New shared Paris Ski Shuttle to connect stations

I remember the time I got an email several years ago from a skier who loved train travel to the Alps, but had one gripe: on one journey he’d travelled by Eurostar to Paris, and needed to cross from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon to catch at TGV to the Alps.  But as he entered the Paris Metro to make the crossing, his snowboard bag had been caught ‘like a fish in the Metro ticket gate’.

The image has always stayed with me, and I know from making the crossing many times myself that if you’ve got a lot of luggage, or perhaps young family members in tow, crossing Paris by Metro/RER can be daunting.

And that’s a shame, because there many train journeys to ski resorts do require a change of station in Paris – more this year in fact for two reasons. Firstly, the direct Eurostar Ski Train sold out in record time for February half term; second, regrettably Eurostar has cancelled its via-Lyon service for the 2017-18 ski season. That means more journeys via Paris.”

For years, the Snowcarbon website has aimed to show skiers that crossing Paris is actually pretty easy, and that the taxi rank at Gare du Nord, or pre-booked taxi services can make things easy.  Snowcarbon has a special section about how to cross Paris by Metro, taxi rank or pre-booked taxi and we made a film about how to cross Paris by taxi, too.

But this year, we’ve gone a step further and helped initiate a unique shared-transfer service dedicated to helping skiers cross Paris. The service will be offered by airport transfer company, Ben’s Bus.  I met Ben Keown, the founder of Ben’s Bus, at a ski event last year.  Coincidentally, we both live in West Hampstead so we decided to meet up for a coffee and it was over a coffee and then a beer that the idea of Ben’s Bus helping skiers to cross Paris, from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, was born.

The Paris Ski Shuttle, as we are calling it, will help skiers connect popular combinations of Eurostar and TGV trains, and will run every Saturday from 3rd February to 7th April 2018, with plans to run it every week for the entire season in 2018-19 You can see the schedule of the trains that it services, in the graphic below.

Skiers arriving by Eurostar into Paris Gare du Nord will be greeted by a Ben’s Bus rep at the end of the Eurostar platform and driven to Paris Gare de Lyon, from where they depart for the Alps by fast TGV trains. The transfer takes around 20 - 25 minutes. There is no limit or charges for luggage, including skis and snowboards. The same applies for the return journey, from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord.

A return transfer costs £22 and a one-way transfer £14, with 10% discounts for children and for groups of four or more.

Schedules
Here are the schedules noted in the graphic above, but written out for you:

Example outbound journeys connected by the Paris Ski Shuttle
The 07:52 Eurostar from London St Pancras, arriving Gare du Nord at 11:17.
This connects by Paris Ski Shuttle to the following TGVs:
The 12:45 TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Moutiers, Aime and Bourg St Maurice
The 12:45 TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Annecy  

The 09:24 Eurostar from London St Pancras, arriving Gare du Nord at 12:47
This connects by Paris Ski Shuttle to the following TGVs:
The 14:41 TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Modane and Oulx
The 14:41 TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Grenoble

Example return journeys connected by the Paris Ski Shuttle
The 08:36 TGV from Oulx, arriving Gare de Lyon at 13:19
The 10:16 TGV from Grenoble, arriving Gare de Lyon at 13:15
This connects by Paris Ski Shuttle to the following Eurostar:
The 15:13 Eurostar from Paris Gare du Nord, arriving London St Pancras at 16:39

The 09:17 TGV from Bourg St Maurice, arriving Gare de Lyon at 14:10
This connects by Paris Ski Shuttle to the following Eurostar:
The 16:13 Eurostar from Paris Gare du Nord, arriving London St Pancras at 17:39

How to book the Paris Ski Shuttle
For more info or to book the Ben’s Bus Paris Ski Shuttle, you can visit:
https://www.bensbus.co.uk/ski-transfer/paris-ski-train-transfers
Bookings open on Wednesday 15th November 2017 at 9am.