Marvellously empty slopes
Being as broke as usual but desperate for a ski holiday, this year Bardonecchia looked the best bet for us. It has 100km of pistes; its 6-day ski-pass is only €237 (less for kids and over 65s); and both SNCF and Trenitalia are running the Paris-Milan route, so train prices are competitive.
We went Tuesday to Tuesday in early February, booking back in November when the tickets first went on sale and using the timetable on Snowcarbon’s Bardonecchia Journey Planner.
Eurostar was £55 out and £39 back, and the TGV €44 out and €54 back. For another €10 on the return TGV trip we realised we could go First Class, so we took that for the wider, reclining seats and extra luggage space.
The 09:31 Eurostar arrived in Paris at 12:39. There’s a (fairly) new bus station now at the side of the Gare du Nord, and the 91 bus goes from there rather than, as before, from the Rue de Saint-Quentin. The bus no longer accepts cash and you can no longer buy paper tickets; instead you have to use the RATP app or buy a €2 Navigo card (Paris’ Oyster card). It took about 35 minutes to the Gare de Lyon, so we had plenty of time before the 14:48 TGV INOUI. If you want to cross the city more speedily there’s also the direct RER line D.
TGV to OulxPhoto: Guy Russell
It’s a shame the TGV no longer halts at Bardonecchia itself, but it stops just further on at Oulx at 19:21 and the local train (€2.60) arrived five minutes later to take us back. Our hotel (the plain but charming Casa San Francesco) was a walkable 900m from the station. That was fortunate, as there were no buses running by the time we arrived, and no taxis at the station. We arrived at the hotel before 8pm, in time for the evening meal.
The next day it was a flat 400m walk to Campo Smith, which has nursery slopes, the nearest chairlift and ski rental places. The kind person at the ski-pass office told us we’d get a discount for staying in a local hotel. And told us our pass included a day over in the huge Via Lattea area with a free shuttle bus (https://www.vialattea.it/en/ski-shuttle/ ) to Sauze d’Oulx. Neither of these benefits was mentioned on the official website, www.bardonecchiaski.com; the free shuttle and the day out are a new thing this year. When you get on the shuttle, you take a card with your intended time of return, so that the return bus won’t get over-full. But we went on the Saturday and the bus both ways was nearly empty.
Photo: Guy Russell
Bardonecchia’s slopes too were marvellously empty in the week, despite the good snowfall we had, but much busier on the weekend, when people come up from Turin. Even then, the red runs from the half-hidden Bosco lift at the edge of the area still gave a nice sense of mountain wilderness. The lift to the higher Jafferau area, great on a sunny day, is five minutes away via the free no.7 bus.
Photo: Guy Russell
Beyond skiing, the old town has plenty of atmospheric bars and restaurants. There’s also the Alpine Coaster, a cross between a toboggan and a rollercoaster (you control the speed), cultural events at the Palazzo delle Feste, and at the weekend lively and noisy après at Harald’s Bar in Campo Smith. Everything’s so reasonably priced: the coffees, even on the mountain, were about €1.30 (or up to €2 for a small cappuccino), and in the town bars we often got tapas senza pagare with our beer.
Photo: Guy Russell
We went home on the 08:33 TGV, arriving in Paris at 13:19, then took the 16:02 Eurostar to London. Overall, we spent £460 half-board per person on the hotel and £196 on the trains and bus, easily undercutting the equivalent package on the Crystal website, and that’s before adding in the overnight airport hotel we used to need. Even with ski-pass and budget-busting nights in town, the complete spend was less than £1000. Not forgetting, of course, the carbon savings! Result!