland to join us on our summer mountaineering trip. On numerous occasions Claire has travelled to the Alps via train from the UK where she has not only had fantastic views along the way, but also drastically reduced her carbon footprint on the trip. Read her article below all about rail travel to get tips for your next trip.
If you have visited the alps recently you might have been alarmed by the unseasonable and extreme weather patterns, shrinking glaciers and unstable rock conditions caused by climate change. And many of us are very concerned about the climate emergency more widely and want to minimise our impact on the planet. So how can we continue to enjoy visiting the alps whilst avoiding contributing to their decline?
Choosing to travel by rail, rather than fly, is one way we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint – by around 90% on a trip from London to the Alps.
For our recent WAAC trip to Saas Grund I travelled by train from my home in York and I’ve also used trains to visit the Aosta Valley, the Dolomites and Chamonix on other recent trips. It might take a bit more planning, and you need to book well ahead to get the cheapest tickets, but I think it’s worth a little extra effort for the environmental benefits.
Personally I don’t much enjoy airports anyway, whereas train travel is often more relaxing – the trains have wifi, plug sockets, buffet cars and even great views!
Where do I start?
The first task is to figure out your route! For the French, Swiss or Italian Alps it’s likely you’ll go via Paris from where there are excellent high speed (TGV) connections to Geneva (for Chamonix or Swiss alps), Zurich (for Swiss alps), Grenoble (for the Ecrins), Turin (for Aosta Valley) or Milan (for the Dolomites via connection to Venice).
If you’re heading further east (eg Llubjiana for the winter snow-shoe trip) then there are other options via Munich. From Zurich you can connect directly to Innsbruck. For those of you travelling to the Pyrenees for the winter skills course then Toulouse is 4hrs by TGV from Paris.
So you’re looking at taking 2-3 trains, but fortunately there is a brilliant website that helps you plan journeys and explains all the options of how to get to different places by train - www.seat61.com
Often there are a few route options to get to your destination – so it’s worth shopping around to see which suits your budget and timetable best. If, like me, you don’t live near London then you might need to break your journey to split it over two days – I often go to London the evening before on a cheap train so I can catch the earliest service to the alps, but you could travel as far as Paris and spend a night there, or another city en route.
Isn’t is more expensive?
So long as you book ahead, my experience is that costs are pretty similar for flying and travelling by train – if you include all the costs of air travel – ie baggage and airport transfers. One benefit of train travel is that there is no charge for baggage and your allowance on Eurostar or TGV includes two very large bags. Carrying crampons and ice axe is permitted, although you’re advised to inform security you’re carrying those items.
For my recent trip to Chamonix, my train travel (including a scheduled bus from central Geneva to Chamonix) came to £260. This excludes getting into/out of London from York which added another £70. I travelled on Saturdays in August which is a peak time, so if you can be flexible about dates it could cost a fair bit less.
My trip to Saas Grund was a bit more expensive as I booked quite late and came in at £316 for London-Geneva. I travelled both ways on Saturdays which adds to the expense. But again, when I looked at the cost of flying from my local airport (Manchester) it was no cheaper when baggage and transfers were factored in.
Doesn’t it take longer?
It might take a wee bit longer by train, but there’s no hanging around airports 2hrs before departure. And you don’t have transfer times to/ from airports as the train stations are in city centres. Eurostar requires check-in 45 mins before departure, but my recent experience (even in peak season) is that check takes around 15 mins so you can relax and enjoy a drink and read a book rather than stand in long security queues.
Travelling to Saas Grund, I left London at 8am, was in Paris before noon where I bought lunch in the station and then changed onto a TGV that arrived into Geneva just after 15:00. After rail connections onto Visp and a bus to Saas Grund I arrived at the campsite about 8pm. On the way home I caught the 7am bus to Visp and reversed my route, getting home to York by 10pm on the same day.
London-Chamonix by train/bus takes about 10-12 hrs, so an 8am Eurostar departure gets you to Chamonix for around 6-7pm. We stayed in Geneva on the way home (as hotels were cheaper than Chamonix) and I was home in York for tea, having caught the 8:29 to Paris, then a Eurostar at lunchtime.
Top tips for train travel in Europe
For the best views book an upstairs seat on the double-decker TGV trains in France.
Younger (and senior) travellers can get discounts via railcards and even Inter Rail tickets might save you money on rail travel.
SNCF (the French rail company) also has a wide range of annual railcards (‘carte avantage’) which anyone can buy and save money on trips, including a discount for a companion. I’ve often found the price of a card saves money even on a single return trip.
If you do need to change in Paris, it is quite easy to use the metro (RER D) but save time queuing in the station by purchasing your metro tickets from the Eurostar buffet car!
The Eurostar leg is often the most expensive part of any ticket so book that part of your trip asap (www.seat61.com explains how far ahead bookings open).
You can usually change the time/date on advance tickets right up to day before travel for a small fee, if needs be.
