Very smooth and social

Journey:  Eurostar + TGV
By:  Keir Wingrove

We took a Eurostar to Paris and then a TGV to a station called Landry, near the resort of Peisey-Vallandry.   It’s great how you can get a train, and then a short transfer and before you know it you are in your chalet.

Photo: Keir Wingrove

We found that the train is definitely the way to go! We were in a large group but by the time we arrived everyone had already got to know each other.

Photo: Keir Wingrove

The hours on the train passed by quickly because it’s a real social.  We were trying to finish our card game as the train arrived at Landry station!  It’s not like a flight where you are strapped in with your knees up against your chest!  The change in Paris was pretty straight forward by taxi - we'd pre booked so they met us at the end of the platform. The TGV is great - lots of table seats.  But unlike the Eurostar, you can't fit snowboard bags on the overhead racks, so we had to stack them in the corridor, not as good but no big deal in the big scheme of things, once youve got them stacked neatly.  Our chalet was just a few minutes from Landry station, which was a bonus.

Photo: Keir Wingrove

The truth is, it’s not always going to be quicker on the train, but it generally doesn’t take longer – and it’s so much nicer.  The big thing for was the ease and the fun of it – and missing out all the hassle of airports and feeling like cattle. The train is so much more chilled and relaxed – and everything about it is so much more social.  You are on terra firma, zipping through the countryside and you see all this beauty going by you out the window.  It’s all very smooth.

Photo: Keir Wingrove

Peisey-Vallandry is a good place to be, because you are bang slap in the middle of Les Arcs and La Plagne – so you’ve got miles of ski in every direction. Definitely and area I’d come back to, and definitely by train!