London St Pancras travel tips

‘You should be very proud,” said Chemmy Alcott, as my face smacked into thick snow for the third time and my goggles began to steam up with the exertion of constantly righting myself. “You’re one of the first 100 people to come through here this season. You’re flattening the trail, making it easier for everyone else.”

Eurostar is considering adding more routes from London as it looks to buy 50 new trains.

A stellar December with double-digit growth in hotel overnights from the UK helped make 2023 the most successful year for travel from the UK to Switzerland in over a decade. Compared to 2019 – before Covid – Switzerland recorded +2.8% of hotel overnight stays of UK travellers in 2023. At a recent conference in Zurich, Switzerland Tourism announced that of all European countries, the results for the UK stood out.

Travellers in the UK are being warned of hazardous driving conditions and disruptions to rail and air transport as Storm Gerrit batters the country.

Travellers in the UK are being warned of hazardous driving conditions and disruptions to rail and air transport as Storm Gerrit batters the country.

With an international train station in the heart of the stunning alpine city, Innsbruck provides a unique opportunity for winter sports enthusiasts to travel by rail. Innsbruck Main Station (Hauptbahnhof) is a hub for major European rail routes, enabling visitors from London St Pancras to be in the Capital of the Alps in approximately 12 hours, depending on the route.

Train journeys are booming in popularity thanks to dozens of new rail routes and more eco-conscious travellers who want to avoid the hassle of flight delays.

It just got cheaper to visit the City of Lights by train this summer. In celebration of the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games in Paris, Eurostar announced an increase of train service— between London and Paris — to accommodate the spectators, participants, and travelers, at a discounted price.

Eurostar rival Evolyn is expected to run its first trains in 2025.

The Netherlands’ second city is a winner for those weary of its more famous (and oversubscribed) rival. Sure, there’s water – it’s Europe’s largest port, after all – with rivers, canals and harbours at every turn. But this sprawling metropolis doesn’t yield its pleasures as easily as Amsterdam, largely because second world war bombing destroyed most of the historic centre. Its pioneering postwar architecture is, however, what makes “Manhattan on the Maas” so fascinating. Treasures include the 1970s Cube Houses designed by Piet Blom, the landmark cable-stayed Erasmus Bridge, the 1960 retro-futuristic Euromast and eclectic buildings in the leafily landscaped Museumpark. Alongside design museum Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Kunsthal gallery, a must-visit is The Depot, an ambitious €94m bowl-shaped “storage facility” for the city’s art collection, its rooftop cafe boasting panoramic views. Equally compelling is Delfshaven, which escaped bombing, and is now home to waterside pubs, a microbrewery and tucked-away restaurants.

Voted BEST SKI RESORT IN THE WORLD again at the 2022 World Ski Awards. Verbier, in Switzerland, draws legends, royalty, pop stars (James Blunt has a chairlift named after him) and, yes, us ordinary folk too. Part of the largest ski area in Switzerland, “Four Valleys” has 410 kms of slopes that cater for all levels of skiers and boarders. These include the Medran with its cruisy blues, Les Savoleyres with lovely sweeping reds, and the more challenging black runs of Mont Fort. The resort is also known for its off-piste skiing – particularly the testing Mont Gelé – and each year Verbier hosts the finals of the Freeride World Tour. The mountain views are spectacular, particularly from the 3,300 metre high Mont Fort peak, one of the few places in the Alps where you can see the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc mountains simultaneously. 

If you prefer ski holidays to beach breaks, get ready to hop aboard the Eurostar Snow train.

Rough Guides writer Lucy Pierce travels around Switzerland sustainably by rail, visiting thermal spas, alpine villages and world-renowned ski resorts.