UKC

Hello,
I have spent many years ski-ing, walking & mountaineering in Switzerland & have enjoyed the convenience & ease of organisation of my trips by virtue of their integrated transport network.. ..now with full on-line access it is even simpler to check connections. To cut a long story short I and some pals have booked a ski-ing holiday in Courchevel but I wish to spend a week beforehand in Switzerland.
I would like to transfer from Switzerland to 'trois vallees' & would much prefer to do so by train (so avoiding a long bus trip from Geneva that is timetabled by a provider outwith the national system). My investigations so far suggest that train connection is possible to Moutiers then there are connecting buses to the ski resorts which is fine. Options I see are to exit Switzerland via Geneva or the Chamonix line but I cannot find timetables.

I hasten to add that I am no expert in drilling down into internet possibilities.. ..what I do know is that third party first hand knowledge can be gold dust when compared with the fumblings of a novice falling on a new topic without depth of experience. Can anyone give me guidance?

By way of return I have extensive experience of many aspects of travelling, walking, ski-ing etc. in Switzerland that I willingly freely share.. ..but I know bugger all about French transport. There will be someone out there that does.
Any assistance would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Mike

In reply to Tonto:

Just did a quick search.

http://loco2.com/ might help

In france it's sncf.com I believe

In reply to Tonto:

The French aren't as organised as the Swiss....the best I've come up with is the following after a long search (don't bother with www.railEurope.co.uk!)

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-train

It's in French but don't pick the english site, it just sends you to Rail Europe which only seems to do trips between big cities.

In reply to simonzxr: SNCF ought to be best for France but often http://www.bahn.de/ is better

In reply to Tonto:

Timetabling is easy enough here: http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/ - just don't switch to raileurope.co.uk which is an agent, tgv-europe is just the English version of the SNCF website.

It looks like you can do Moutiers via Chambery from Geneva main station without having to faff around getting to the tiny SNCF station. I've done it from Chamonix which was easy enough but it looks like you get onto the Geneva train at Bellegarde anyway - so I guess it depends how much easier it is to get to Martigny than Geneva!

In reply to Tonto:

Just to add however that the Martigny - Chamonix train is pretty amazing and only 10-15 Euros each way.

In reply to Tonto:

http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm

The man in seat 61 is an awesome dude.

The only problem I have had has been booking the cheap tickets that should be available if you book far enough in advance

In reply to Nigel Modern: Just did a test booking on Rail Europe to Bourg St Maurice/Chamonix. It seems to be working better now and prices are comparable with flying (including sleeping in a couchette) once you add in the inevitable flying 'extras' eg airport parking, transfer to Chamonix

btw Ice axes on Eurostar can be interesting - last time we checked they had to go in baggage car (arrive early and register them)

Hello All,
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to respond to my request.I have decided that a train transfer is extremely convoluted & slow so will resort to economy bus travel from Geneva.

Cheers

Mike