Austria - long weekend from Munich. Resort Advice

A snowHead

Morning

Three of us are looking at doing a long weekend Wednesday to Sunday in Austria from Munich airport in March. We did this last year to Saalbach and had a great trip.

We're looking for somewhere different this year having already done Saalbach, St Anton, Ischgl and Kitzbuhel.

We've all skied for quite some time and are happy to ski and enjoy being in the mountains. We'd like some nightlife, a few bars and some live music if possible but skiing is definitely the priority. I guess the main criteria would be easy access to skiing in the morning. solden and Schladming are on the radar this year as somewhere we've never been to but we can't get accommodation in Solden so that's out.

Any other thoughts, ideas, suggestions or feedback on Schladming?

Thanks

A snowHead

Don't know about practicalities from Munich but Schladming is good. Did a similar long weekend there but from Salzburg before. We got pretty cheap accommodation from search on the Schladming website. Lots if places under 10 min walk to main lift out of Schladming with ski lockers you can rent there.

We didn't go mad on the apres but there's a huge place bottom of the slopes and few other decent spots dotted about. There are a few Schladming regulars who could provide more detail.

Set of 4 linked mountains so feels like you're getting a bit of travel, different slopes and scenery. We had a quick trip to the Dachstein glacier which had incredible snow and views but there is not much skiing there. I'd say Schladming worth a trip!

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

I've tried Solden for a couple of day trips from Obergurgl but never been that impressed with it, either the town or the skiing. Obergurgl could be a decent option as it's pretty much ski in/out and has enough to keep you interested for a few days. Another option I'd recommend would be Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis. Great selection of Pistes and all very convenient. Next valley East from Ishgl so about 3 hours drive from Munich.

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Obergurgl and Solden are only a short bus ride apart. Both worth a visit. Obergurgl will probably be less busy.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

My new favourite place (except last week in the Dolomites) is Wagrain and the linked areas (Flachau/Alpendorf), and a few minutes on the bus Kleinarl/Zauchensee etc. Wonderful piste skiing, usual Austrian mind-bogglingly state of the art lift network including the dramatic G-Link which scoops you from Wagrain over the valley to Grafenberg. Good choice of relatively inexpensive b&bs and restaurants and a nice chilled Apres scene where you can quaff a few Weisbeers in a fun atmosphere without excessive daftness. Looks very do-able from Munich. Highly recommended!

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Zillertal would fit the bill. Hire a car or travel by train. You've got 3 main, separate ski areas: mayrhofen, Zillertal arena and kaltenbach/hochfugen plus the hintertux glacier and fugen at the entrance to the main valley. For nightlife stay in mayrhofen. There's a lot of info and threads on this forum about the area.

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

Thanks for the replies they are really helpful.

Mayrhofen has never really appealed to me because of the lack of skiing back to the centre itself, maybe I'm missing something here!

Wagrain and Flachau both look very tempting for a long weekend. Can anybody give a heads up as to snow reliability early March and the skiing and apres ski in both places? Any lockers near lifts to store gear if the accommodation is a walk away?

Thanks again

After all it is free

@Will77, no guarantees but early March should be fine. There's a shed load of us out 5th March. There are lockers at the bottom of the achterjet in flachau but it means you'll have to start there every day. There is a village shuttle that runs between all the village lifts so in theory you shouldn't have to walk far.

Can't comment on acreage as I don't think in those terms but between flachau/wagrain, flachauwinkl/kleinere and Zauchensee there's plenty for a few days. If you had longer then schladming would keep you occupied the rest of the week.

@holidayloverxx, thanks so much. Yes no guarantees re snow I know. I've edited it now acres was meant to say apres ski (which it does now). In terms of a few drinks and music will either place deliver? The area looks really good and both Flachau and Wagrain look to be a good place to Base yourself to ski from and under two and a half hours from Munich so Im very very tempted!

Thanks

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@Will77, Flachau. .umbrella Bars at the bottom of every lift station in the valley, dampfkessel has various entertainments Inc gogo dancers ...See Animation on the events website. Later in the evening the musistadl has live band every night till 2am. Plus there are clubs for even later fun.

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Söll.
It's a decent sized area, decent bars though not too rowdy.
Best of all though you can get the train to Kufstein for a pittance from Munich Airport with the Bayern ticket in only a couple of hours.

snow reports

Sounds like there's more apres going on in Flachau! Wagrain only really has the Kuhstall at the bottom of the Flying Mozart but its a great place. There's a bigger area which is a bit more chilled out but the real silliness goes on in a wonderful bar with dark wooden interior, no gogo dancers but regularly pools of vomit outside in the morning if that gives you an indication! But the skiing is fab. Upper slopes at Flachau are a bit tame but further down theres some beauties but by far Grafenberg is my favourite hill, easily reached from Flachau with the G-Link. The runs up the top are quite short but an absolute blast!

Kuhstall in Wagrain was our go to place at Christmas. But agree that Flachau is a bit livelier. Would 100% recommend the area for a long weekend. An easy motorway drive, Flachau is literally 2 mins off it. Pretty much a perfect size for a few days without feeling like you might have missed out on skiing a run (I like to ski as many different runs as I can to make sure I haven't missed out on a beauty, then go back to my faves for more!).

You know it makes sense.

St Moritz.

Rent a car.

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

@Will77, lots of choices but whatever you do choose, ignore the snowHeads village idiot @Whitegold.

@hammerite, the Kuhbergalm under the Graffenberg gondola valley station? Makes the best Heisse Witwes in town IMHO wink

A snowHead

@Samerberg Sue, @hammerite, @shiva_71, @holidayloverxx, this is all really helpful information and having never really considered the ski amade I'm wondering why I haven't. It looks a wonderful area. We're now pretty settled on either basing ourselves in Wagrain or Flachau. Where would be best in terms of accessing the skiing and sampling some apres ski? We'll have four full days skiing Thursday through to Sunday so would like to make the most of it, both the ski and a few beers after........

And would it also be worth checking out Zauchensee one of those days. I also take it the glink cross Valley lift makes it reasonably easy to explore even if you Base yourself in Flachau?

Thanks again, I'm really excited about trying here early March Very Happy

A snowHead

@Will77, I would say Flachau, but I am biased wink

. Yes it would be good to Zauch but that is bis or car. the G Link takes you from the Flying Mozart on the back of the Flachau mountain (officially part of Wagrain) over to Wagrain itself and links to Alpendorf. Head there first thing and you've loads of time to get across, have a good ski then get back to the flying mozart mid station to get the lift back up to the top before last lift so you can ski down to Flachau for apres at the dampfkessel around the achterjet. Or you can get the bus from the bottom of the flying mozart or rote 8 runs over to the graffenberg (Wagrain). They are going to put a gondola link between flachau and zauchensee, i think next year.

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

@Samerberg Sue, As we were staying near the Flying Mozart we ended most days at the Kuhstall next to the lift. But we did head back to the Kubergalm a couple of times following your recommendation Happy

@Will77, Agree that Flachau is better for a bit of après. Head over on the G-Link and explore over the Graffenberg side too. Bus or drive to Zauch is a good option too. You can cover most of Zauchensee/Flachauwinkl in a day. It's all easily manageable.
Over Christmas we had Jnr in ski school. We had to drop him at 10am at the top of the Grafenberg - we still had time to go back down to the G-link to cross, ski all over the Flachau side, have lunch and get back to the Grafenberg to collect Jnr by 3pm.

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@hammerite, @holidayloverxx, thanks again for the information. The accommodation hunt is under way and at the moment I'm struggling abit for Wednesday to Sunday but I'm trying! Waiting for responses as I type. I'll let you know how I get on. As long as we can find a few places with atmosphere for a drink we'll be happy.

Thanks

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Have you tried Booking.com? Always good to run a search to see who has availability and will be flexible with arrivals and departures.

I realised at the weekend that for our next trip that I booked flights Fri-Sun (so a 9 night stay needed). So I need places that are flexible too.

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@Will77, I always stay in this place (if you opt for Wagrain): http://www.linde-wagrain.at/preise.php
Great value for money, and ive been able to book odd arrival/dept days there, the landlady is very nice but I suspect her English isnt the best! Its a 5 minute walk to the Flying Mozart. But the Apres scene, and i guess you probably know this, tends to be fizzling out by March, especially if its a bit warmer so I wouldnt expect any crazy Mooserwirt type madness!

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

Bit late to this, but... we've done boys' trips to Munich, Wed-Sun, for the last six years. 1. St Johann in Tirol (skied a day there, then day-trips to Fieberbrunn & Steinplatte). Lots of variety, but also lots of bus rides. St Johann's pleasant, though hardly what young people might call a bangin' night out. 2. Kirchberg (the Ffairfach to Kitzbuhel's Llandeilo - very specific West Walian analogy, there). A day in Westendorf is good if you like cruisy blues. 3. Kitzbuhel (more of the same, livelier nightlife). 4. Mayrhofen (more of which later). 5. Ischgl (the best skiing of the lot, but nightlife's a bit of a monoculture of... well, middle-aged blokes like me). And you've already been there. 6. Next week: back to Mayrhofen, partly because we've found it easier to get accommodation for 10 blokes for 4 nights (we're in the Gutshof Zillertal), and partly because we had fun last time. Yes, you have to get the Penkenbahn up/down, but that's no problem (they've upgraded it this year, and apparently it's great). Plenty of ski hire / storage up top and at the base (although avoid Spiess, which is terrible). Harakiri for obligatory macho falling over; Devil's Run is better. And take a day trip to the Hintertux - fabulous ski routes, off-piste, etc - and year-round snow.

After all it is free

Thanks @hammerite, i've just sent an email to the linde.

@charlesw, Thanks, I just can't seem to get excited about Mayrhofen, maybe we'll try it one day.

If I start to struggle for a place to stay I'll be back on asking for more advice. We do have offers for places to stay in Bad Gastein, the skiing looks good but I know nothing about the apres.......

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@hammerite, forgot about the Kuhstall at the FM Talstation! DUH (face slap!!!!!) We were in the Kuhbergalm this afternoon after skiing all day (my first full day of skiing since going down with Whooping Cough in November). Fabulous day today skiing from Wagrain over to Alpendorf and back again via the Buchau Abfahrt and Gondola. Now going for an early supper after watching the first 20 racers in Schladders (first run) on TV. Aiming to join kkooky and some of the others in the Hauptplatz in front of the big screen for the second run.

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@holidayloverxx, @Samerberg Sue, we've been offered a place very close to the achter jet. Would this be a good location to be with regards to ski and apres ski?

Thanks

snow reports

@Will77, yes, is it a hotel or s/c? I know most of the places around the Achter Jet and you have several very good apres places all within staggering distance!

@Will77, yes...what's the name?

You know it makes sense.

@Samerberg Sue, @holidayloverxx, it's the hotel bergdiamant. They have availability for both b&b and half board with a lift pass deal so it looks very inviting. I just wanted to check it's a good location for both ski and apres? Thanks

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

@Will77, right by my place. Perfect. Ski down run 4 to the bottom of the achterjet. ..100 yds before the bottom on the right is the herzelalm...classy Room and an umbrella bar. They might have live music at 4pm on Friday. ..then ski the last few yards down to the umbrella bar at the bottom. Alternatively ski down to the space jet 1 for the dampfkessel. I walk back from there in ski boots but you can jump in the shuttle or a taxi. Ski down star jet 1 to the hofstadl and again village bus or quick taxi home.

A snowHead

The bus for flachauwinkl /Zauchensee stops at the end of the street on the main road . .it serves both sides of the valley and there is a 2 minute shuttle between the 2 base stations. Much easier to get to Zauchensee that way than going the long way round and up the mountain to Zauchensee village. ...the stop is on the side of the road going towards the main part of Flachau i e.the same side of the road as the bergdiamant

A snowHead

@holidayloverxx, it is the place sort of opposite your place as you drive into the car park - perfect position for everything really isn't it! wink

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

@Samerberg Sue, yes I know. I emailed them once to see if they could help me with something. They were very nice

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@Will77, all sounds great.

@Samerberg Sue, great news about the recovery and your first full days skiing! Hope you had a great time at the race. I missed the race tonight Crying or Very sad

I was sat in the cafe at MK fridge while Jnr trained and I marked some books. I asked if they could change channel to put it on, but they didn't know how to change the channel. So instead we had tennis from Oz on the wrong Eurosport channel. You'd think someone there would realise that people hanging around might like to watch some skiing!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@hammerite, I'm broken this morning I'm sad to say! All day skiing then running from Schladming Hospital (car parking quick and easy) to the main square in time for a drink and catch up before the second run began, now completely busted I think! Off to Werfenweng today to see how much it has changed from the last time I skied it sometime in the late 80s, early 90s (I think)

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watching with interest as flights to Munich booked on Thurs 3rd March Smile

Waiting to see what the snow is like before committing to an area though!

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

@Samerberg Sue, hope you have recovered from your hectic day!

After all it is free

@hammerite, totally busted - taking the day off today to go to the Therme and soak away the aches and pains! Laughing

@Samerberg Sue, good plan!

Help!!

Austria - long weekend from Munich. Resort Advice

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