 Poster: A snowHead
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We are a family of 4 skiers - my wife is intermediate (blues pistes) and my children and I are advanced.
We're thinking of going to Austria for the first time this coming February. Until now we have always skied in France. I've until now been quite surprised at how expensive accomodation seems to be, but maybe I'm looking wrongly.
We're looking for:
- A nearly ski sure resort with affordable accommodation in it or not too far away with a ski bus connection (apartments not hotels). This is important because the kids and I start the ski day earlier than my wife. So getting to the lifts on a daily basis by car is not an option.
- Not crowded (hopefully not a problem because I think our period would be outside of all Austrian February school holidays)
- A decent amount of blue runs but also some more challenging stuff
- Apres ski not needed (even an advantage not to have)
- Exposition of slopes to the sun not really important (so North facing is fine)
Of the following (although feel free to suggest other places) what would tick most boxes:
- Lech/Sankt Anton
- Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis
- Obertauern
- Saalbach/Hinterglemm/Fieberbrunn/Leogang + Kitzsteinhorn (glacier)/Kaprun + Schmittenhohne/Zell am see
- Mayrhofen (includes Hintertux glacier)
- Stubai (glacier)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you're not fussed about apres ski, then don't just limit yourself to Mayrhofen. You could add Kaltenbach or Zell am Ziller for access to those ski areas, and use the local bus/train system to visit everywhere along the valley.
If you think you'd rather be nearer to Hintertux, then you could stay in Finkenberg/Lanersbach/Vordlanersbach.
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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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@Ganni, Apartments are the most common form of accommodation, look at the tourist office website for your chosen resort, they all run booking services for the locality. February is high season everywhere, Austrian school holidays are generally not the big issue more German & Dutch. Apres is pretty much a thing everywhere in Austria (part of the attraction) though some places a lot more eg Ischgl, Saalbach, St Anton than others eg Serfaus. Most places have good ski bus set ups so not having a car should not be an issue.
I think you might be surprised at the cost, it has got very expensive in recent times.
From what you have said I would suggest Lech would be ideal but it is expensive (even by contemporary ski holiday standards). Stubai is rather limited. As suggested the Zillertal might work, lots of skiing (though little to valley level) spread amongst a number of areas. Saalbach too, though not so much challenging skiing, there is some but plenty of easier stuff - ask on the S-H thread about accommodation options, the person who runs the thread is a Brit who lives there and has contacts for apartments.
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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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There's no bad options amongst that lot to be honest.
Kaprun/Kitzstein are good but the most faff of the resorts you mention. Relatively limited local area at Kaprun but you have got Kitz and Saalbach on same lift ticket but would not tick convenience box. If interested in that area would go for Saalbach but that is fairly heavy on the apres though it can be avoided.
Serfaus would probably be my pick given your requirements. There are a (very) few places that are ski in but very little faff anyway with the neat little underground train thingie that whisks you to lifts and ski lockers.
Lech has some, as @munich_irish says none of the above cheap and all of them will be busy in German and Dutch holidays. Serfaus pretty good at absorbing people though with little queueing even when busy.
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Serfaus accommodation is pretty pricey, the Serfaus website is probably the best place to search for places to stay and look at costs.
It's also not great for people who only want blue runs. Over twice as many reds to blues.
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Thanks for all the really useful replies so far!
@swskier Kaltenbach was not on my radar but it seems interesting thanks. @ster But you said something in your holiday report about the accomodation not being so convenient for accessing the slopes. Was that because the ski bus did not stop close to the apartment?
@munich_irish true, I actually hadn't factored in German holidays. However it doesn't seem too bad. We are on holiday in last week of February and many German regions don't seem to be on holiday at that time, most importantly including Bayern and Berlin https://www.schulferien.org/deutschland/ferien/2025/
@Rowlski why would Kitz and Saalbach not tick the convenience box please? Could you briefly explain the problem?
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@Ganni, Not just the German holidays. Definitely the Dutch holidays too. And yes, the last week of February in general is a Dutch holiday. Nowadays there are just as many Dutch skiers as Britons. And some Austrian resorts are very much Dutch oriented, some even quite extremely, like Gerlos, Hinterglemm, Kirchberg and Westendorf. Places like Lech, Serfaus, Zillertal can get quite Dutch too, in the major holiday weeks.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@ste_B, true I thought there were more blues ... from memory I think several of the reds are actually tame and thought were blues. Some of the blues are quite good long runs. True that the apartments aren't cheap ... but they're not that/any different to Saalbach, Zell etc. Lech the most expensive of all the suggested options. If you book fairly early using resorts websites accomodation searches there are often some cheaper places to be had, also worth having a look at Sunweb too (for all of the above except Lech where they don't have anything).
@Ganni, Zell/Kaprun and Kitzsteinhorn are decent it's just that it takes a while getting between them and then up the mountain going from one to the other. If you want to try that area I'd suggest Saalbach as it's a huge linkedin area without needing any buses at all.
Mayrhofen is decent too, liked it least of those above but just my personal experience and haven't tried the other Zillertal resorts mentioned above.
Obertauern is still on my list to try and aiming for a cheeky long weekend there next season! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oh and yes deffo the Dutch holidays, quite a few Austrian resorts are very Dutch, not that it's necessarily a problem.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Rowlski, it's difficult to know whether your idea of tame is someone elses.
The Where To Ski in Austria book has a section in their resort reviews where they assess what they call True Blue runs.
I think they are pretty much spot on for the Austrian resorts I have been to.
Out of the list above I think Saalbach would be my choice for Mrs Ganni. Not sure if the rest of the family would be challenged enough though. Same for Obertauern.
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How about Westendorf? Lovely village, decent ski area and you can ski over to Kitzbühel as well
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You know it makes sense.
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@Rowlski, if you went to Mayrhofen and only skied the Mayrhofen ski area, then you missed out on all the best skiing in the Zillertal.
Mayrhofen is my least favourite ski area comfortably, and it's also the busiest ski area in the valley.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Maria Alm. Not on the tour operators list so it is pretty quiet. Good sized area with wide blue and red runs. Pretty village and ski area. Plenty of accommodation options. 15 mins from Leogang if you fancy a change - Salzburger Superski Pass.
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Poster: A snowHead
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1. Lech
2. Saalbach
3. Kitzbuhel
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Ganni, sorry, I didnt see you'd asked me a question. The ski bus stop was a short walk from the apartment, but I think it was a comment as we were more used to having a car rather than needing to take the bus, and our kids were younger then so a bit more of an effort. I didn't think of getting a locker at the lift station which would have made things much easier. So if we were a little better organised, and with kids older now it would be fine, and the apartment was excellent, spacious, well equiped with a very helpful housekeeper living nearby who spoke excellent English and the agent was good at responding too.
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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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Mellau/Damüls would tick a lot of these boxes.
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if you can afford one of the first three then go for it. Also Saalbach/Hinterglemm is really nice but they are lower and maybe more risky , because of the weather
If you want many blues , then i will choose something like SFL or Obertauern
IF you want enought blues, reds and many blacks, then SFL
If you want a few blues, more challenging slopes and off piste, then Lech/St. Anton
In all of these you could find an accommodation near the slopes, or a few min with the bus
btw Obertauern is a purpose built resort. So not really charming as e.g. Lech
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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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Although they share the Arlberg skipass, Lech and St.Anton are very, very different destinations.
People should not refer to "Lech/St.Anton", it's misleading.
Lech would suit the OP's needs quite good, apart from possibly the 'affordable' side. St.Anton does not.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Of those you list, St Anton, the Hoff, etc are all apres places, so if you'd prefer to avoid apres they probably aren't the best.
Have a look at Konigsleiten. Not very well known by the Brit market, many Dutch visitors (we rented an appartment from a Dutch operator) it's the far (upper) end of the Zillertal Arena. High too in Austria terms. Village at 1600m. Slopes up to 2300 (and 2500 over towards Zell).
We went a few (maybe five?) years back and I was amazed how quiet it was during Feb half term - we really didn't queue significantly for a lift apart from the days we went over towards Zell am Ziller - between Gerlos and Zell it was much busier, but the Konigsleiten/Krimml end was surprisingly quiet. Kongisleiten has E, SE and W-SW aspect slopes. Krimml (ski down and lift up the other side) has NW, N, NE and E aspects, so you have everything,
Almost all accom should be walking distance to a lift or the blue piste that runs through the village. Blue run paradise and a few reds in the Hoch Krimml section with a kids snow park too. Reds above Kongisleiten and a couple of blacks heading over towards Gerlos and back.
Beautiful area to ski in. Laid back quiet village, not really much apres from memory. (There was one just by the edge of the beginner drag area owned by people who also own one of the ski schools who, oddly, during the early kids apres ski session was booming out the "Alice, Alice, Who the F*ck is Alice" version of "Living next door to Alice"), but it really is quiet and low key.
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