toadman

What's the situation with taking ski luggage on the TGV? Will be planning to take the TGV fm Geneva to Paris in March. Lots and lots of luggage...which inlcudes a 200CM double ski bag.

bodory

It all depends on what you mean by lots and lots of luggage.

To my knowledge, there is no limitation for regular luggage (i.e., no bike) and it is all about common sense and safety :
- if you come up with alone your double ski bag plus two large suitcases plus a backback plus your ski equipment, be prepared for angry looks from other passengers
- if your luggage prevent people from walking along the aisles either because they are too numerous or too big for entering the racks, I am pretty you could be fined for that although I never saw one being fined.

The double ski bag itself should not be a problem as long as you enter the train among the first and put it above the seat.

Are you travelling during the week or during the week end? Also, are you riding first or second class? that may change the loads a lot.

Mountain Man

If you get there early you should be OK. The good news is that the TGV Lyria starts at Geneva, so you won't be boarding a packed train. There are racks for baggage at the end of each carriage. These will accomodate up to the largest pieces of standard luggage (28"). As bodory says, your ski bag should fit inside the carriage - there are overhead shelves above the seats on both sides of the carriage. These do not have dividers so would accomodate a 200cm bag. If you're one of the first onto the train you should be fine. Also, as Paris will be the final destination of the train, you'll have plenty of time to unload at the other end.

If you're travelling on Saturday, prpeare for the train to be packed with other departing skiers. Saturday is changeover day for most of the hotels and self-catering apartments during the ski season. Midweek travel should be easier.

Lastly, you should book your train tickets soon - the best value fares (called "Picolo" on the TGV Lyria) get sold out quickly during the ski season. FYI, French school vacations finish on the weekend of March 6-7 for Zone B and the weekend of March 13-14 for Zone A. It would be best to avoid those weekends.

toadman

Luggage = 1 200 CM ski bag, 2 standard 50 CM tall roll aboards. Two small backpacks, and at least one larger suitcase. Might be traveling with a an additional duffle bag.

We will be skiing Lech/St Anton for a week the end of February, and then 5 nights in Grindelwald during early March. We will be traveling on a Thursday, Grindelwald to Paris. I'm thinking of buying the Eurail Pass, with the First Class travel option. (I think that is the only way they sell it with the 1st Class travel.)

Our whole trip starts in Munich. So I'm just thinking about the logisitics of traveling with all these bags. The thought of getting these bags moved multiple times is not something I am looking forward to. Any suggestions/tips are most welcome.

bodory

Traveling from Grindelwald to Paris via Genève by train will take you through Interlaken, (Spiez), Bern and Genève. That makes 3 or 4 connections. With that amount of bags, that is indeed a challenge.

If you travel on the 3rd of March, it is still winter vacation for half of France ; on the 10th, it concerns only a third.

Anyway, on a Thursday, that should be ok.

toadman

It will either be a ballet of Swiss precision moving bags fm one platform to another, or a rodeo of trying to wrangle with all those bags. If the snow ends up being really good in both ski resorts, I really won't care, as long as we make our connections.

The train schedule shows 3 connections. Transfer in Interlaken fm Grindelwald, which is really tight at only 6 minutes! I would think that there will be people juggling ski bags in Interlaken, so hopefully the conductors will take mercy on us. Second connection will be in Bern, (11 minutes to transfer!!!) and the third will be in Geneve. Schedule indicates a 26 minute transfer time. But the 13:41 TGV 6572 gets us into Paris Lyon at 16:49, which will give us time to taxi to our hotel, freshen up, and go have dinner and a bottle of wine in a nice French Bistro!

I went and priced out the individual itinerary, and our whole trip via 1st class train travel buying point to point tickets would come out to $764 pp, 2nd Class travel would be $524. With the Select Saver 4 country pass, it comes to $423 pp.

bodory

What is your global itinerary? The price you mention seems expensive to me.

bodory

For example, I see currently 98,60 EUR for the leg Interlaken-Ost -> Paris in 2nd class. Non refundable.
Full fare (refundable) is 136,60 EUR.

toadman

I don't have my notes fm pricing the individual itins with me at work but:

Trip 1 - Munich - Langen am Arlberg (Bus to Lech) - Estimated at Euro49 pp 2nd class.

Trip 2 - Lech - Grindelwald - IIRC, Believe it was CHF112?? pp for 2nd class.

Trip 3 - Grindelwald - Paris - I only looked at the Eurail website for this and it was $144 pp 2nd class ticket.


So just doing a rough conversion of some of those currencies I'm now coming up with about $322 for 2nd class. So I could be looking at $100 in savings by going 2nd class, over what I had originally posted.

Any big difference in 2nd class over 1st class?

bodory

For InterCity Swiss trains and TGV trains :
- 2nd class layout : 2x2
- 1st class layout : 1x2 plus more legroom

Apart from legroom, the main difference between 1st and 2nd class is the noise. Less people (and possibly less infants) in 1st class makes the journey quieter.

toadman

Thanks for the info bodory With all the train travel we will be doing over our 3 weeks in Europe, was thinking it might be nice to go 1st class. Especially if it gives the opportunity for a bit more space for the luggage too.

stimpy

At peak periods, during holidays especially, 1st class is mandatory in my book. Even 1st class will be crowded, but vastly more preferable than 2nd. Otherwise, 2nd class is just fine.

Mynameismud

back from a long week end in the Maurienne...sunny ^, warm weather, snow was melting, rocks and ice on the slopes , however there were only a few riders ^
doesn't look good for Parisiens who will arrive on saturdays...

MatthewClement

Had a similar experience in Chamonix last week as well. Beautiful, sunny weather was let down by a lack of fresh snowfall for more than three weeks, so the slopes were thinly covered and icy.

JOUY31

I haven't been to Courchevel this year (yet) and am longing for a nice, peaceful dinner at the Chabichou .