Germany resorts

A snowHead

Hi all, we are travelling from South Africa and I am currently hunting for a new resort (previous 2 years I chose my resorts based on advice here and both were spot on, thanks so much {Soldeu, Andorra and Zermatt}).

As we only travel once a year and paying with ZAR it is an intimidating task getting the right resort (with snow)! I am wanting to add Berlin to the trip so started wondering about skiing in Germany. One doesn't often hear alot about it so any advice or reviews would be much appreciated. I have NO idea where, what or which resorts.

We have previously skied and LOVED - Ellmau, Obergurgl, Solden, Zermatt, Val Thorens, Selva Val Gardena, Ishgl, Soldeu - we like a bit of apre ski, and we prefer to ski in or close to lifts so that we can ski back down into town / hotel without having to take lifts. We aren't travelling with children.

We also have skied Kronplatz, St Johan and Saas Fee and found all of these great, but too few runs.

Any advice at all? Or suggestions? Currently I am thinking on maybe just doing Austria again if Germany isn't an option.

Thanks alot!

A snowHead

@Migmad, German ski areas aren't generally as vast or as high as many in Austria, France etc and many are single hills next to a village, however somewhere like the Zugspitze Arena would offer plenty of variety or maybe Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the other side of the Zugspitze. You would stay in a centrally located village and ski a different area daily. If you were unsatisfied by the above resorts because of the size, German resorts won't be enough for you, unless you are willing to travel to different places each day. I'm sure there are many fantastic ski hills which are brilliant when conditions are perfect, but there are only a few areas that could be recommended to someone travelling from so far and paying so much.

Also, including Berlin in the trip to Germany would be great as long as you know that the vast majority of German ski areas are in the far south of the country probably 70%+ in Bavaria lining the Austrian border. To this point you may want to holiday in Austria and get the train/fly up to Berlin when you visit as there would be little difference in time it takes to travel there, whilst as you already know many Austrian resorts are connected and can offer you the piste km's you require.

When are you planning on going? Mid winter is usually the best conditions considering altitude.
Will you be hiring a car? To travel between ski areas easily/travel to Berlin.

I think if you are going to do a German trip there are some fantastic classic ski areas to visit - Oberjoch Bad Hindelang, Garmisch, Zugspitze, Spitzingsee, Lenggries, Balderschwang, Steinplatte and I would be pretty jealous. Just as I say if your expecting something similar to the mega resorts listed above you may be disappointed.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Migmad, I live in the eastern part of Upper Bavaria and rarely ski my local resorts unless I'm only doing a half day. I prefer to travel into Tirol for day trips or Salzburgerland for longer trips. There is good skiing more to the west of me in a region called the Allgäu - Obersdorf, Immenstadt, Sonthofen, Nesselwang are all smaller bases with good skiing. On the whole the skiing is disjointed but with a car, highly enjoyable and the resorts are very German and very welcoming. I personally do not rate the Garmisch Zugspitze Arena area and only used it before because it was one of the closest to where I lived then. I find it disjointed and the Garmisch hotels etc over-priced and a bit too precious about their reputation as Germany's "up market" ski area. Much nicer over the border in Lermoos or Ehrwald where they are not so full of their own importance.

If you want comparable resorts to the ones you have already visited then maybe look at some of the Salzburgerland ones - Sport Amadé region has some wonderful locations that include ski in-ski out if that is what you want. Hanging Berlin on to your trip is no problem, either using budget flights from Salzburg or trains from any of the major rail stations in the area to link with the ICE fast trains (some even stop in the bigger towns of the area).

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@Migmad, I disagree with Sue about the Zugspitze Arena (sorry Sue ). For a cruising off Piste day the Zugspitze is hard to beat. The Kandahar downhill run in Garmisch is second to none if doing stuff at unreasonable speed is your thing. Ehrwald and Leermos are great family resorts, especially Leermos.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steilhang, I don't disagree for the day, but the OP is coming for a holiday from South Africa! For a once in a year ski holiday, Garmisch underwhelms to be brutally honest compared with the way better value in places like Ski Welt or the new Fieberbrunn-Saalbach-Hinterglemm areas in Tirol. In Salzburgerland you have true ski-in/ski-out in places like Zauchensee, Obertauern, Schladming, Alpendorf/St Johann.

Garmisch is often quoted on here as a "good" resort, but it is over-priced and way too up its own @rse for a week. It is stuck in a 70s/80s time-warp primarily because it has the Kandahar and the World Cup races. The place is simply pretentious and ludicrously expensive for what it really offers compared with other places. I don't mind skiing ther for a day or so every season, but I can think of way better places for my annual fix if that is all I can get.

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Thanks a lot - this really helps a lot and makes it so much easier for me to make a decision. We only do travel once a year, don't have a car and don't bring kids so it seems that it would be better for us to do Austria (which we love) and then take a train / flight to Berlin. So really, thanks for all the advice it made me make this decision.

Now to start looking for an Austria resort. I have done Obergurgl, Solden, St Johan, Ellmau and Ischgl.

I LOVED Obergugrl - had the best apre ski bar on the last run home and the run home is a nice one.

Solden was good - just didn't appreciate all the traffic on the lifts but also nice pub on the last run down to town.

St Johan were to few runs and to little apre ski.

Ellmau we only stayed for 2 nights so can't really judge as 1 day of skiing was cancelled due to blizzards.

Ischgl - loved everything except the amount of people at the pubs.

Sue - you mention Salzburgerland - is this near Salzburg? I have not been to Salzburg yet (we normally travel from Munich or Innsbruck) so this might be an option. I will go and look at the Sport Amade region you mention - any suggestions to resorts?

@Athers - we are travelling end of February and won't have a car so we train or fly between. We find with only having a week a year to ski we prefer end of Feb and March as the days are so much longer. We don't want to drive as SA has no snow so this is scary for us to drive in and of course, you guys drive on the wrong side of the road Laughing

!

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@Migmad, We drive on the left in the UK Very Happy

I would say that week is pretty much the best week to go conditions wise, it is high season but it should be fine. My recommendation would be Saalbach-Hinterglemm as this would give you the piste km's you require and definitely the apres. Do a quick forum search and you will find how well loved the place is. I believe it now has the most pistes km's for a ski area in Austria as of this season.

Here's a piste map -
http://www.saalbach.com/fileadmin/user_storage/saalbach_com/Downloads/Skicircus_Winterpanorama_2015_2016.pdf

After all it is free

@Migmad, If you would like a copy of my comprehensive guide to Saalbach-Hinterglemm, send me a personal message with your e-mail address. (Also we have availability in late February and mid-March, so may be able to help you).

^^Saalbach does seem to be popular amongst South Africans, I taught quite a few when I was working there.

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I will go look at the saalbach site - friends of ours were there a few years back during March and snow was very bad so I am very weary of going there - very silly, I know as the snow can be bad anywhere. Must just go and have a look - it does seem popular with the Saffers.

If you're skiing in Austria then visiting a city then I'd recommend a day or two in Salzburg. It's a lovely little city.

You know it makes sense.

So Austria it will be with a day or two in Salzburg and 3 days in Berlin. Excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Migmad, You mentioned you might be interested in the Salzburgerland - as Samerberg Sue said the Ski Amadé region has some great skiing. She mentioned Alpendorf/St Johann. Just to be clear in case you might think you'd already been to St Johann- she is talking about St Johann im Pongau, which is a totally different place to the St Johann in Tirol you'll already have visited! Laughing

Actually if you won't be having a car and are travelling by train then St Johann im Pongau is directly on a main line from Salzburg (travel time about 45mins), so if you flew into Salzburg Airport all you'd need to do would be to get the frequent bus service (or taxi) to Salzburg main railway station and take the train to St Johann i.P. Alpendorf is just a short taxi ride up the hill from St Johann i.P and has some very nice hotel accommodation right by the gondola base station which gives you access to the whole ski area, the website link has more information and an accommodation booking facility.

A snowHead

A snowHead

@Samerberg Sue,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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@nigelg - Salzburg and Berlin will be before the ski trip, travelling all the way from SA we like to see a bit more of the world than just ski for a week as flights are so expensive. It is not for off days, but just part of our holiday before or after skiing.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Alastair Pink - thanks for clearing that up, I though St Johan in Tirol. Didn't know there were two - will go and look at the St Johann I'm Pongau now as I wasn't prior to your post Laughing

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@Migmad, you should be able to pick up relatively cheap flights from Berlin to Salzburg. If you are going home after skiing then look at Vienna as well as Munich for flights home. the trains from Salzburg to either are very quick and efficient and can be quite cheap too. There are special offers for example the Bayern-Ticket, where 5 of you can travel from Salzburg to Munich Airport for less than 50 euro tuti completti Toofy Grin

(5 adults that is, kids are free if they are under 15 years old). Only requirement is that all the names of those travelling have to be written in the spaces on the reverse of the ticket.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Samerberg Sue, I love public transport in Bavaria. So cheap. Used to get a week's travel card for Munich for about 15 Euros (something like that). Don't know if you still can. Haven't been to Munich for a while. Never really recovered from being told that I couldn't have a particular beer because it was for women and children only Laughing

After all it is free

@dobby, The weekly (or monthly or annual) travel cards are called Isar Cards in Munich, I don't think they are that cheap any more though! Laughing

I used to have a monthly one back in the early naughties that cost me the exhorbitant sum of 40 Euros or thereabouts! There is also a Green Ticket (I think that's what it is called), but you can't use it in the morning rush hour, it only allows you to travel after 09:00am. Much beloved by pensioners and flexi-time employees wink

@Samerberg Sue, saw on the ISAR card website that it is now 20 Euros for a ring 1-4 card for a week. What a rip off! How I miss "Nachste Holte, Morienplotz"

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@dobby,
You get it in English as well now - obviously too many Yanks there wink

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@dobby, which beer was that?

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@Steilhang, just some "low alcohol" thing about 3%. May have even been a Radler. Definitely not one of those beers you get in munich during lent.

Hi, i am also a South African Happy

. I have only skied two resorts, both in Austria. Will be returning to Ellmau for the 3rd time in january. Fantastic skiing there if conditions are good (they usually are). The other resort i skied was St Anton in january this year.. Great skiing, and brilliant apre. I would definately recommend St Anton if you are worried about snow. Sounds like you are an experienced skiier, so dont listen to all the hype that st anton is only for experts. A friend of mine joined us for his first ski trip this year and he ripped it in St Anton. I do agree with a previous poster that Salzburg is a must, i have been there twice myself. I definately recommend visiting both the Augistine and Stiegl breweries in Salzburg 😛

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Germany resorts

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