Rail V's Flying

Have you ever wondered how easy it would be to travel to your ski destination by train? Well, the answer is it is very easy indeed. There are several ski resorts that have their own train stations, so you can travel from the UK, straight to resort.

We have looked at the journey times, costs and carbon foot print, for a full rail journey verses flying and you may be surprised to know that the time is very similar, but the costs are far less and it is much kinder to the planet.

As you can see from the following timelines the timings are very similar. Now, if we look at the cost element, since the pandemic, flight have increased so much and even for the non-peak dates. The cost of traveling by rail is nearly half the cost compared to flying, because of this it can bring your overall holiday cost down considerably. Also, traveling by rail is a lot greener compared to the carbon foot print of flying.

If you think you might like to look at travel by rail instead of flying, please contact one of our ski specialists to find out more information.

Resorts that can be reached by rail from the UK to ski resort.

The following resorts have a train station in resort, so this makes traveling by rail even easier.

• Zermatt, Switzerland

• Seefeld, Austria

• St. Anton am Arlberg

• Kitzbühel, Austria

• Zell am See, Austria

• La Plagne/Belle Plagne, France

• Langen Train Station, Austria – You can access Zurs and Lech from Langen train station by taxi as these resorts are only a short distance away, approx. 15 – 20mins from Langen train station to either Lech or Zurs by road.

Additional plus points for the following resorts –

• Zermatt, Switzerland – World famous Matterhorn, chocolate box resort, great for early and late season skiing. Also, Good intermediates and advanced skiers can ski over to Cervinia, Italy.

• St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria – Being part of the am Arlberg ski region you can ski the whole region including the world famous resort of Lech, along with Zurs, St. Christoph and Warth.

Example – Zermatt, Switzerland

Flying –

If we look at flying, from London Gatwick or London Heathrow to Zurich for example, you would be looking at the following  timeline –

• Home to airport – approx. 2 hours drive (basing this on many people living within 2 hours drive from LGW or LHR).
• Check in of 2 hours.
• Flight time of 2 hours.
• Security and baggage collection approx. 1 hour  (possibly longer than).
• Transfer time from Zurich Airport to Zermatt either by taxi transfer or Swiss rail approx.. 3hrs 15mins – 4hrs.
• Total journey time from home to resort approx. 10 – 12 hrs

Rail –

If we look at rail from the UK to Zermatt, you can expect the following timeline –

• Home to London St. Pancras (approx. 2hrs, based on living within 2hrs of station)
• London St. Pancras 06:31 – Paris Nord 09:58
• Paris Gare de Lyon 1:56 – Lausanne 15:40
• Lausanne 15:48 – Visp 17:23
• Visp 17:37 – Zermatt 18:50
• Total journey time from home to resort approx. 12 – 13 hrs.

(Please note rail times based on winter 24/25. Journey from Paris Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon via local taxi from one station to the other)