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Mayrhofen - hated it

 Poster: A snowHead
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Just got back from Mayrhofen an hour ago and hated the place.
The ski area was 'messy' - no really good links to runs without a lot of work and walking - horribly laid out, crowded, full of inconsiderate boarders, and far too many louts. Food costs were an absolute joke - 96 euro for 4 pizzas, baked potatoes and drinks and 140 euro for steak and fish dishes for four people and we ate in all the recommended places - Mani, Strauss, Mo's, Mamma Mia to name a few and the standard was poor everywhere and portions small - never again!
Having just spent a week in Les De Alpes before going to Mayrhofen the two cant be compared - LDA was superb, fabulous runs and links, food way way cheaper, better quality and bigger portions and a nicer bunch of people - loved the place.
Anyone else been dissapointed with this resort or is it just me?
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Strange I spoke to a friend a few days ago who loved the place!
I'd suspect personal tastes here? Althought from what I've learnt, never eat in somewhere recommended unless its from here. Always get ripped off by "local recommendation". well I have
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Recommendations all came from fellow snowheads Shocked
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hopingforsnow, bad luck. I've never been to Mayrhofen but nothing I've read about it (even before your report) has ever given me the slightest urge to go there.
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hopingforsnow Oh - that is so sad. Sad It's so long since I went to Mayerhofen, and there was so little snow there that I can't comment at all really. We also never got enough food! However from our point of view it's nice to see a post telling people how reasonable it is here, as we seem to hear that Austria is soooo much cheaper, and I never believed it. Now - I'm waiting for a long email about how you did on the skiing front, and Amanda was asking too. Little Angel
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It was a few years since we went to Mayrhofen but we had a great time. We stayed half board at Mannis Sport, which was pretty reasonably priced, so didn't eat out. I can't remember any walking between runs Confused - where was that? It seems like it just wasn't a resort for you. Although 96 euros for 4 pizzas, baked potatoes, drinks and presumably tips seems OK price wise to me. 24 euros each?
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Hi Charlotte
one long email will be heading your way just as soon as this mountain of thermal underwear has been laundered lol
Off to London for New year so better get started!
Hope you are well, speak soon
snowHead
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Hi Cathy,
10" pizza 13 euro = £13, baked potatoe 6 = £6, 1 beer 4 = £4 - rip off as far as I am concerned - same meal in France? £11 pp or £44 for four of us!
We spent over £1000 on just evening meals for 2 adults and 2 children in a week which has to be astronomical by anyone's standards surely?
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hopingforsnow wrote:
Hi Cathy,
10" pizza 13 euro = £13, baked potatoe 6 = £6, 1 beer 4 = £4 - rip off as far as I am concerned - same meal in France? £11 pp or £44 for four of us!
We spent over £1000 on just evening meals for 2 adults and 2 children in a week which has to be astronomical by anyone's standards surely?


It is, but unless prices have gone up quite a bit in the last year, you weren't finding the cheapest places. Even on the mountain, I wasn't paying more than €10 for a main course anywhere in the Zillertal last year, and usually less.

I must admit I am surprised there is anywhere you can get a 10" pizza, baked potato and 500cl beer for €11 altogether, whether France or otherwise.

Did you try any of the other ski areas covered by your pass? I only spent one day in the Mayhofen ski area last year, so can't really comment much, although everything in the penken/horberg area seemed to be decently lift linked. The rest of the time, I was in the Zillertal arena or the Kaltenbach areas, both of which I loved, and neither of which are more than 20 minutes by free bus/train from the centre of Mayrhofen.
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I went last year for the first time in 12 years and was pretty disappointed in the place in respect of the nightlife, it seemed very quiet in comparison although we may just have got our timing wrong. The old sport hotel was a fantastic free night out and the landing corridors in the hotel have offered me shelter in years gone by after being locked out of our b&b's!. Scotland yard pub was exactly the same though and the pizza was about 6 euros for a whole and tasty hawaiian. I preferred the skiing in hochfugen (I think) a few miles down the valley past zell am ziller.The only time I walked was when I had accidently strayed off piste and got stuck due to the ridiculous snow depths.
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I had the exact same experience 2 years ago in St Anton.
Friends raved about i,t but they had never experienced a proper well laid out lift system.
They thought that it was perfectly normal to have to ski to the bottom of one mountain, take off your skis and walk on a road
to take a 20 year old chairlift up in order to ski the other side.
Never again.
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jimmjimm, one less punter in st anton, great news.
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jimmjimm wrote:
I had the exact same experience 2 years ago in St Anton.
Friends raved about i,t but they had never experienced a proper well laid out lift system.
They thought that it was perfectly normal to have to ski to the bottom of one mountain, take off your skis and walk on a road
to take a 20 year old chairlift up in order to ski the other side.
Never again.
Where exactly did you have to do that? The only place in St. Anton where you have to walk is between Rendl and the the main lift in St.Anton ( Galzig ). Even there they have now put in a moving walkway for those of us not fit enough to manage the 200 meters on foot rolling eyes St. Anton can be accused of many things, but a badly laid out lift system is not one of them!
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hopingforsnow, sorry to hear that you were so disappointed. Mayrhofen would never have been my recommendation for skiing. Never liked the place. If I'm going to Zillertal then I always go to Hochfügen, much better snow and better terrain. But I only ever go there for a single day anyway.
As far as the prices are concerned, you may find that Crimbo is simply the most expensive time to ski in Austria. €13 for a pizza is outrageous Shocked I'd like to see what the same thing costs in January!
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hopingforsnow wrote:
Recommendations all came from fellow snowheads Shocked


Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the restaurants you visited Sad , I don't think I've eaten in any of the ones you mentioned.
On another recent thread I posted a link to an older thread where I recommended about 4 eating places in Mayrhofen - did you try any of those places?

Also agree with other people who recommend checking out the skiing in the whole Zillertal area (included in your liftpass) eg Zillertal Arena and (my favourite) Kaltenbach/Hochfugen.
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hopingforsnow wrote:
Having just spent a week in Les De Alpes before going to Mayrhofen the two cant be compared


I've skied quite often in Mayrhofen and enjoyed it, not skiing the same area every day though (up to Königsleiten one day, over on the other side the next). The €13 pizza does seem exorbitant and surprises me.

However, we're booked for a holiday in L2A this coming March, so maybe that will better still wink
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Steilhang wrote:
jimmjimm wrote:
I had the exact same experience 2 years ago in St Anton.
Friends raved about i,t but they had never experienced a proper well laid out lift system.
They thought that it was perfectly normal to have to ski to the bottom of one mountain, take off your skis and walk on a road
to take a 20 year old chairlift up in order to ski the other side.
Never again.
Where exactly did you have to do that? The only place in St. Anton where you have to walk is between Rendl and the the main lift in St.Anton ( Galzig ). Even there they have now put in a moving walkway for those of us not fit enough to manage the 200 meters on foot rolling eyes St. Anton can be accused of many things, but a badly laid out lift system is not one of them!


And when the rendl lift is replaced (can't remember when it's due but in the next season or so) there going to move the base station so that's it's much, much close to the galzigbahn. IIRC it looks like it might be built on / around where the main taxi rank is currently, but not being a local, there are othere more able to comment on the exact location.

Will be a shame however, one of my memories is the rendl bubble, feels like something out of a james bond film...
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bertie bassett wrote:
Steilhang wrote:
jimmjimm wrote:
I had the exact same experience 2 years ago in St Anton.
Friends raved about i,t but they had never experienced a proper well laid out lift system.
They thought that it was perfectly normal to have to ski to the bottom of one mountain, take off your skis and walk on a road
to take a 20 year old chairlift up in order to ski the other side.
Never again.
Where exactly did you have to do that? The only place in St. Anton where you have to walk is between Rendl and the the main lift in St.Anton ( Galzig ). Even there they have now put in a moving walkway for those of us not fit enough to manage the 200 meters on foot rolling eyes St. Anton can be accused of many things, but a badly laid out lift system is not one of them!


And when the rendl lift is replaced (can't remember when it's due but in the next season or so) there going to move the base station so that's it's much, much close to the galzigbahn. IIRC it looks like it might be built on / around where the main taxi rank is currently, but not being a local, there are othere more able to comment on the exact location.

Will be a shame however, one of my memories is the rendl bubble, feels like something out of a james bond film...
I hope it doesn't mean that Rendl will become as crowded as the main hills on Galzig and Kapall! I guess that will be compensated by the connection over to Kappl though. The ski area will be enormous once that's through Toofy Grin
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Mayrhofen sucks.

It is low, disjointed and full of losers.
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[quote="Whitegold"]Mayrhofen sucks.

It is low, disjointed and full of losers.[/quote]

Laughing Laughing
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Whitegold wrote:
Mayrhofen sucks.

It is low, disjointed and full of losers.

Those of us who haven't been wouldn't know... Wink
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I was in Mayrhofen this time last year, for the fourth time, and enjoyed every minute of it. The prices quoted here bear no resemblance to anything I've ever paid, but I don't doubt that you paid them - I'd merely wonder where you were, and whether you went to the latest, trendiest and busiest place in the town, or one of the many great hotel and bar restaurants in the town.

The lift system is not perfect, with queues in the morning and evening a regular occurrence. However, approached with some foreknowledge of this, it can be avoided, and the lifts in the rest of the areas are excellent. While the main runs down Penken can get busy from mid-week as ski schools graduate to the easier reds, it is no worse than I have seen in every other ski resort I've been to, and from the descriptions I've read of the French mega resorts in peak times, even at its busiest Mayrhofen looks like a quiet day in France. Plus there is more to the Zillertal than Penken.

Still, if you didn't like it, that's a shame, but it means one less person on the hill that I'm happy to ski. wink
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ousekjarr, LDA is not a mega resort - just the place with the largest ski area for a single town .... However we are very reasonable and not at all trendy or snobby thank god. I can easily eat a really good meal with a drink for less than €15 and a pizza for about €9 (big one). That usually lasts me the next day in the doggy bag too. Very Happy

espri, Make sure you contact me and I'll tell you about the best places. Very Happy
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easiski wrote:
espri, Make sure you contact me and I'll tell you about the best places. Very Happy


Thanks for the offer Laughing
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Quote:

Mayrhofen sucks.

It is low, disjointed and full of losers.


I just love the wide scope of knowledge that is freely offered by Whitegold,

I always find his point of view well educated and as valuable as real gold!

I remember some top tips from last season about the weather and some incredibly accurate snow reports about Austria....

Just one question though... Whitegold, where do you go skiing?...
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flangesax wrote:

Just one question though... Whitegold, where do you go skiing?...


I'm sure Whitegold thinks skiing (or snowboarding) is for losers.
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easiski, I specifically didn't mention any by name, as I've not been to any of them - once I'd been to Austria, and heard from friends about their experiences in France, I had no incentive to go anywhere else. I'll ski in France, Italy and Switzerland when the opportunity presents itself, but I'll do so with some reservations until my fears have been confirmed or dispelled.

For every ski resort which someone thinks is wonderful, there will be someone who hated it. It seems that hopingforsnow is at the opposite end of the spectrum from me for some reason, but I have to say that from the description I don't recognise the place. Now, it could have changed since last year (more Russians? ), but I can't see it changing as much as is suggested. Everyone has differing expectations, and it seems on this occasion that hopingforsnow had expectations that Mayrhofen couldn't meet, in which case I find it difficult to believe that anywhere could meet them, even LDA...
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I think it is important to remember that Austria has a valley village type set up.

There are very few purpose built 'resorts'.
In the Alpen regions of Austria, little town folk looked up the mountain next to their town and thought 'hmmm I might ski down that; it looks fun!'

So... lift systems are put in place to serve the shape of the land and village - the areas and resort villages are not created from scratch and 'designed' but have evolved through the rich Austrian pedigree.
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Well I seem to have touched a few nerves here!!
ousekjarr, I did not have any expectations having never been there before! I have been to Tignes, Val d'lsere, Val Thorens, La Clusaz, and Les de Alpes in France, Pamporovo in Bulgaria, Ellmau and Mayrhofen in Austria and Mayrhofen comes last on my list. It may be that the prices are up this year due to the Euro or even the so called credit crunch, it was not because we ate in the most expensive places and we dont do trendy or busy places - it was the same throughout the resort. It has to be the only place where it is cheaper to eat up top rather than in the resort below! Mountain restaurant = 3 sausage & fries, 1 salad , 4 apple strudels, 2 beer and 2 coke came to 51 euro (we did it once). The queues were easily avoided by going up the Ahorn until the crowds had gone or getting the ski bus along the valley to one of the quieter lifts - what got me was going down a run and not being able to get back up to the same point - (red ski route 1 comes to mind) and it was infuriating! One more point was that the Spa supermarket closed at 6pm and was closed on the Sunday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day so we had to shop at the petrol station for basic provisions of milk, beer etc!
espri - I was with a guide for the whole week and did the 5 mountains so was not just on Penken and even he agreed it was not an easy area link wise.
Dont get me wrong, I love Austria - Ellmau was fantastic - fab ski arena, good food, good prices, and the Spa was open until 10pm every night.
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There's a big old supermarket if you walk on through the village over the bridge and round the corner towards finkenberg, it is on the bus route. We bought enough to make chilli that lasted 4 nights and 60 bottles of beer for about 35 quid (was a boys trip!).
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I didn't find Mayrhofen bad myself.

Mayrhofen is accessed via Penkenbahn and is linked only with Horbergbahn, Finkenberg and Eggalmbahn. The two nearest areas of Ahorn and Hintertux are not linked, so do the rest of the area like Zillertal Arena, Kaltenbach and Fugen. It was perfect for skiers with a car as one can avoid the queues by going to gondola stations that are not crowded.

I can't understand why people complain about the layout of Mayrhofen because Zillertal Arena is also linked but being a long resort it takes a day to ski the the other end and back. I met a skiing family who stayed at opposite end Konigseiten the year before and then stayed at the beginning end at Zell in another year.

Skiers used to the French resorts should be aware only the Italians do mega resorts. Countries like Switzerland and Austria arrange their resorts mainly for the local and regional piste users. A significant portion of the visitors go there in their own cars and not all of them stay for the full week.

Zillertal Valley has 560km piste between 7 unlinked resorts. Mayrhofen isn't even the largest.

Cost wise I also find Mayrhofen inexpensive. Where else in the Alps can we get 22 Euro per head B&B with en suite facilities (Jan 08 price) and 3 and 5 minutes walk to the Ahorn and Penken lift stations respectively. Meals and drinks are personal preferences. In 2007 we went to ski LDH and stayed at Boug D'Osian (off the resort, mid way between LDH and L2A) and paid 58 Euro per head for half pension (B&B+dinner) per night in shared facilities.
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I
Quote:

96 euro for 4 pizzas, baked potatoes and drinks and 140 euro for steak and fish dishes for four people and we ate in all the recommended places - Mani, Strauss, Mo's, Mamma Mia


Aren't Mani and Strass 4* hotels with 4* restaurant prices?....
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flangesax wrote:
Aren't Mani and Strass 4* hotels with 4* restaurant prices?....


Indeed! I don't really understand how you were shocked by the final bills - did you not look at the menu beforehand with prices - if you saw 13 Euros for a pizza and thought that was too much, why did you eat there? Mayrhofen is quite a cheap resort, there must have been cheaper places to eat other than 4 star hotel restaurants, although as I said we were eating there half-board so didn't eat out.

hopingforsnow wrote:
what got me was going down a run and not being able to get back up to the same point


Confused Isn't that the case at so many resorts? Apart from somewhere like Canada where most runs seem to lead back to the lift again.

hopingforsnow wrote:
One more point was that the Spa supermarket closed at 6pm and was closed on the Sunday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day so we had to shop at the petrol station for basic provisions of milk, beer etc!


I'm pretty sure supermarkets are closed on Sundays in Austrian resorts, I seem to remember the one in Kitzbuhel being closed. And we were in Bad Hofgastein over New Year a few years back and it was closed over the whole period. Couldn't you have got supplies in beforehand to last you for those 2 days?

Of course not everyone likes every resort and although we had a good time in Mayrhofen, I wouldn't particularly pick it to go back to again. But I really can't understand your stated reasons Confused
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ousekjarr wrote:
I was in Mayrhofen this time last year, for the fourth time, and enjoyed every minute of it. The prices quoted here bear no resemblance to anything I've ever paid, but I don't doubt that you paid them - I'd merely wonder where you were, and whether you went to the latest, trendiest and busiest place in the town, or one of the many great hotel and bar restaurants in the town.


ousekjarr I'm off to Mayrhofen on Saturday (3rd) and wondered whether, if you get a moment, you would mind listing a few places that you'd recommend bearing in mind hopingforsnow's observations/comments. Thanks.
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There is at least one Chinese restaurant serving affordable meal in Mayrhofen.

The high street where Penkenbahn situates has a popular pizza/kebab just about one minute walk in the uphill direction.

There plenty nice restaurants with priced menu at the front door/window. One always has a choice and should have no complain about the price. Food quality, portion size, services... may be.
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hopingforsnow, If you eat in the 2 most expensive hotels in the town and the most popular bar in any ski resort you are going to pay top prices. There are a few cheaper places to eat around the town and on the mountain you can get one of the best Pizzas I have ever had for about €6 near the board park

I dont know how you can complain about the lift system?

I could understand if your main gripe was queing at the bottom/top of Penke but
Quote:

The ski area was 'messy' - no really good links to runs without a lot of work and walking - horribly laid out,

I think it is well laid out with little walking or skating between runds and lifts very few of the runs (I think 27 being one & the home runds only 1 way back up or down from ther.) Come into a dead end with only one way out the rest all finish close to a number of lifts?

Quote:

full of inconsiderate boarders, and far too many louts


Is there any other type of boarder? They are the same everywhere. As for the louts well it is a big party town but if you avaoid the main bars "Scotland Yard and the Stass Night club you should be ok" It is like going to Ibiza thuogh and complaining about the loud music Laughing
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Quote:

Is there any other type of boarder? They are the same everywhere.

rolling eyes give a dog a bad name..... There are plenty of boarders who behave fine, slide within their limits etc etc. I've been skiing here since before Christmas and have yet to be inconvenienced by a boarder. Sure, I've had to overtake a few carefully, especially on paths, but they've been doing their best. Several have passed me at speed, at a good distance and under control. No problems yet. (Nor with skiers either, come to that, and neither have I seen even one collision).
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pam w, It was to easy, I have said before it is all light harted fun. Actually love watching borders on big steep and deep mountanis. Very gracefull. I couldnt care what you where on as long as you are having safe fun on the snow. Well except for snobladers they are just silly Twisted Evil
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I've been to Mayrhofen and I didn't find it to be the best, my hotel was right on the edge of town, room was like a broom closet, breakfast was a bit naff (Dinner was excellant though but at a different hotel!) and the scrum every morning at the Penken gondola got a bit tiresome after 2 days but the skiing was great though, can't complain! snowHead
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saikee, You should have stayed at the Lutins and you could have got €25 per head as many snowheads know. wink wink
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