Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit

London to Briançon - winter 2026–27 (predicted schedule)
Dep	15:31	London St Pancras	Eurostar
Arr	19:01	Paris Nord
Transfer from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz
Dep	20:57	Paris Austerlitz	Intercités de Nuit
Arr	06:18	Veynes
Arr	06:46	Gap
Arr	07:31	Embrun
Arr	07:49	Mont-Dauphin-Guillestre
Arr	08:03	L'Argentière-les-Écrins
Arr	08:24	Briançon

Briançon to London winter 2026–27 (predicted schedule)
Dep	19:58	Briançon	Intercités de Nuit
Dep	20:14	L'Argentière-les-Écrins
Dep	20:27	Mont-Dauphin-Guillestre
Dep	20:45	Embrun
Dep	21:31	Gap
Dep	22:02	Veynes
Arr	07:53	Paris Austerlitz
Transfer from Austerlitz to Paris Nord
Dep	10:07	Paris Nord	Eurostar
Arr	11:30	London St Pancras

London to Latour-de-Carol - winter 2026–27 (predicted schedule)
Dep	London St Pancras	16:31	Eurostar
Arr	Paris Nord	19:48
Transfer from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz
Dep	Paris Austerlitz	22:13	Intercités de Nuit
Arr	Ax-les-Thermes	09:12
Arr	Andorre-L'Hospitalet	09:39
Arr	Latour-de-Carol	10:04

Latour-de-Carol to London - winter 2026–27 (predicted schedule)
Dep	Latour-de-Carol	18:49	Intercités de Nuit
Dep	Andorre-L'Hospitalet	19:16
Dep	Ax-les-Thermes	19:55
Arr	Paris Austerlitz	07:33
Transfer from Austerlitz to Paris Nord
Dep	Paris Nord	10:01	Eurostar
Arr	London St Pancras	11:30

Train station	Ski resort	Transfer time
Veynes	Super Devoluy	TBC
Gap	Praloup	TBC
Embrun	Les Orres	TBC
Mont-Dauphin-Guillestre	Risoul, Vars	TBC
L'Argentière-les-Écrins	Puy St Vincent	TBC
Briançon	Montgenèvre	TBC
Briançon	Serre Chevalier	TBC
Ax-les-Thermes	Ax-Les-Thermes	TBC
Andorre-L'Hospitalet	Grandvalira	TBC
Latour-de-Carol	TBC	TBC

 

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Your Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit stories

Montgenevre slopesPhoto: Simon Amos

We love getting stories from skiers about their ski holidays using Intercités de Nuit.

Angela McCreedy said that her party slept well on the sleeper from Paris to Briançon, before their ski holiday in Serre Chevalier, but that next time they'll pay the €40 surcharge to keep one bunk free to pile their luggage on.

Guy Russell's party booked a compartment for themselves (‘espace privatif’) on the sleeper train from Paris to Ax-les-Thermes and said that compared to flying, the journey gave their holiday "a sense of adventure".

Finally, travelling from Scotland to Montgenèvre by train, Simon Amos' family enjoyed eight days in the resort by arriving early Saturday and leaving Saturday evening.

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Which sleeper-train routes were axed?

The two key routes for skiers that SNCF axed were:

• Paris - Moûtiers, Aime, Landry, and Bourg-Saint-Maurice
• Paris - Annecy, Cluses, Sallanches, and Saint-Gervais

Because of this, the following resorts are no longer accessible by sleeper train from Paris:

Avoriaz, Brides-les-Bains, Courchevel, Flaine, La Clusaz, La Plagne, La Rosière, La Tania, Le Grand Bornand, Les Arcs, Les Carroz, Les Contamines, Les Gets, Les Menuires, Manigod, Mégeve, Méribel, Morillon, Morzine, Peisey-Vallandry, Sainte-Foy, Samoëns, St-Gervais, St-Martin-de-Belliville, Tignes, Val d'Isère, Val Thorens and Valmorel.

The French Government and SNCF are predicted to reopen the above routes by 2030.  If they stick to their word, hopefully, sleeper trains will fully return to the French Alps soon.

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How does the Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit work?

In the sections below, we've described the journey in four steps: Eurostar to Paris, change station, then the Intercités de Nuit sleeper train, and then the transfer. 

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Step 1: Take the Eurostar to Paris

Eurostar at St PancrasPhoto: Eurostar International

At London St. Pancras, you’ll board the Eurostar, sit down, have a chat with your friends, go to the café-bar, read a book, look at the scenery gliding by—perhaps share a joke with a fellow passenger.

There are lots of great ways to use your time on board. Before you know it, your Eurostar will arrive at Paris Nord.

You may also want to read our guide to what the Eurostar is like on board. 

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Step 2: Change from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz

Taxi transfer in Paris

Next, you'll need to transfer from Paris Nord, where the Eurostar arrives, to Paris Austerlitz: the station from where Intercités de Nuit trains depart for the Alps.

The easiest way to do this is with a pre-booked taxi. Your driver will wait for you at the end of the Eurostar platform, holding a placard with your name. There’s also a taxi rank 50 metres to the right of the Eurostar platform, where you can hail a cab if you haven’t pre-booked.

You can take the Metro direct from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz, but if you have a fair bit of luggage, it’s best to avoid this, as it requires going up and down some stairs. When you get to Gare d'Austerlitz, you can have dinner opposite the station or bring some food onto the train.

You can read about these options in depth in our guide to changing stations from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz.

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Step 3: Overnight to the Alps on the Intercités de Nuit

There's something about getting on an overnight train that’s always exciting, never more so than when you’re headed for the Alps.

On board the Intercités de Nuit, you'll see Paris slipping away through the window, then the lights of its vast urban sprawl, before you’re in the dark countryside.

In the morning, you'll wake up close to the slopes and ready to ski, while thousands of other skiers stand in airport queues or find themselves cooped up on long transfers.

Intercités de Nuit trains are not built for luxury—they’re cosy, not spacious. However, they do the job, and you can comfortably get a good night's sleep, dreaming of that first run.

You may also want to read our guide to what Intercités de Nuit sleeper trains are like on board.

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Step 4: Transfer to your resort

Your final step will be to get from the arrival station to your chosen ski resort.  Transfers typically take between 15 minutes and 45 minutes. This is far shorter than airport transfers, which can take 1.5 to 3 hours, and sometimes longer owing to traffic jams.

It's a good idea to pre-book a taxi transfer, although at most Alpine stations you can usually find a taxi rank nearby.

There are also buses from train stations to ski resorts, usually timed to coincide with the arrival of the Intercité de Nuit sleeper.

We have a transfer guide for every ski resort on the SnowCarbon website to show you taxi and bus options and how to book them. 

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The Eurostar + sleeper train journey

In 2011, several of our team travelled to the Portes du Soleil via the Eurostar to Paris, and then a sleeper train to the Alps, filming the journey as we went.

We travelled in Standard Class on the Eurostar and Intercités de Nuit (then known as the Lunéa), sleeping in a six-berth couchette.

The journey was a lot of fun and a good way for friends to socialise and get to know each other at the start of the holiday.

You can read more about our onboard experience of the sleeper train here.

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How to book Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit journeys

Intercites de Nuit trainPhoto: Daniel Elkan

Rail-ski packages with Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit tickets included don't tend to exist at the moment. Hence, you'll need to book the journey independently. There are two ways of doing this. 

1. Book the journey yourself, independently, online. 
This option is great in principle because you have the control and flexibility to book what you like. In practice, however, some Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit journeys are easier to book than others. Why? Because the algorithms on rail-booking websites like SNCF, Trainline, Rail Europe, etc., don't always show you all or the best available options. 

A factor to note is that the Eurostar leg of your journey will be bookable further in advance (330 days) than the Intercités de Nuit leg (60–120 days). So you might book your Eurostar leg first, or you might wait till everything is available. 

Advice on this is available in our train-travel booking guide. 

2. Book the journey independently, using a rail booking agent. 
There are rail-booking agents that can put together the whole journey for you. They have booking systems that are more sophisticated than public-facing websites, and they can pre-book the Eurostar and then add the TGV when it goes on sale.

Rail-booking agents can be an excellent option, particularly if you have less experience booking online yourself, or when booking for a group. There are two that we recommend in particular, which you can find in our train-travel booking guide.

What's worth knowing is that despite SNCF putting a lot of money into renovating its sleeper trains, it sometimes puts them on sale in an odd way. For certain dates, Intercités de Nuit trains that should normally be on sale don't go on sale immediately.

This is different from daytime TGV services. SNCF releases its daytime train tickets in a fairly predictable manner, with blocks of dates on sale and all the trains during that period bookable. 

We’ve found that Intercités de Nuit ticket sales can be less predictable, as if certain dates were being held off. It's something you should be aware of when booking ahead. If the date you want isn't on sale at the outset, it will likely go on sale in due course, which is reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Just make sure to keep checking.

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How much do Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit journeys cost

Intercities de Nuit couchettePhoto: Daniel Elkan

Predicting rail fares isn't an exact science. In the past few years, rail fares have risen and have also become more difficult to forecast. 

However, the range below is our best guesstimate for return rail travel from London to the French Alps, by Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit, in standard class.

In general, the earlier you book, the lower the prices.

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When to book Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit journeys

Eurostar train at St PancrasPhoto: Daniel Elkan

Tickets for Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Lille and Brussels go on sale 330 days in advance. Tickets for Intercités de Nuits and other trains within France go on sale approximately 60 to 120 days in advance.

Although you can book the Eurostar trains in advance of the Intercités de Nuit trains, the table below shows the dates you can book combined Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit journeys.

Again, as a rule of thumb, the earlier you book, the lower the fares.

When important dates that trains go on sale are confirmed, we send out a newsletter so that you are in the know, in advance. You can sign up for SnowCarbon's newsletter at the bottom of any page on the SnowCarbon website.

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How to book an 'espace privatif' (private couchette)

Sleeper couchettePhoto: Simon Amos

Couchette compartments on the Intercités de Nuit contain either six berths (Standard Class) or four berths (First Class).  However, if you’re 4–5 people in Standard Class, or if you’re 1–3 people in First Class, you can book the whole couchette for yourself by paying an 'espace privatif' surcharge.

Not a lot of people know this is possible. Indeed, we discovered it from the excellent Mark Smith, founder of the rail website The Man in Seat 61. Here's his guide to how to book the espace privatif. 

How much does it cost:

You can read more about the espace privatif on Seat 61's page about sleeper trains from Paris

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Ski holidays by train — Ask Snowcarbon

At SnowCarbon we are always happy to help you with suggestions for great resorts, fantastic accommodations, and how to get where you’re going!

We look forward to helping you.

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