 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm sure this has come up before, but apologies I couldn't find the thread 
We're (just 2 of us) flying into Salzberg and staying in Zell am See, luggage wise we'll have 1 cabin sized wheelie bag and 1 snowboard bag.
Am I right in saying that a cab doesn't really save any time and is probably more expensive than the train?
Is the train a viable option with a snowboard bag?
If so would someone be kind enough to point me in the direction of a good site to book train tickets through (or a good taxi site if thats a better option, but I'm guessing maybe not in this case)?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hi shared taxi transfer is going to be a lot better we regularly use http://www.holiday-shuttle.at/ to Saalbach they do Zell as well, train you can take the local trolley bus from the airport to the station about 20 minutes, for trains have a look at Man in Seat 61 or the Austrian railways site, its in English http://www.oebb.at/en/
Shared cab is about an hour and a half, they have time table, its saves you having to go into town to get the train and finding a cab at the other end
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for the replies so far, that Holiday-shuttle site looked good...until I saw their delayed flights policy, pretty poor to be honest, I've never seen a taxi firm try to charge extra you if your flight is late (for the VIP shuttle) or just not refund you if you can't get a later one on the regular one!!
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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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By far the cheapest option and quite frankly the easiest is too catch the 260 bus from just outside the main Airport terminal building. €13.30 per person each way. Takes about 1hr 40 mins. What time and what day do you arrive? If Saturday like most holidays the bus runs at 8:51am, 12:51pm and 16.51. Where are you staying? What hotel/accomodation? If it is in the main town area then getting off at the Zell am See postplatz gives you a very short walk to the majority of Hotels/Centrally located accomodation. Train costs €24.30pp each way (2nd Class) + €5-6pp to get to the train station (20-25mins Journey time). I would recommend it purely from a scenic point of view, however it is a little inconvenient to get to the station especially with luggage and total journey time via train is longer that the bus by at least 30 minutes, can be significantly more depending on train times. If you do book the train the use the site that @radar posted as it is the offical one however train prices are the same on day of travel. Cab will be the quickest (around 1hr) but unless you share a mini cab/shuttle expect to pay at least €120+ one way. Luggage on both Bus and Train are perfectly fine, it is expected and does not cost any addition amount. Ive been lucky enough to holiday in Zell many times so any further questions im happy to help.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I may take you up on that...transfers aside:
We're there for 4 nights, any particular restaurants we should check out?
Any recommendation on where to hire gear from (I have my own, but will need for my wife)?
I think we'd probably both like a 2 hour private lesson on our first day (always like to refresh on the first trip of the season), although I'm boarding this time, she'll be skiing, so we'll have to go separately, any ski school in particular we should book with?
We're staying in Two Timez if you know it, looked nice (and very reasonably priced) on Booking.com!
Oh and probably a really dumb question...but we're used to small resorts where 1 lift pass covers everything, we'll only be doing en-piste and probably a fraction of the mileage most people on here do, is there anything in particular we should look out for when getting lift passes, or just a standard 3 day pass?
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just got back via train to salzburg to gastein and used bus from airport to salzburg main station ,directly opposite exit from arrivals 2 euros, train to resort@ 15 euro pp I believe you will need to change train for zell but not a problem as most trains connect, times etc are on austrian railways site. From airport to station and vv under 1/2 hr including wait as bus runs at least 3 times /hr. Was quoted 160euro transfer one way for 2 so saved thick end of 240 euro and was no more than an hour slower if other options had been perfect, but there is also a direct bus at certain times can be found on salzburg airport website or austrian bus, why more folks dont use the train for those resorts with a near by station as even from munich its fairly straight forward to most resorts in austria although not so good for early morning departures
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@vjmehra, No, just the standard three day pass for the Schmittenhohe will do you fine. Restaurants, plenty choice tbh, particularly good and gvfm is Pizza Giuseppe, a bit pricier but nice are Feinschmeck and Zum Hirschen. Ski schools, would probably choose Sport-Alpin over Ski School Zell am See but but both are fine, would avoid Outdo, not nice people. Hire from Intersport at City Express base station, about 5 mins walk from your lodgings and they store the kit over night, will rent you a locker if you want and there's one free, If you really want one then email in advance, especially if you're arriving on a Saturday or Sunday.
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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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Thanks for all the advice everyone, a brief write up, but here goes...
We stayed at the Two Timez, which is about 200m away from the CityExpress lift (which we ended up not using and getting the ski bus to the Schmittenhohe every day in the end...which admittedly only took about 5 mins).
The hotel was very nice, we decided last minute to go for half board when they said it would be EUR 18 per person, per night (just the food part  . In all honesty, we were very happy with the food, it was excellent and going hungry was simply never going to happen. The staff were super friendly and as I discovered, keep a supply of ice packs ready in the freezer
Now the actual skiing was somewhat limited (nothing to do with the snow conditions), after day 1 I was pretty happy with my boarding, but my wife's early confidence departed and she decided to book a private ski lesson for the next day.
We started late, which was probably a mistake, so missed the best of the conditions and I really struggled, I just couldn't hold an edge at all, pretty sure I was leaning back, but whatever I tried I just simply kept hitting the deck and in the end couldn't take the (physical) pain, so gave up and decided to book a ski lesson with my wife the next day instead!
One thing we found odd, was the streets seemed so quiet in the evenings. Having only ever been to St Anton in Austria before perhaps I had a slightly skewed view, but we ended up wandering around and going back to the hotel bar as everything seemed dead or quiet! Also a lot of bars (not all, we did find some near the hotel, but wanted to try a few) seemed to only open at 5, which left a 30 min - 1 hour deadzone for us after finishing!
So the next day we again started late, attempting a joint private ski lesson...however my wife really struggled and just seemed to get more nervous, eventually giving up after an hour. I on the other hand enjoyed my switch from boarding and despite struggling a bit on my last attempt to ski in Are last year felt pretty good by the end of it...so good that given the pounding my shoulder took the day before I'm seriously thinking of leaving the snowboard in its bag and heading off to Voss next month in search of some more skiing! Anyway one lesson we did learn was that although we thought we were the same ability (well she was adamant she was better than me skiing wise), for whatever reason it didn't work as a combined lesson.
So we really liked the town, very pretty, everyone we met was really friendly and the weather was pretty good to us (although there was fresh snowfall as we flew out which would have been nice). One thing that was a bit of a shock to us was the skiing (as opposed to food/drink) cost (we're pretty abnormal in that we go to Poland most years), but to be honest I'm sure its probably in-line with other places, we're just used to super cheap prices
I think we'll probably go back next year, but next time taking the little one with us and now I have to decide whether to ditch the snowboard permanently or get a few lessons to get back on track...
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Yes you’ve been spoilt with Poland prices. Zell isn’t that expensive for the Alps, and as you say, food and drink on the slopes is very reasonable.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@vjmehra, what transfer method did you use? 
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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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Went for the lazy option of http://www.taxizell.at based on a recommendation from the other thread (EUR 130 each way).
There are cheaper options, but these guys were flawless so wouldn’t hesitate to use them again!
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FAQ
