The Alpen Express to Austria

Great news! A newly discovered route to Austrian ski resorts. It’s a dedicated sleeper train, called the Alpen Express, and it runs from Amsterdam, via Cologne, serving over 90 Austrian ski resorts.

The train has a dedicated party carriage, six, five and three-berth sleeping couchette compartments with proper flat beds and breakfast served in your couchette.

I learned about this train by geekily thumbing a rail timetable and then looking up how one might connect to it from London (yes I’m great at parties). In order to find out more, I took a train to Leiden, Holland, to visit the company, Treinweiswinkel, who run the Alpen Express.

I was really impressed with their operation and what they told me about the train and services on board. You can reach the Alpen Express by taking a Eurostar to Amsterdam or a Eurostar to Brussels and then an ICE train to Cologne. This route has never before been communicated to UK skiers. We think it will prove to be a good option. Not as quick as going to France, but a great journey that deposits you at the foot of some of Austria’s finest resorts, and gives you two extra days on the slopes. You can read more in our Guide to the Alpen Express.

We’ve created a graphic of the timetable (see below), to make it easier to see at a glance where you can go, and what the journey times are. Treinweiswinkel, as well as running the Alpen Express, are a rail-booking agent who can book the whole journey from London for you, which makes things easy.