 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Saalbach / Hinterglemm
Country: Austria
Domain: Ski Circus - Saalbach / Hinterglemm / Leogang / Fieberbrunn
Author: robmcq
Date: 05/03/2022 - 12/03/2022
Our holiday: Group of 10, made up of 3 families; 6 adults and 4 kids aged 10-12. Ability levels range from early-intermediate to advanced.
Website : https://www.saalbach.com/en
I also got lots of information from the Saalbach guide kindly provided by @tatmanstours, as well as loads of useful hints and tips from people on the annual Saalbach / Hinterglemm thread.
Basics : We flew Edinburgh to Salzburg, with Jet2. Outbound was pretty easy, apart from Edinburgh Airport not coping well with the volume of outsize baggage on a Saturday morning. Talking to the staff, they still seem to be operating on reduced staffing levels, so the recent uptick in passenger numbers as covid restrictions ease off has maybe caught them out slightly. Return from Salzburg was 2.5 hours of pretty much constant queueing, which seems like it might be fairly standard for a Saturday morning flight in mid-March.
Transfers were private with Salzburg Taxis. They were very easy to deal with, with everything done online in advance. Drivers and vehicles were great. Taxis were bang on time to collect us at Salzburg and arrived a good 30 minutes ahead of time for the return trip, which meant zero stress get everything loaded up and leaving on schedule.
Lift system : In a word: excellent. Uplift from the valley floors is pretty much all done by modern, high speed gondolas. Once you’re up the hill, it’s either the mid-station of one of the gondolas, or modern, detachable chairs (most with hoods and many with heated seats). The only fixed chair I can remember using is Limberg (A5), on Schattberg Ost and even that has a magic carpet at loading, to make life easier.
My one gripe is that crossing the valley in Saalbach or Hinterglemm, or moving between Kohlmais and Bernkogel, can involve a walk with your skis. It’s not a big deal and the valley crossing can be worked around by using Schonleitenbahn at Vorderglemm and the Zwolfer Nordbahn / Hochalmbahn link above Hinterglemm. Those options work particularly well if you’re doing an anti-clockwise circuit of the valley. However, we did find getting over to Kohlmais from Bernkogel a slight pain with the kids in tow. While not exactly essential, a lift between the 2 areas, somewhere above the village, would be a definite improvement.
The terrain : Probably best described as an intermediate paradise. There are a lot of very nicely maintained blues and reds to go at, a scattering of blacks for anyone that wants a little more of a challenge, and it’s easy to move around the valley and get to and from Leogang and Fieberbrunn. It’s also very easy to use the various circuits to travel around and not repeat a piste all day, if that’s your preference. Piste grooming is excellent, perhaps too good for some people, as they seem to groom everything every night. The piste map is well laid out and easy to read. The signage is also pretty good, once you remember that they only put lift numbers on the signs, not lift names.
The snow : I think that the last snow of any note had been about 7-10 days before our trip. Despite that, the pistes were generally in very good condition and while there was plenty of hardpack on show, we saw very little ice all week. Quieter, north facing slopes tended to be in the best shape, as well as the black runs (which seemed to be very lightly used).
Off-piste : Off-piste options were pretty limited for the first 4 days we were there, as much of it was chopped up, re-frozen crud, that didn’t thaw in the low temperatures. The final 2 days were full on spring conditions, with everything south facing softening up during the mornings. This gave plenty of stuff to go at off the likes of the Spieleck, Hochalm, Hasenauer and Sunliner chairs. We went over to Fieberbrunn on the last day and there looked to be lots of stuff accessible from some of the lifts, or with a bit of a hike/skin. We didn’t venture off-piste there though, so can’t comment on what it’s actually like.
The resort : We spent time in Saalbach, rather than Hinterglemm. The village is virtually traffic free on the main drag, which makes wandering round a nice experience, especially for the kids. I wouldn't call it pretty, but I liked the buildings and ambience. With a bit of snow around I think it'll have enough of an alpine ski village feel for most people. Apres options are excellent. We had a few nights in Bauers SchiAlm, which were great fun. Later in the week we took to going to Eva Alm, as it was a lot quieter for the kids and they could easily wander to the shops while we had a drink or two on the terrace. I can’t wait to go back in 3 or 4 years time, when the kids are ready to appreciate the apres party atmosphere. There’s also a great choice of bars and restaurants in town, which seem to cover most tastes and price ranges. There are also the usual ski resort retail options, for anyone that fancies a spot of shopping while there.
My only real complaint is that the free ski buses stop at 17:00, which seems to be a money making scheme for the local taxis. The taxis are easy to get and not particularly expensive, but surely they could run the buses until at least 19:00, to let everyone get a few apres drinks and then bus home without the extra few euros per head for a cab? One tip, if you’re heading out of Saalbach towards Hinterglemm, is to walk down to Schattberg to get a taxi. It’s a short walk and saves paying for a taxi to take a significant detour via the tunnel, so saves a good few euros.
Food - Up the hill : We ate at Panorama Alm, Breitfussalm, Reiteralm, Sonnalm, Alte Schmeide and Rosswaldhutte. All were good, prices seemed pretty consistent and I felt like they were all reasonable value. For a bigger group, I’d recommend booking in advance for a table outside if the weather is nice (probably true in most resorts to be honest). Preferred spot for apres on the hill was Thurneralm for our group, which we really enjoyed. I suspect most of the Kohlmais places work well, as they pretty much all have nice, south facing terraces and everywhere we skied past seemed to have a good atmosphere.
Food - Evenings : We only ate out on the first night, at Pizzeria Parma, towards the top end of the main drag. Food was tasty with good sized portions, reasonably priced and quick. We pre-booked a table by e-mail, which looked like a good idea, as the place was pretty busy. We also had take away pizzas from Bobby’s one night, which were also very good and excellent value (8 pizzas and 2 garlic breads was about €90). We walked out with them, got a taxi just over the road and they were still nice and hot when we got back to the apartment.
Accommodation : We stayed in the Glemm Lodge Apartments, in apartment Top 1. They’re about halfway between Saalbach and Hinterglemm. Booking was easy and the owner was very easy to deal with. Access was only guaranteed from 16:00 on the day of arrival, but we actually got in from 13:30, which gave us the chance for a quick ski on the Saturday after 15:00, using the ‘free’ lift time available the day before the passes are formally valid. The security deposit was returned straight away, without any chasing. It was very nicely fitted out and had plenty of crockery, glasses, cutlery and cookware for 10 people. The ski room is pretty spacious and soaked up the kit from the 3 apartments in the building with no problems.
The apartments are directly over the road from a good sized M-Preis supermarket, which provided everything we needed for a week of mostly self-catered meals. It also has a good range of beer and wine (favourites were Landhaus Paul Premium Cuvee as recommended by @radar and Weingut Muller Gruner Weltliner). Just be careful to buy in 2's, as many/most of the offers are BOGOF.
The bus stops for either direction are less than 50 yards from the driveway, so it’s very easy to get around, even with young-ish kids in tow. Piste 86 runs from Reiterkogel, down to the valley road right next to the apartment building. We skied down one day. It was a nice quiet run most of the way, but then the grooming stopped, the moguls started, we had to take skis off to cross a wee bridge and my daughter was not amused. If you like something with a small sense of adventure about it, then it’s worth doing. If you have people who just want well groomed pistes, maybe ski down elsewhere and get the bus back.
Costs: Flights - can’t remember exactly, but I think approx £120 per person return, plus the usual Jet2 baggage costs. Transfers - private from Salzburg to Saalbach return was €70 per person. Apartment - about €5k. Lift pass - 6 days (ski from 15:00 the day before) €302 adult, €151 for children under 16.
Conclusion: It was my first time to Saalbach / Hinterglemm and I will definitely be going back. It’s excellent for the type of mixed ability family group that we had. I reckon it would also be superb for a group of adults, of pretty much any ability range. The lift system is world class, pistes and scenery are lovely, restaurants are very good and apres is excellent. Put a lift in from mid-station Bernkogel to mid-station Kohlmais and run the free buses later, and I think it’d be just about perfect.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nice report. I'm lying on my bed I Saalbach as I post and will post a TR when I get home.
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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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@Corky, Thanks. Hope you're having a good week.
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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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I am. First time in Saalbach and I realĺy like it.
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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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@RobMcQ, great report, with piste 86 we have to cross the road too, i have only just realised that the piste actually ends behind the two hotels just up the road, only taken me six years to work that one out!
Totally agree with you about the buses.
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FAQ
My 11 year old was pretty knackered at the end of the ski day and definitely didn't appreciate the off-piste mogul section! 
