The rhythmic snoring from the bunk below me cut through the music, no matter how many times I turned up the volume. I tried coughing loudly, rattling the ladder to my bunk, and even, when sleep deprivation really hit, sticking my leg down to kick the offender’s mattress.
Nothing worked – she continued to sleep as soundly as someone who had spent their day downing pints at La Folie Douce. Perhaps that was exactly how she’d spent her day – the train had left Bourg-Saint-Maurice, at the foot of Les Arcs ski resort, at 9.33pm.
It had been a long time since I’d slept in a six-bed dormitory, and snoring sits atop my list of pet peeves, along with people who walk slowly because they’re texting. There wasn’t enough room to swing a cat in our berth, but even so, all the other passengers had managed to slot in enormous suitcases, overstuffed Osprey backpacks and often skis too, in a giant game of winter-gear Tetris. From my lofty vantage point on the top bunk, it looked like a documentary about hoarders. I couldn’t see the floor.
The Travelski Night Express, which launched in December, has perhaps the simplest timetable of any train line in history – but is a fantastic boon for skiers who prefer to reach the slopes by rail.
Available through mid-March, it runs once a week in each direction, leaving Paris Gare de Lyon at 10.52pm on Friday, calling at Moûtiers and Aimé-la-Plagne, before arriving at Bourg-Saint-Maurice just after 8am on Saturday. From there, the funicular up to Arc 1600, where you’ve got direct access to the slopes, is free for rail travellers. On the return leg, it leaves Bourg-Saint-Maurice on Saturday evenings, chugging into Paris Gare de Lyon on Sunday morning.
It means you can squeeze as much skiing as possible out of your time in the Alps, getting eight full days on the slopes instead of the usual six days on a Saturday-to-Saturday holiday. (Saturdays, typically wasted as changeover days, are also when the slopes are quieter, and lift passes are often cheaper.)
While it sounds great in theory, the reality is that you’ll need to sacrifice a large degree of comfort in exchange for those two extra days in the snow. This is certainly not the Orient Express, as I discovered. It reminded me of night trains I’d taken around India in my early 20s. In my bunk, there wasn’t even enough space for me to sit up straight.
Each bunk has a plug socket, a pillow, a blanket and a sleeping bag liner sheet, which the French call a sac à viande (meat sack). I felt like a bit of meat grilling because the heating was on full blast. Luckily, I love sleeping in sauna-like conditions, but the cold-side-of-the-pillow brigade would have hated it. Then there are just two toilets and three sinks for teeth brushing for a coach of 60 people (split into 10 dorms of six). If that doesn’t sound like enough, you’d be right. One of the toilets was blocked for the entire journey.
But if you can get over the lack of space, the dire toilets and the potential hazard of bunking with someone who snores louder than a pug, there are plenty of perks to the Travelski Night Express. Prices are reasonable – from €80 (£70) one-way or as little €60pp (£52) if you can find a group of six to book out a whole cabin. The buffet car serves up ridiculously cheap tartiflette and sausage and mash for €10.50, and good-value beer and wine too.
The train also performed a feat I’d consider extraordinary in either France or the UK: It arrived early, chugging into the station 15 minutes ahead of its scheduled time.
Basic it may be, but my night on board the Travelski Night Express filled me with nostalgia for my backpacking days, when I’d book sleeper trains to save a night’s accommodation, armed with a battered Lonely Planet and a brick phone that didn’t work abroad. If extra time on the slopes is your priority, you couldn’t ask for a cheaper or more efficient way to get there – just make sure you pack hand sanitiser and some decent earplugs.
Anna Richards was a guest of Travelski. As well as standalone sleeper-train services, it also offers packages including accommodation, ski passes and gear rental.