I am hoping to travel to Austria for the 2022 February half term break. So after many hours of reading up on the whole French half term travel problems I've decided upon returning to Kleinwalsertal/Fellhorn as I have been there twice but never in February. My question is that on google maps the journey is coming up as 12 hours. Is this realistic for this time of year? Or would I be better flying into Memmingen and driving(transfer) 1 hour south (google maps again) or is there another option im missing. Thanks for your expertise
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Grant82, good choice. Lovely area. Doesn't appear on the Brit radar very often for some reason. Don't forget to try the completely new Nebelhornbahn. They have replaced the old gondola with 10man cabins this winter. Should be good.
My (wife's) home stamping ground, in KWT & Oberstdorf, so I get to see the place quite often!
Can't help with the travel question, sorry.
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@Grant82, if you mean door to door from London then 12 hours is about right (assuming the tunnel not ferries). From Calais depending on on how busy the roads are, how fast you are comfortable driving and how often you want to stop 9 hours ish would be about right (I can easily do Calais Munich in 10 hours and this is a bit shorter). Dont forget you will need winter tyres on your car. Also take into account that the busy half term weeks for Kleinwalsertal will not necessarily be the same as in France, most guests will come from Germany or Holland. Not sure how many flights actually go into either Memmingen or Friedrichshafen these days both Zürich and Munich are not too far away.
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@Grant82, great choice, brush up on your German language skills.
After all it is free
After all it is free
munich_irish wrote:
@Grant82, if you mean door to door from London then 12 hours is about right (assuming the tunnel not ferries). From Calais depending on on how busy the roads are, how fast you are comfortable driving and how often you want to stop 9 hours ish would be about right (I can easily do Calais Munich in 10 hours and this is a bit shorter). Dont forget you will need winter tyres on your car. Also take into account that the busy half term weeks for Kleinwalsertal will not necessarily be the same as in France, most guests will come from Germany or Holland. Not sure how many flights actually go into either Memmingen or Friedrichshafen these days both Zürich and Munich are not too far away.
I know the time is 12 hours but my question is referring to traveling experiences at that time of year, specifically Feb half term.
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@Grant82, I’d drive, especially if you’re in the south - not an easy place to get transfers to.
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@Grant82, if you pick a particularly busy week there might be slow traffic on the last part into the Kleinwalsertal from Kempten otherwise there should be no particular issues. There can often be slow traffic around Stuttgart, Karlsruhe etc but less so at weekends even in holiday season. There is very unlikely to be anything like the queues etc which can build up heading into and out of the French alps. The concentration of resorts is far less. The queues that do build up tend to be further east in the Inntal or around Salzburg or even at Bludenz heading towards the Arlberg etc. The more easterly resorts have a more spread out peak season, rather than the hordes all leaving Paris for the alps on a particular week (the Brits are few in number and make little odds outside of a few French resorts) the various parts of Germany, Holland & Scandinavia have their half terms spread out from the beginning of February until early March.
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munich_irish wrote:
@Grant82, if you pick a particularly busy week there might be slow traffic on the last part into the Kleinwalsertal from Kempten otherwise there should be no particular issues. There can often be slow traffic around Stuttgart, Karlsruhe etc but less so at weekends even in holiday season. There is very unlikely to be anything like the queues etc which can build up heading into and out of the French alps. The concentration of resorts is far less. The queues that do build up tend to be further east in the Inntal or around Salzburg or even at Bludenz heading towards the Arlberg etc. The more easterly resorts have a more spread out peak season, rather than the hordes all leaving Paris for the alps on a particular week (the Brits are few in number and make little odds outside of a few French resorts) the various parts of Germany, Holland & Scandinavia have their half terms spread out from the beginning of February until early March.
That's excellent to hear. I am considering flying into Memmingen as the flights are cheap then hiring a car the 1 hour south. This is my main dilemma atn
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Just been having a quick look at the piste map. i like to try to visit a resort that isn't on the main radar for the Brits (I live with my fellow countrymen the rest of the year, why on earth would I want to holiday with them as well?) and if travel is possible then this looks an interesting area.
Any tips on accommodation? Oberstdorf? Or higher up? (I tend to go for B&B / Pension / Self Catering and not the big hotels - I am by no means fluent in German but confident enough to not worry about language difficulties)
EDIT : Looking on another map, Hirschegg or Riezlern look more central
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@Grant82, Fly/Drive definately the best choice, have done it many times. Do ski the other areas nearby too. Oberstdorf, Nebelhorn and Hinderlang are worth a day each.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
RedandWhiteFlachau wrote:
@Grant82, Fly/Drive definately the best choice, have done it many times. Do ski the other areas nearby too. Oberstdorf, Nebelhorn and Hinderlang are worth a day each.
I think ive done most of the resorts and they were great and I cant wait to get booked. When you Fly/drive, which airport do you use and hire company?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Langerzug wrote:
Sidenote: skip the Fellhorn addition. It’s silly.
Fellhorn is the German side of the main ski area! Why would you want to skip it?
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Poster: A snowHead
We've looked at the Kleinwlasertal before, but never done it. Any hotel reccomendations? We like family run HB hotels in the middle of town, was thinking in Riezlern.
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avoid the last week of Feb / first days of March
otherwise, Oberstdorf is a little bit bigger as Riezlern etc with some more things to do....fellhorn kanzelwand ski resort is always the busiest
the best for me is Ifen....scenery, slopes etc
and definitely Nebelhorn from top to bottom....
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@Grant82, Memmingen is easier but Munich not too bad. Used to use one of the Big German Car Hire firms like Sixt. @HutToHut, If you have a car I'd look at any of the other towns in the area too. None of them are more than 20 mins from the slopes and you'll get a better deal. Sonthofen is a good base and has the Wannersee, which is a great Pool/Spa/Sauna type thing.
@turms2, Ifen gets busy as well these days. They have renewed the lift system and now everyone piles over there. I have spent most of my time at the end of the valley on Walmendingerhorn in recent years. Almost completely empty.
For various reasons I will be spending most of my time in Oberstdorf in future, so the new Nebelhorn will be getting some use.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Thanks. Some things to look at while not being able to go yet
Stayed with friends who owned a Guest House in Oberstdorf and have done over night stop from Nottingham and then a drive through......phew, drive through was supposed to be 14 hours or so, but ended up more on 17 hours. I would get an overnight stop and take it a bit more leisurely.
We travelled down on the days in between Xmas/New Year, but not on change over day, so it wasn't particularly busy on the roads. Go with what @munich_irish, says about the roads, all seemed good, gets busy around Kempten.
Done the Nebellhorn, its an experience, few nice runs but nothing to shout out about, nice run into Oberstdorf past the ski jump.
Thought Fellhorn was great, really enjoyed it, my friend who did own the Guesthouse (has since sold and left) was a great guide. Iffen was also great.
The area was really quiet over that New Year, about 5 years ago, found the snow quality for that time of year good as well.
As others have stated, brush up on your German, hardly any British.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Nebelhorn is a nice area, esp. with ton of 'variants' you can do at the top. It's rarely really busy outside Fasching & Easter hols. Also it stays open really late, usually until beginning of May. Anyway this video gives a bit of an impression.
great resort you have picked. skiing different resorts the last 25yrs and this is one of the best. only had a quick read of the previous replies but I didn't see fly/train mentioned. if you can get a flight to Memmingen , then just a short bus ride to train station and lovely relaxed train right in to Obersdorf. return ticket for up to 5 passengers I think about 100 eu. probably less. kids go free.
the local busses are very frequent to every part of the valley so you don't need a car. takes a day or 2 to get the hang of what bus goes where but a bit of cop on you'll be grand. personally I would not stay in Oberstdorf. its a very nice town but a bit away from the main slopes.
didn't really like Reizlern either as it didnt have a ski town atmosphere. favourite by far is top of the valley Mittelberg .
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@garc, I like Mittelberg, and until recently spent most of my time skiing in Mittelberg on the various runs up there on the Walmendingerhorn*, but it's small and very quiet. Riezlern has more life IMO, not that I spend any time on apres these days...
*not forgetting that you can connect in to the lower level Heuberg lifts down to Hirschegg as well. Always nice for cruising.
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