Austrian or French resorts without British tourists

A snowHead

Hi I'm new to the group, I could not find a similar thread on the forum. Excuse me for the title of the question. I live in the UK and love people, they're amazing but I want a skiing holiday without families, crowds and too many beginners. (Plus the drinking culture). I never skied in those countries, moved to the UK (therefore Europe) relatively recently. I will avoid British school holidays for the timing

Your advice appreciated

Thanks

A snowHead

Lech am Arlberg (Austria)
Largest ski-area of Austria, upmarket, mostly Germans and Austrians (in non-holiday weeks), no Austrian style party après-ski
(and no, just to be sure, you can't go to nearby St.Anton, because that's full of English, and "drinking culture"

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

I’m guessing French (and Italian) have definitely less drinking culture than Austrian.
Consider Pyrenees also, though Andorra is quite popular with British.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Serfaus, Wagrain, Flachau

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I was in SkiWelt during Dutch holidays, that was pretty mad. Avoiding holiday weeks of all the different countries is quite an art here.
What is your skiing background? Beginner, experienced? Blue runs, black runs?

You'll need to Register first of course.

Fieberbrunn is very low on Brits and is superb.

https://www.kitzbueheler-alpen.com/en/pital/pillerseetal.html

Having a beer or two after skiing seems pretty standard in Austria though.

Actually, I would not go to Fieberbrunn!!

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

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Strange Question ..

I presume you are not British and just living in the UK?

I have never heard of foreigners living in for example Germany , Holland , France or any other European Country specifically requesting

"Without" tourists from the country they reside in ..

I can probably understand why though ... Very Happy

@Langerzug, is not correct in her assesemnet of St Anton.. Those days are long gone..

The Drinking Culture (sometimes aggresive ) has shifted to my fellow countrymen (Dutch) and more so the woman (im very sorry to say ) and Belgiums are moving up the league (in incidents) and of course the young Swedes (but they go their beds ..been like this since the 70/80's)

For Sure English is spoken everywhere (in service industry its just customer service) because of the nature of the Internarional Clientale that St Anton attracts ..

St Anton is the United Nations of Skiing (people coming from the US, Australia, NZ Canada allover the world ) its just how it is..

English is just common communication language ..

However "UK Natonals " per se are very much a minority nowadays. Germans still dominate the Market here.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

To your original Question (for Austria) but no guarantee of Snow ..

https://metropole.at/9-places-to-go-skiing-near-vienna/

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Montafon is the answer.

snow reports

Love people...

Just not families, crowds, beginners, party animals, Brits, or Dutch.

Makes sense.

Try Alaska or Iceland.

They have several good intermediate stations.

You know it makes sense.

@Idontknow, one way to find where the British go is visit the website of one the big tour operators such as crystal and avoid those resorts.

My suggestion would be one the the medium sized resorts in France. Vars and les sept laux spring to mind, but avoid the half term holidays from the second week in February to the first in march inclusive.

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

Unlike in France, in Austria Brits represent a very small percentage of skiers, miles behind the Germans, Austrians and Dutch in terms of numbers. The UK comes something like tenth in numbers. Good luck trying to avoid families, crowds and beginners in the Alps. Your best bet might be a small Italian or Austrian resort in mid or late January.

A snowHead

Don't discount Italy. Cortina is lovely and fits the bill.

A snowHead

German and Dutch tourists are just as bad as British ones, especially in crowds. Go to Areche-Beaufort in France. Most skiers will be local, and last time I was there ours were the only downhill skis outside the restaurant. All the rest were touring skis. Not many beginners to be seen. Very traditional spot. Avoid the French school holidays, as already noted but no need to worry about any of the others. A good place to try some ski-touring, but not without a guide.

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

German and Dutch tourists are just as bad as British ones, especially in crowds. Go to Areches-Beaufort in France. Most skiers will be local, and last time I was there ours were the only downhill skis outside the restaurant. All the rest were touring skis. Not many beginners to be seen. Very traditional spot. Avoid the French school holidays, as already noted but no need to worry about any of the others. A good place to try some ski-touring, but not without a guide.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@clarky999, +1 for Montafon.

Anywhere in Bregenzerwald from Mellau up toWarth.

@Idontknow, Wecome to Snowheads.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Idontknow, La Grave - hopefully there should not be too many beginners or families there for you! Very Happy

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

Don’t discount Spain, Formigal is a decent sized intermediate area. The Spanish generally ski at weekends so it’s deserted Mon to Fri lunchtime. Baqueira is an upmarket resort, there are a couple of small Brit TOs that go there but they don’t take hordes. Generally the Spanish are not big drinkers, just quite exuberant/noisy.

After all it is free

@chocksaway, good call

Goto Crystal Ski & then avoid any resort that you can book via them.
Be aware, the Dutch love Austria & probably like table dancing & drinking more than your average brit.
Easily solved by avoiding dutch week in Austria (there are several of them!)

France - one of the smaller resorts along maurienne valley or La Clusez/Grand bonard or Vars/Risoul, isola, Crest Volland/Espace Diamant, etc. There are lots!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

The Pyrenean ski resorts I've been to over the last few years aren't too busy outside of super-peak periods, and it is rare to come across an English voice. It's probably 70% French, 25% Spanish, 5% English/Other.

I'd recommend The Grand Tourmalet for ski area.

For a ski town (small ski area: Super-Bagneres) I'd recommend Luchon. I call it The Chamonix of the Pyrenees.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

@holidayloverxx, indeed, they are, after all not British, per the title

You know it makes sense.

@hobbiteater, but he did say "I want a skiing holiday without families, crowds and too many beginners. (Plus the drinking culture)."

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

Doesn't want any drunk tourists. Which does rule out a good many destinations. And some non drunken French places do have lots of families and he doesn't like them either. La grave probably perfect unless he,wants pistes. In which case Areches-Beaufort.

A snowHead

Maurienne.
Serre-Chevalier.
La Thuile.
Cervinia.
Gressoney.
Bormio.
Livigno.
Andermatt.
Anniviers.
Schladming.
Bacqueira.

A snowHead

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

With requirements like that, just avoid the apres "party" places.
Italy would work. Sure there will be some Brits and a few Dutch, but they'll be there for the skiing, not the drink, and won't be there en masse as if they owned the place like in other places. And since last season (or was it the season before last?), skiing under the influence is an actual offence now. And Carabinieri patrol the slopes. Although saying that, it doesn't stop the Carabinieri stopping off at a bar for a drink while still in uniform.
I would imagine anywhere in Scandinavia would be fine too.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Rarely any Brits skiing here in the US. Although we have Texan's which are roughly equivalent on the slopes. You could try Utah outside Park City. The Mormon's don't drink.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

'without families, crowds and too many beginners' lol. Look for a new hobby.

You'll need to Register first of course.

I can remember about 30 years ago having a conversation in a bar in Munich, with a Munich resident who was worried about the way that German youths were developing in their attitudes towards alcohol.
His view was that the Germans tended to have a discussion in a bar and alcohol was a side issue in that people would consume it, but it wasn’t the main event. He felt that for the British youth alcohol was more of the main event and any discussion was a side event. “The British drink alcohol in order to become drunk” was his view. He was worried that German youths were heading down that path.
To get back to the original question,
Nassfeld
Maria Alm
Serfaus
Kronplatz
San Vigilio
Pyrenees
Although this is based on personal experiences and others may have experienced drunken shenanigans in those resorts from people of various nationalities

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

@Idontknow, Brits are a pretty small proportion of skiers in most places most of the time. Also any issues with out of control skiers due to alcohol consumption is a small problem again in most places most of the time (only spots I can think of would be the final home run slope in St Anton late afternoon, actually when the pistes are officially closed and the home runs in Ischgl in the afternoons). This is a non issue nothing to be concerned about. Unfortunately collisions between skiers is a real issue and is generally down to individuals behaving irresponsibly. It is not related to nationalities. I believe it is the biggest cause of ski injuries (yes often resulting in folk being airlifted off the slopes). It is also related to how busy the resort is, obviously less crowded pistes are safer. Trying to choose a quiet resort is not easy as anywhere decent will be popular. The suggestion above of the Montafon and other Vorarlberg resorts is a good one.

Not sure Brit drinking culture finds its way to the slopes, it is generally too expensive a pursuit to attract those who want to go binge drinking. From my observations the worst group for mixing drinking and skiing are Swedes for whom the cost of booze in Austria (or most other places) seems very low.

After all it is free

@Leonard Smalls, I've never been there, just heard about it from some German friends years ago.
I'm very fond of the Bregenzerwald, particularly Damuuls.
Went there several times, one year we did bump into another British couple staying in Bezau.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

Austrian or French resorts without British tourists

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports