UKC

I was wondering if I could get advice on the cheapest way of traveling from the uk to chamonix. Have done both car and plane. Car ended up working out fairly expensive with tolls and petrol etc. Does anyone have any info on traveling by train? I imagine it is fairly expensive?

Thanks for any advice.
Joe

In reply to Joe Barlow:

don't know much about the train although I'm sure there is a bus, I've never taken it but looked at it a few years ago. think it used to leave from London Victoria. eurolines may have been the company.

personally I think Flying is the best option. cheap enough too if you book it far enough in advance.

You can also drive and avoid the tolls. Can't remember the route exactly but sure this involves going through Belgium initially.

In reply to Joe Barlow:

I got the Eurolines bus from Chamonix to London in the summer via Lille. It was a long trip - bus was two hours late turning up in Chamonix, luckily the connecting bus from Lille was late too, got stuck in the channel tunnel and was nearly four hours late getting into Victoria. It cost about 80 euros although the drivers of the first bus declared our bags to be too big/heavy and levied extra charges.

In reply to Joe Barlow:
check out the Germans train website. With typical efficiency it's a very good Europe wide site in English. getting cheaply to London 8th an absurd lottery but you can get the bus to Victoria if needed.

With enough notice eurostar is comparable to flying.

2 in a diesel car is maybe better and if you've 3 or 4 it's a no brainer. assume all food in cham is double price of morrisons and bring back amazing wine.

In reply to kbow265:

You were fortunate, after all delays I was almost 24hrs late using eurolines to get back to London from Cham last time. Swiss border seem to delight in stopping you for 5hrs to train there sniffer dogs.

Eurostar now offer a train to Geneva that only involves a platform change at Lille (rather than changing stations across Paris). Some tickets can be quite cheap if you book in advance... and very useful if you've a lot of kit. However I'd almost always opt to fly given the choice.
Cheers Ted

In reply to Joe Barlow:

https://loco2.com/

https://loco2.com/destinations/london-to-chamonix-by-train#eurostar-interci...

This is a good option for Euro train travel, you can set a reminder for when booking opens.

In reply to Joe Barlow:

Thanks for all the advice. When I drove it did work out as it was 3 of us but just myself meeting a friend out there this time so would be a bit pricey. I am still very tempted to fly, what sort of prices are the train journeys to chamonix?