 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello everyone,
We are a group of 4 people (two couples) looking for somewhere to ski/board. We have just started our search for places to
stay between 26-Dec and 1-Jan14. As we have little flexibility on the dates, don't have deep pockets and prefer Austria this year, finding accommodation
is a bit tough at the moment. (However, we are going by car, hence there is some flexibility with getting to places).
We have searched for availability online and e-mailed, perhaps, at least a dozen of hotels/chalets, but the replies we get is either that places are
fully booked or our dates do not fit in the standard check-in/out dates.
In the previous few years we booked even later in the year and had no problems, however we went either to France or Italy. I did not expect so little availability in Austria and my explanation is that Austria is perhaps favored by the German (even Swiss) skiers. As economies of these two countries are doing better than most of other European countries, the Austrian resorts are mostly booked up already.
I have almost abandoned Austria and now I am starting my search for places with good snow stats in Italy and France. An Italian or French resort from which you can ski into Swiss slopes would be ideal, but this just a nice to have.
I appreciate any advice for resorts, links, experiences with searches.
Thank you
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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fier, I just put your dates into the Zillertal accommodation search and it came up with 18 results. http://www.zillertal.at/de/winter/suchen-buchen/unterkunftssuche/
I asked it to filter for places that are bookable online so presumably they're all available to book at the moment.
To be honest I expected there to be less choice. The locations of some are not so convenient, though if you have a car then it's not so bad.
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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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fier, have you tried the Portes du Soleil resorts (Morzine, Avoriaz etc)? You can ski over on the Swiss side and the drive is pretty straight forward from the UK.
You could also try to post your requirements in the Solutions room on http://www.chaletsdirect.com/forum/category-view.asp - maybe someone can help there.
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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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fier,
A lot of tourist information places are very good in Austria. Send your details to them and they will forward them to the hotels in the area who usually comeback with offers.
Non standard weeks at peak season can be difficult though.
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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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Thank you very much for your help.
I am using allchalets.com and there are plenty of initial hits with similarly available chalets, but I have to contact owners for confirmation and at the end there is no av-ty actually. I will check the Zillertal site.
Yes, indeed, we skied last year in Les Gets which is near Avoriaz, but somehow did not even once ski to the Swiss side.
FRom what I remember the weather was quite changeable and we did not risk to ski in the fog too far.
We'll get busy again with searches.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You don't say what standard / size of resort you are looking at. Somewhere less well known might have more availability. Somewhere like Nassfeld in South-East Austria (Carinthia) might fit the bill, but I never found that there was as wide a variety of standard of run there. There are all standards, but perhaps not so many of some standards. Or try the Northern Dolomite area - the Sudtirol or South Tyrol - it was a part of Austria until less than 100 years ago and feels very Austrian in many ways.
Somewhere like Reischach or Brunico / Bruneck if you have a car might have availability as it is just a tiny bit away (a couple of miles only) from the slopes. I am 99% sure that there is a skibus to the Kronplatz slopes from Bruneck/ Brunico. There is a run (Ried) from the top of Kronplatz to Perca / Percha which has only been in for a couple of years and you might get somewhere there as it is less well known. We looked at http://www.sonnblick.it/ a couple of years ago but in the end went elsewhere, but that might give you an idea of what there is
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fier, as mentioned above, your non-standard dates might be a problem - and even if at first sight there seems to be availability for booking online, that might not work out in practice. It's the busiest time of the year and hotels will be looking to fill whole standard weeks. I don't think you'd have any better luck in France - if anything they stick even more rigidly to standard weeks.
When you booked at the last minute before, was that for non-standard times at New Year?
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fier, Another good resource for accommodation in Austria (including part week bookings is www.tiscover.com) Putting in your dates there seem to be plenty of places offering 2 double or twin rooms.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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As it happens I went to South Tyrol (Korntplatz) area two years ago. The problem there is that the slopes are mostly on the side facing the sun and more likely than not the snow is not good. It is less of it than in other resorts in the vicinity and it gets very slushy. On the way back to the Innsbruck airport we were amazed how much snow was near Insbruck whilst we ventured further from it. The only thing was that the food in S.Tyrol somewhat compensated the lack of snow.
Yes, previously we went skiing a number of times also around these dates and I have to say it was never very easy to find smth, but we always found few alternatives to choose from.
Anyway, back to searching ;O).
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Avoriaz, skiing into Champery in Switzerland?
Mainly appartments, pretty snowsure, Hotel Des Dromont, as an alternative if you have medium as opposed to shallow pockets.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Jeez, this wasn't stressful at all. I have only been refused three dozen times..Finally I've booked two double rooms near Mayrhofen (6 kms away). Can now concentrate on filling my pockets ;o). Thank you very much for your help, guys!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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fier, Glad to hear you've finally found somewhere! 
As you're staying in the Zillertal don't forget to check out the excellent skiing at Zell am Ziller (Zillertal Arena ski area) and Kaltenbach/Hochfugen (Hochzillertal ski area) as well as the Mayrhofen slopes.
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