Austria & Dolomites resorts in Summer

A snowHead

Maybe not strictly what this part of the forum is for, but it's as good a place to start as any I thought....

Obvs a lot of ski resorts also have a Summer mode - who visits the Alps for Summer months and where do you head, specifically in the Dolomites and Austria?

Reason for asking is we did a road trip to Tuscany this year, passing through Switzerland on the way (was incredible - Grimsel, Furka, and Gotthard passes were astounding) before heading to the Lake Maggiori, and returning via the Brenner pass to Innsbruck and travelling through the Zugspitz area as we headed home. We fell in love with Innsbruck in particular and vowed to return for this year's hols, but that whole part of the Alps just looked amazing.

We usually do the Eurocamp-style caravan holiday but that doesn't seem as easy to find in that area so was thinking about basing ourselves in ski resorts - or close to them - which could be a different way to look at it.

I do a lot of road cycling so the mountains are perfect for me, but the family are into some light hiking, doing some (flatish) cycling, seeing the mountain sights and exploring towns and cities. Kids will muck about in lakes and rivers happily, happy to visit museums, see glaciers, ride roller coasters and all that jazz.

Anyone down that type of holiday and can share experiences?

A snowHead

Hi we spent this summer in and around the Dolomites. Flew into Verona, had a week at Lake Garda, and then spent a lovely 5 days in Badia (@ Badia Hills Hotel), fantastic time walking around San Cassiano, Corvara, and spent a day cycling the Sella Ronda. Great gourmet food, Garda was good value, 32 degrees and great to swim in the lake every morning (would recommend riva del garda, as less busy and touristy than simeone etc). Badia was lovely fantastic scenery, and plenty do, most lifts run in the summer, nice rolling hillside, and some lovely charming villages

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

Rent a droptop -- for the best mountain and sky view.

Cruise the switchbacks and high passes around Bolzano and Cortina (Italy).

Makes Switzerland look secondrate.

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Dolomites are lovely. There are lots of classic cycling climbs and routes there like the Sellaronda, of course you have Stelvio on the other side of Bolzano. Don't overlook the other passes in the region like Passo Del Rombo and the Passo Giovo. The Jungfrau region in Switzerland is one of my favorites, there are lots of lakes and Alpine lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. You can take the Jungfraujoch up to the top and hike to the Mönchsjochhütte for amazing glacier views. If you head back to the Andermatt region, you can cycle the Furka, Neufenen, Gotthard passes (100km, 3100m) and/or Furka, Grimsel, and another pass I forget the name of (a bit bigger of a day). I cycled the first route this summer and it was absolutely amazing! If you didn't go up to the Aletsch Arena last trip, I'd recommend that. You can go up to the top of Eggishorn for spectacular views of the Aletsch glacier, Jungfrau, even Mont Blanc, Dom, and the Matterhorn to the south. You can also hike down right next to the glacier! Another great spot is Appenzell by Lichtenstein. It's kind of pre-Alps but very dramatic mountains, green, beautiful Alpine lakes. Also if you're coming up from the Dolomites into Switzerland, the Engadin region is great (where St Moritz is), Silvaplana lake is usually busy with wind surfers, there's great hikes from Pontresina. I personally wouldn't recommend St Moritz itself though as it's just a glamsham ritzy town that feels far from the Switzerland I love.

For the family I'd highly recommend Europa Park in Rust Germany. It's 1 hour from Basel and I think the best theme park in Europe. The drive up goes through the black forest, you could stop at the legendary Rothaus Brewery on the way (and/or Waldhaus brewery nearby which is much smaller and I think even better!), and could stop in beautiful Freiburg. Also if you have time I'd recommend Colmar and neighboring towns in Alsace France, just across the river from Freiburg. Renowned for the half-timbre buildings that inspired Beauty and the Beast (plus the riessling and gewurztraminer are fantastic!). I love these regions Smile

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Satchboogie, The Dolomites are not near Engadin. Not all of the Italian Alps is Dolomites. "The" Dolomites are east of Bozen/Bolzano, and then there are the Brenta Dolomites around Madonna di Campiglio. The rest is "Italian Alps"

@Nelson1j, Riva del Garda less busy than Sirmione? We found Riva horrible and actually quite tacky this early August.
If you want quiet and really lovely authentic you need to go to Salo/Gardone/Gargnano (west coast), the rest of Lake Garda -in summer- is mass-tourism of the worst kind.

@Specialman, Lake Como (midlake) is the prettiest of the Italian Lakes. The nearby Passo Spluga (Splügenpass) towards Switzerland is one of the most spectacular of the Alps.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Langerzug I know, I meant depending on where you're traveling to/from the Dolomites, you might pass through Engadin.

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

If you are heading Innsbruck direction then Seefeld is a fantastic summer (and winter) resort with direct train connection to Innsbruck, about 30 mins journey time. We spent a happy summer week there pottering about on the family friendly walking and biking trails with a couple of day trips to the city. It's also got a nice bathing lake and a good outdoor pool with slides. We stayed in a hotel of which there were loads of good ones but did see at least one decent looking campsite just out of town.

Another alternative is Lake Constance area, there is a Eurocamp just outside Lindau. We did a 2 centre holiday with a week there exploring round the lake (great easy cycle paths for the family) and then headed into the mountains with a week in Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis, which has an incredibly family friendly set up, loads to do.

We have also done a Black Forest summer touring holiday and would second the comments on Freiburg and Europark. It's not got the same big mountain feel but so many beautiful little villages and lakes makes touring a joy there.

Following any other replies with interest as planning a 3 week holiday with the family around Innsbruck or Salzburg area next summer, using it as a base to head off to Euro 24 matches.

After all it is free

Spent a fabulous week this summer split between Ortisei (Val Gardena) and La Villa (Alta Badia). Superb hiking, stunning scenery and delicious gastronomy every day. We have enjoyed many skiing holidays in the area, but this topped the lot. That’s a hard thing to say as a ski addict!

We spent a fortnight in kitzbuehel a few years ago when our son was 7. Loved it! There is so much aimed at kids - mountain karts, coasters, slides set into mountainsides, that even going for a walk can be entertaining. Lakes have diving boards or trampolines. It was a lot of fun and I’d do it again.

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@Specialman, we had never done an Alps Summer holiday before summer 2022, and we loved it, although we were early summer, before resorts even got going again, and we were in France. Chamonix on the other hand was open mostly, certainly enough to enjoy yourself.

This summer we moved to the Zillertal, and you and the family would love it here. It's just over 1hr drive from Innsbruck to Mayrhofen, and also easily accessible on train, so if you stayed in the Zillertal you could always get a train to Innsbruck for the day.

There's gondolas open in Fügen, Zell am Ziller, Gerlosstein, Mayrhofen, Finkenberg and Hintertux, with mountain restaurants open up there.
There's music events going on every night of the week across the various villages, plus music events happening up at mountain restaurants. All very traditional Austrian music.

If you really felt like it, you could even ski on the glacier in Hintertux.

There's klettersteig (via ferrata) along the valley, including next door to where I live where it goes up the side of a waterfall. Or there's the Zimmereben in Mayrhofen as another example where at the top of the circuit is a lovely restaurant overlooking the whole of Mayrhofen, it's a particularly good one if you like schnapps because they can't give away enough free shots in there! Laughing

Not sure how old your kids are, but at the top of the Gondola in Zell am Ziller there's a great kids play area, and also a lovely swimming lake.

You've got the cycle path alongside the river the entire valley, 35km each way, and it's virtually flat 130m's of elevation from one end to the other, so you barely even notice it over such a distance.

The one thing that surprised and impressed me at the same time was the amazing recreational activites in each village. Pretty much each village has a nice outdoor swimming pool, great kids play areas, climbing walls, beach volley ball etc available. Here's an example of what's availble in Zell am Ziller

https://www.freizeitparkzell.at/en/

Overall, can't recommend it enough, think you'd really enjoy it.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

^^ when we were in Kitz the family in the room next door said they’d been to Mayrhofen the previous year and said it was excellent- probably better than Kitz in their opinion. This has reminded me to consider it for this summer so thanks. Our only challenge is we have an only child, and it’s not the sort of holiday where he can easily make friends with other kids (ie hanging out by the same pool each day). He’s happy to spend time with us obviously, but it’s nice for him to hang out with people his age rather than 2 weeks stuck talking to us!

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unless you are a pylon spotter (im still looking for the elusive dopplemyr GD-897_22m_short with double guide flange sprockets) i'd avoid ski resorts in summer, certainly the bigger ones.

I recommend the Wilder Kaiser region for a great summer holiday.

The bathing lake at Going (https://www.wilderkaiser.info/en/region/going-bathing-lake.html) and the swimming pools at Kaiser Bad Ellmau (https://www.wilderkaiser.info/en/region/kaiserbad-pool-ellmau.html) are amazing, and there are several quieter beautiful mountain lakes suitable for swimming (e.g. Hintersteiner See).

The walking and via ferrata are lovely, and all the local hills have kids playgrounds at the top (https://www.wilderkaiser.info/en/activities/7-mountain-adventure-worlds.html).

The Austrian lake district is also great in Summer - we love the Wolfgangsee for swimming, but I'm sure there are other good spots.

You know it makes sense.

Another feature of the Austrian Alps is the large number of summer huts, high up in the mountains, that are not accessible in winter. Often located miles away from ski areas, they can generally be reached by well marked paths. They typically sell home produced cheeses, milk, bread, etc. The huts belong to the farms and are usually manned by the farm owner’s family. Some huts offer basic overnight accommodation.

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

We visited Madonna Di Campiglio in the Brenta Dolomites last September and had a great time. It might not be what you're after as the cycling probably isn't as good as other places and it's not for young kids, maybe adventurous teenagers.

The gondolas are open June to September and are equipped with Bike racks so good for off road cycling and hiking down rather than up. We did some more strenuous hiking from the valley to the hills and the views were incredible. Unlike winter there were lots of waterfalls, some very large and easy hikes along the valley, also there are cycle paths along the river.

It sounds like your kids might be a bit young but the highlight for us was a guided hike and Via Ferrata, not an "easy hike" but we took a gondola up and then made our way across rock faces and tracks, I have pictures which look like they're straight from National Geographic.

We were a bit late in the year but they also do white water rafting.

A snowHead

@swskier, Was looking at Mayerhofen in summer with kids and was wandering would you get by without a car rental and just use the public transport.

A snowHead

i spent the summer holidays in Austria since 2017 i think.
If you have kids, i think there is no other place in Alps where there are so many things to do with the kids as the Austrian Alps.
As already said Skiwelt, Zillertal, are among the top5, and do not forget Serfaus Fiss Ladis.

This place is amazing for Kinder and the big + , the bike park is one of the best in Austria
I suppose also Saalbach worths a visit.

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

So many great bits of info to digest - a big thumbs up everyone

We're driving from the UK so alas, the droptop will have to wait @whitegold - we'll be in a very boring (but practical) Corolla estate LOL

Kids will be 10 and 14 next Summer so we have scope for more outdoorsy stuff (someone mentioned Via Ferrata, they'd love that) where we can pack a rucksack with grub and go wandering. My daughter (the youngest) is a bit of a pool lover mind you, so finding a place where there's that provision could be a dealbreaker. Might be a case of finding a town/city base for the first part and then a Eurocamp-style place with slide and pools for the second half, country-dependant.

Think I'll have to do some serious Google streetviewing to see where places are in relation to each other and get a feel for how areas are positioned for things like shops, train links etc; I like peace and quiet but I do love a good wander around a supermarket and this Summer's trip to Tuscany was great just hopping around to cities like Florence and Sienna for the culture, and then just mooching in the countryside on 'rest days' when we wanted to chill out.

Zillertal has been mentioned - was tempted by several of the resorts for skiing at one point, looks a lovely area for the Summer with good access to several resorts, plus Salzburg, via the train. Grossglockner and a few other big climbs happens to be close as well for cycling.

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@hobbiteater, whoa!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Chick, yes you could do it just by public transport. It's really easy to get to from the airport, whether that's Innsbruck, Salzburg or Munich.

It would be easier with a car of course, but there's plenty of trains and buses all day long until around 9pm. As long as your accomodation is in walking distance of places to eat/drink then you're fine for evenings too, but of course there's taxi's as well.

Help!!

Austria & Dolomites resorts in Summer

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