 Poster: A snowHead
|
Flights: Bristol-Munich BMI 06.30 £85 (incl luggage)
Salzburg- Bristol EZJ 18.10 £79 (incl luggage but no free G&T + croissant)
Wed flight fine. Sat flight delayed due to being too heavy and the captain having to bribe 2 passengers with £500pp to get off the flight!
Transfers: Four Seasons Tirol Taxi both ways. I normally use them in Austria as they are very efficient and often provide above remit transport: we had a mini coach from Munich this year. Total cost, just over 1000Euros- not bad split 12 ways.
Hotel: Aparthotel Kristall, provided via the Flachau tourist office. We received a number of offers. Most hotels looked good but we chose Kristall due to its location (near Achterjet lift), its B&B option (we didn't want half board which the Hotel Bergdiamont opposite offered) and reasonably low price: 165Eur pp. It was a well run place with comfy rooms and a lovely sauna- open for 3 days. You need to take your own towels-fine but the pull out beds are probably a little small for two men. However, our group didn't have any trouble getting to sleep.
Ski Hire: The hotel had its own ski shop, which, although a bit smaller than some others around, did the job and was worth its weight in gold for convenience.
Lift Passes: We arrived in resort at 13.30 on Wednesday and by the time we had checked in and collected our skies, decided to have a beer and wait until after 15.00 to have a free ski for the final hour. We bought a two day pass for 102.50Euro and then a morning pass until 13.00 for the Saturday for 41.50 Eur. Our collection was 14.30, so we were able to have some lunch and get sorted.
Conditions: Perfect for piste skiing. Loads of snow, blues skies and cold enough to keep snow in good nick all day.
Ski Area: With conditions as described it's no surprise that we really enjoyed the Salzburg Sportwelt area.
Day 1 we cruised around the local flachau slopes, with the highlight being the long run down Spacejet side at the end of the day.
Day 2 we travelled across to Alpendorf. Valley slope to Alpendorf itself was my favourite. Some of the runs back to the G link gondola over Wagrain were getting a bit rutted in the pm, as it was quite busy (as you would expect in such good conditions), but nothing to complain about. If you are making this trip be sure to give yourself enough time to get back. All lifts close at 16.00 in the area and queues start to form as everyone heads home. Another tip is to head to the bottom of the Flying Mozart Run once off the G Link rather than trying to catch the gondola up from the middle station. It's a super run and the queues go far quicker at the bottom.
Day 3 we headed to Zauchensee, a 20 minute bus journey up the valley. This was another great area and far less busy. The buses go every 15 minutes and drop you over the road from the gondola. You also have the option of skiing Flachauwinkl on the other side of the valley served by the same bus. For one day I would say Zauchansee is even better than Flachau as the main part of the area is set out in a bowl, with all lifts going from the same area, so it is very easy to meet friends or try different facing slopes. My favourites were the Tauernkar runs on the far side through the trees with either a black or blue option, but the long Gamskogl runs and the World Cup run were also fantastic. My only word of warning is that we found the bus very full coming back, so keep a taxi number close at hand (about 20 Eur back).
Day 4: Final morning and crowded being a Saturday so we got over the back to Topliner runs which were good fun and less busy. We finally did a couple of runs down to Wagrain on the Rote 8er run, which was perhaps my favourite run of the whole trip; long, wide, through trees, with awesome snow quality.
Lunch: we had 3 lunches: Strassalm near Alpendorf which we found busy and average but well located.
Adlerhorst in Zauchensee which was fantastic and well priced.
Unterbergalm which was also excellent but a tiny bit more pricey. That said most dishes were under 12 Euros and Tiroler Grostl was as low as 8.50 in many joints. Good value.
Dinner: we tended to eat on the go but had reasonable sausage and chip in the Dampfkessel and two nights of good Pizzas in the Winter Wonderland on the main road.
Apres: Early après is legendary in the village. Both the Dampfkessel (on day 1) and the Hopfstadl (on day 2) were thumping. The latter being a bit too busy if anything. The former was good in that there was a noisy end, a medium bit for sitting with drinks and taking it in and a posh eating area round the back.
Later après was a revelation, with any good night based around the Musistadl- a large live music venue, with a great atmosphere and a live band playing eclectic but hugely fun music- both local and English/American. It's highly recommended. We also had a couple of great nights in the Winterland bar on the main road. The owner gave us cart blanche on the music system and on the Friday there was a DJ. Ana's Bar was also good, whilst Yeti's Party House wasn't quite as kicking but served us a useful purpose at the end of the evenings, being next door to the hotel. It stays open until 4am which is handy.
Overall: We had a ball and were pleasantly surprised by the skiing area. The boarders were very happy with the off piste and the parks, there are plenty of quirky timed runs, photo areas and slaloms and of course, being Austria, all the lifts tend to be brand new and with heated seats. The village itself is very strung out, so always keep a taxi number handy and then be prepared to race with Lewis Hamilton to your destination but the people are friendly and the refreshments plentiful and affordable. Finally, it is only 1 hour from Salzburg, so perfect for a short break. Thanks to all the Snowheads who gave their advice. We will be back one day I'm sure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Great report! Glad you had a fantastic time and managed to visit a lot of the places we recommended! I totally agree with the points about the ski busses being full at the end of the day. I have always thought it a shame they don't run more and run them later like they do in France.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
@EdYarker, glad you enjoyed it - you should have waved, or worn a ribbon or something, as we were there for the week from 20-27th, but staying in the centre of town nearer StarJet. You missed the very heavy snow on the 20th-22nd, when we were skiing in knee deep powder at times though it was hard to tell due to the low visibility which went with all of the falling snow. We flattened out as much of it as we could for you 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
@Kooky, Yes it's a shame about the busses as you always have that time pressure hanging over you. Lucky with a largish group we could always fall back on taxis without it costing too much.
@ousekjarr, Thank you for piste bashing for us! They really were in great nick. The off piste had gone a tad crusty by the time we got there but you can't have everything and when I'm away for 3-4 days, I'm quite happy to cruise round on pistes, especially in a new area and when the snow is so good. You must have been nearish to The Hofstadl? Did you join the carnage at any point?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
@EdYarker, we went to Hofstadl once for about 15 minutes to see what it was like, but given the beer was poor, they delivered one cold glühwein when we'd ordered two hot ones and then took 10 minutes to sort it out, and the atmosphere was more smoky than we can handle, we left the long way around as they'd blocked the fire escape with a table and put a DJ's desk across the gap into the main bar, leaving only a small side passage as the only exit from a room which later had 150+ people in it 
Instead we went to Zum Zottl 30 metres away which was much more to our taste - calm without being dead, welcoming, smoke free, and with König Ludwig Dunkel to drink plus an excellent menu which resulted in us eating dinner there twice. We're also fans of Hoagascht in town, where the dunkel is instead Franziskaner, and the menu is even better featuring as it does Asian fusion cuisine as well as local classics, which is a very welcome injection of variety after a week of pork and potatoes.
Both beers are available to order online for delivery by courier, though as Beers of Europe Ltd are only 25 minutes away from us we are infrequent though regular visitors 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
@EdYarker, good report. I'm in agreement. I really like the Rote8er run too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Excellent.... what/where is the winter wonderland?
Anas bar...do you mean Emas?
BTW I have never had a problem getting the bus back from zauch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@EdYarker, Thanks for sharing
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
@ousekjarr, We didn't last too long in the Hofstadl admittedly but that was mainly because half our group went home the wrong way and ended up at Achterjet  I think it's somewhere you really have to be in for a penny... so we also popped over to Zum Zottl to wait for our taxi and had a decent time.
@holidayloverxx, Yes maybe it was Ema's- quite a way into the evening both times we went there, so memory a little sketchy  Winterland is in the next block towards Achterjet from Ema's, also on the main road. It had a couple of other names- in German, so I only ended up remembering Winterland. It's quite small, but with a real fire outside and a conservatory, which we made good use of. Inside there's a darts table and an upstairs, which isn't always open. It's a proper little club house.
@hammerite, Yes, all power to the Roter8! Except for that final pitch before the gondola which is bit steeper and bumpy, coming as quite a shock to the system after the previous kms of cruise control!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@EdYarker, ah..almrausch I think
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
@holidayloverxx, That rings a bell. A few places were shut on Thursday and that was the first open bar we came to and proved to be a winner!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
