 Poster: A snowHead
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Just returned from a week in Kuhtai, Austria so here's a report on the resort and the hotel.
Kuhtai is promoted as a family resort which is one of the reasons I chose this particular skiing destination. Unfortunately I have to say that Kuhtai couldn't be less family orientated if it tried. Off the slopes there is very little going on, we went in the first week of the season and the town was dead but I'm told this is pretty much how it is all the time. You take your entertainment in your hotel or not at all because there's no Après Ski to be found in the town.
We stayed at the Hotel Elisabeth which couldn't be any closer to the lifts and the slopes but then Kuhtai is so small that goes for pretty much all the hotels. We were disappointed that our hotel marginalised children by setting a separate time for 'high tea' at 5.30pm, the adults ate at 7.30pm and children weren't allowed and entertained themselves in the lounge while adults ate their evening meal.
The food served up for adults was of a reasonable standard given the price we paid for the holiday; the food served up for children was appalling beyond belief. A disgusting lasagne made from leftover vegetables, a pizza with nothing more than tomato purée and bland cheese, an attempt at macaroni cheese that contained nothing more than boiled pasta with a white tasteless sauce that was probably an ingredient or two short of being bechamel let alone cheese sauce. I guess they reasoned that children wouldn't complain and of course they didn't but we genuinely struggled to make sure my son ate enough in the hotel because he wouldn't touch what was served up for high tea.
The hotel itself is nice enough, reasonably clean and modern with friendly staff. Given the lack of entertainment it would be good if they could sort out the wifi connection they claim to have, connection is hit and miss and painfully slow when you do manage to connect, you're out of range when in your room, well I was on the second floor and there was no wifi signal there. All in all this is a reasonably good hotel with good staff just let down by lack of attention to detail in a few areas. Attending to the following would make Hotel Elisabeth and excellent Hotel...
1. Sort out the wifi connection.
2. Provide tea and coffee facilities outside of meal times.
3. Raise the standard of children's food and preferably have an option that allows them to eat with adults.
4. Nobody wants to hear terrible 80's rock during breakfast. Play music at appropriate times not all day.
No complaints on the snow front, it snowed continuously and we were knee deep in powder most days. I think this is pretty much guaranteed in Kuhtai with it being Austria's highest resort. It also benefits from being a 45 minute ride from Innsbruck airport, 60 minutes if the driver stops to put the snow chains on.
Kuhtai is possibly the worst resort I've been to for beginners, there are very few green or blue runs and the vast majority of the ski area is red runs. Beginners are started off on a small slope to the rear of the hotel and whilst the lower half of the slope is accessible by magic carpet this rarely works; in fact it is very sensitive to snow so of course is often out of commission when most needed. I noted snow being shovelled off the magic carpet at least an hour after the lifts had opened and this showed poor management of the limited facilities for beginners. The top half of the beginners slope is accessible by chair lift but the problem here is that the gradient is far too steep for most beginners and most would be pushed way out of their comfort zone due to lack of appropriate ski runs for beginners. I was disappointed that the local ski school wanted to throw the towel in pretty quickly with my 3 year old son because he cried during the early stages; they suggested that I transfer his ski lessons to a crèche placement. I suggested that they show a little perseverance and actually try and teach him to ski. I may have just been unlucky with the children's instructor because my partner, who is also a beginner, got a very good ski instructor.
All in all Kuhtai is a small but beautifully formed ski resort, it isn't good for children and therefore isn't a good family resort. The lack of Après Ski means that its also unlikely to attract the younger skiers and boarders. Kuhtai is ideally suited to mature couples or groups who are happy to provide their own entertainment after hours. Or anyone who is simply happy to relax with a book or a couple of drinks at the hotel bar.
A word of warning with regards to the local shop in Kuhtai... There is only one shop so he has a monopoly on most things he sells and the prices are truly outrageous. A bar of chocolate was €3.80 as was a bottle of sparkling water, a packet of biscuits was another €4. You get the point, take your own supplies if you want anything beyond the catering supplied by your hotel. Even the ski supply shops are expensive so don't go planning to buy reasonably priced ski wear or boots; get them in the UK if you need them.
It's a little unfair to promote Kuhtai as a family resort because it simply isn't suited to families or beginners, that being said it is a fantastic little resort for competent skiers who are happy with quiet relaxation in the evening.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's weird about the children's dinner being served at different times.
3 is pretty young to be in ski school, especially if it was a group lesson I can understand the instructor being somewhat reluctant to take on a crying kid (who may not haven't to be left alone, and then not want to ski?).
I guess you could head to Oetz for more entertainment and shopping, it's a reasonably sized town. Not sure how long the journey back to Kuhtai is though? Maybe Oetz would make a better base, and then ski both areas.
Hope you had a good holiday anyway though.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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It was always gonna be touch and go whether my son was a year too soon and even I threw the towel in with him eventually but they didn't even try. I regularly see kids on ski's at a younger age. Found out later that the crèche was only half the price of ski school but we didn't get a refund.
Don't get me wrong, Kuhtai is great but they do take liberties with marketing the place.
And thanks, we had a great weeks skiing, the snowfall for this time of year was unbelievable.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I skied most of the runs there and there are some nice long reds, particularly number 5 which I skied a few times because I liked the cable car ride up as well as the ski down. Most of the reds are reasonably easy to ski but what I found was that most of them had one or two difficult sections that could border on black and these short sections will test your skiing ability. I'd like to say there are some reds that are borderline blue all the way down but there aren't. If you are a reasonable intermediate skier and reasonably fit then you shouldn't have any problems.
The lifts are nearly all chair lifts so no worries there, I only encountered one double T Bar lift leading up to a short slalom course that was set up for disabled skiers.
Not many stopping off points on the way down but again number 5 has a lovely little bar halfway down and I tended to use this. I did notice one or two more but because we were so early in the season these weren't open. You should have a little more choice.
Also don't forget that the bus will be running to Hochoetz which is a 5-10 minute ride away, I didn't try it but a lot of the group did and said there were a couple more blue runs there.
There's a really nice restaurant at the end of the Main Street... The one at the bottom of the bank with a giant cow outside. (Sorry can't remember the name). Great food but very expensive. Cost us 120 euros for a simple two course meal for 4 people... Having said that you probably picked up that everything is expensive in Kuhtai.
Again, you should fare better than we did for night life because the resort hadn't fully opened, not that it would have made any difference to us. We had a great bunch of people in our hotel and found our entertainment there.
Yes, you have a point about the Portes Du Soleil which is why we're looking to go back there in April.
Hope you have a great holiday!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We had an enjoyable week in Kuhtai mid January. Also stayed in Elisabeth.
The snow conditions were great, only really lost one day where it snowed all day, and visability was so poor.
Loved skiing at Hochoetz, much more scenic and pretty....missed the trees up at Kuhtai.
Regarding the hotel, we had tea and coffee facilities laid out for us in the lounge 24/7, everybody was popping back
for drinks throughout the day.
Found the staff really helpful and pleasant, but it was a quiet week for them.
Would not go back there tho, as the skiing is just too small, which is a shame as transfer is so short. 
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With regards to teaching young children, the instructors tend to realise which kids want to ski and which kids are going to cry all the time. It was the main Austrian school kid's holidays last week too, it's likely they were fully booked out and didn't have an instructor to spare for the crying kids. If the instructor spends too much of his/her time with a crying 3 year old then the other parents complain.
Kuhtai is something more for ski tourers.
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=94282
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FAQ
(Got to love the Portes du Soleil for their numerous little lodges!)
) so it should suit us just fine.