Moûtiers → Saint-Martin-de-Belleville

This is the briefest of our rail legs into the Belleville valley: Saint-Martin is its first arrival and the lowest of the three. Many travellers conclude there is nothing to organise. That is precisely where the detail takes its revenge.

A village, not a drop-off point

Saint-Martin-de-Belleville gave the commune its name before it became Les Belleville. It is an old village: narrow streets, constrained manoeuvring, and buildings never laid out for a large vehicle to pull up at every door.

The brevity of the drive removes none of those constraints. It concentrates them: whatever is going to become difficult will become difficult in the last two minutes, once inside the village. That is why we ask for the full address even on a journey that looks trivial.

Rail and village: two different rhythms

A train arrives at a precise time, often with a great many people at once. A village does not absorb a surge the way a purpose-built resort does. Our job is to avoid carrying the congestion of the station forecourt into the village streets: the right moment to leave counts as much as the right vehicle.

Going home

An early start from an old village is not the same as leaving a resort car park, and your train departs to the minute. We set the margin against that time.

What the figures on this page are worth

The distance and journey time shown are measured on the public road network, from the station forecourt to the resort’s public reference point — its tourist office — never to your accommodation. The time is free-flowing driving, excluding winter conditions: an indication, not a commitment. On a winter Saturday it is your train’s actual arrival that sets the pick-up — not an average.