Bourg Saint Maurice, however, is more than just a railway station, useful though this may be! It is a real town with a life of its own beyond tourism. There is a pedestrianised centre with cobbled streets and a good range of small touristy shops and restaurants. A bustling open-air market on Saturdays offers Savoy specialties such as mountain ham, wine, and rich and creamy Reblochon and Beaufort cheeses. On the outskirts of the town there are two large supermarkets and a brilliant hardware shop known to our family as the ‘Wompom shop’ (don’t ask!).

There are lots of restaurants but we have only sampled one while waiting to go home on the sleeper train – Restaurant La Tartiflette (Tel 04 79 07 59 65), 29 Avenue Gare, a short walk up one of the streets opposite the station. As it is fairly small and ski luggage isn’t, the enterprising owner lets his patrons dump their belongings in his 4x4 car parked outside. We had an excellent meal there!