 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
I got some awesome advice here last year about skiing in France. We were going to go to Japan next January but it looks really expensive compared to what we can get in Europe (ignoring the whole 24 hours of travel and jet lag issues). Austria looks beautiful. We have 2 adults, 2 teenagers and like groomers and trees. Preferably a ski in ski out apartment. Last time we used peak retreats travel agency on a recommendation here and they were very good. Any suggestions for a similar agency for Austria? Or general advice? We will probably combine the trip with some other tourism. Thanks so much!
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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 are looking for tree skiing, you will be a bit limited in Austria. Especially compared to Japan. But I would say ski Amade and vicinity would be your best bets for Austria. Places like Zauchensee, Schladming and Gastein have some decent trees.
Another thing that is limited in Austria is ski in ski out accommodation. Generally, it is a short walk or bus ride from your accommodation in town to the lifts. Ski in ski out does certainly exist, but is in limited supply, and usually quite expensive.
I can't help you with agency suggestions, as I prefer to do my own planning.
If you are open to France again, Serre Chevalier came immediately to mind when I heard mix of groomers and tree skiing with ski in ski out accommodation.
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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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Hi
I'm a fellow Aussie. We did our first trip to Europe in 2018 and received plenty of advice from this forum. Alastair Pink was particularly helpful. We took his advice and skied in the Zillertal Valley in Austria. It was awesome.
We flew into Munich and checked out the sites. We took the train to Dachau concentration camp one day. I highly recommend that. The train to Jenbach is an easy hour and a half. You then swap trains at Jenbach to go up the valley toward your village of choice. We stayed in Kaltenbach but other options are Mayrhofen, Zell am Ziller and Tux. I think I'd opt for Mayrhofen next time. For those with a ski pass there is a free ski bus and train throughout the valley. Each ski resort is large enough for a few days. The elevation in the Zillertal is a bit higher than Saalbach and Ski Amade and Kitzbuhel etc but there are still tree lined ski runs. For absolute surety of snow the Hintertux glacier is at the head of the valley.
Other tack on tourist things locally are the cities of Innsbruck which is a short distance by train and the city of Salzburg. I've not been to Salzburg yet but plan on doing so one day. It has the whole Sound of Music and Mozart thing going.
If adding a second week of skiing you would be hard pressed to beat the Italian Dolomites which is and easy trip by train from Austria. I've seen plenty of mountains the world over but none are as visually spectacular as the Dolomites. The area has a rich history too with much World War One historical things to see.
Once you leave the Dolomites you could go a little further south to check out the iconic city and canals of Venice before flying out for home.
What time of year are you thinking of? If over the Aussie school holidays you could time it to see the Munich Christmas markets as we did.
You're going to have a ball.
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Thanks so much for the advice! I was hoping to fit in Poland to visit Auschwitz (family were lost in Poland) but Dachau could be a good alternative and I’d love to see Berlin and Munich. I was looking at saalbach - it looks beautiful. We were in Venice this year and flew to Lyon to go to Val disere. Definitely would return so that’s a good thought. Probably looking at heading over just over Christmas and back mid to late January. Might have to fit in the Dolomites as well but time does get away.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Matilda6, I affectionately refer to Alastair’s advice as Pink’s Euro Tours. His advice has been consistently impeccable. I will one day soon make a point of meeting him in person especially now I know of his telemarking in tweed plus fours.
@Alastair Pink, Some nice people at the EOSBash told me of your quirky nature.
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@sbooker, 
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@Matilda6, I havent been to Auschwitz but have been to Dachau. It is very interesting but it has little to do with the Shoah, most of the inmates were there for "political" reasons not because they were Jewish, Roma etc. It was primarily a prison though clearly lots of people were killed there. I came away with the feeling that it is a monument to the SPD (left of centre political party similar to Labor in Australia) and other opponents of the Nazis. Best visited on a grey day in autumn. Depending on the approach route into the airport it can be clearly seen about 5 minutes before landing.
On happier things Saalbach would be a good choice as would be the Zillertal. Zillertal slightly easier to reach by train from Munich. Saalbach has the advantage that a day trip to Salzburg is pretty easy (I would avoid the Christmas market - way too many people). Skiing broadly similar. Other options might be Kitzbühel, Ski Amade (not so convenient from Munich), Arlberg.
Ski in / out accommodation is not so common in Austria as most places are villages at the bottom of the mountain. The best place to look for accommodation is the local tourist office eg https://www.saalbach.com/saalbach-booking/MasterReq?AR=1&FL=100&LG=1&RA=2&AM=1&MB=0 who will deal with bookings for most local accommodation (AirBnB, Booking.com etc less used but there is some). Lots of apartments (generally more spacious than in France) but you might find the half board offered in most hotels a better option. For some areas it is worth asking on the relevant thread here as some members know of / offer local apartments.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Matilda6, as mentioned, Zillertal is nice, agree with @sbooker, that Mayrhofen is a better place to stay than anywhere else in the valley, however I would say that the best skiing in the valley isn't in Mayrhofen.
If you wanted to go the Berlin, there's actually a direct train from Jenbach (at the end of the Zillertal) all the way there. I used part of it to head to Munich airport a few weeks back.
So you could do a few days in Munich on arrival, that will help with jet lag, then head to Zillertal for some skiing, then jump on a train all the way to Berlin afterwards.
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@munich_irish, your comments about Dachau are not acceptable.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Langerzug, it would be helpful if you explained why not for those if us who don't know enough about it
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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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@Langerzug, Not sure what your issue is. As far as I know what I said is factual and it reflects my impressions of my visit. It was not an extermination camp like those situated in modern Poland like Auschwitz, nor was it like Theresienstadt which was effectively a Ghetto used before shipping the victims to places like Auschwitz. There clearly were some Jewish inmates but that was incidental (perhaps before being sent elsewhere or because a particular opponent of the regime happened to be Jewish). It is worth going to see to help understand a very dark chapter in European history.
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@Matilda6, Saalbach would be a good one, but I'm bias , excellent infrastructure good lifts (heated seats  ) and gondolas and fully interconnected unless you want to go to Zell for which you need to take a bus to the gondola (yes the map shows run 168 but it has no snow making and isn't open very often) you do get a nice view of the lake at Zell am See, there are 60 or so mountain restaurants to chose from.
There isn't anyone such as Peak Retreats for Austria, unlike France the English speaking market is small though growing, it's mainly German, Nordic, Dutch, Hungarian.
As has been said there is very limited ski in / out accommodation , the tourist office is good place to go, you can check out my link to see our apartment.
Getting to Saalbach from Munich is a couple of trains and a bus/taxi at the end, if you can do Salzburg there is a public bus one change or a private shuttle around 200Euro each way, if you're hiring a car the drive is pretty straight forward.
https://www.saalbach.com/en/winter
We have visited Dachau, not sure how to describe the experience, moving doesn't seem strong enough , we thought taking the short audio tour would be enough , it was in terms of information on the history of the various people incarcerated and who died there, including the British spy shot at the very end of the war, we were there for 4/5 hours a lot longer than the audio tour.
Munich is good to stop in and get the Bavarian experience, impressive architecture and beer
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You know it makes sense.
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| Langerzug wrote: |
| @munich_irish, your comments about Dachau are not acceptable. |
Dachau was established in 1933 a few weeks after Hitler came to power and 9 years before the Wannsee Conference. As @munich_irish said, it was set up as a concentration camp for political prisoners. This camp served as a model for all later German (and Austrian) concentration camps and as a “school of violence” for the SS men under whose command it stood. In the twelve years of its existence over 200.000 persons from all over Europe were imprisoned here and in the numerous subsidiary camps. 41.500 were murdered. @munich_irish is entitled to voice an opinion on it's merits, as are you, but I wouldn't have it on my list of must see sights for our Australian OP.
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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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Another vote for the Ziller Valley @Matilda6. IMO, it would be a perfect introduction to Austrian skiing. I think you really couldn't go wrong with Mayrhofen as a base - a pleasant, lively town, with a nice ambience, a great range of accommodation and food and drink options and good access to the public transport links up and down the valley.
There is some excellent and varied skiing throughout the valley at some fair-sized ski areas. And, as has has been mentioned, you have the Hintertux Glacier (half an hour by bus) providing guaranteed good snow. It's worth a trip there anyway for the top of the world views of the Alps.
For a day off from skiing, you could do worse than a trip to Innsbruck by train. It's a really lovely city, with some nice old buildings and cobbled streets.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@munich_irish,
| munich_irish wrote: |
| @Matilda6, I came away with the feeling that it is a monument to the SPD (left of centre political party similar to Labor in Australia) and other opponents of the Nazis. |
because this is dismissive and insulting. You can't talk this way about this sensitive matter.
It's similar to tourists in Amsterdam asking "is Anne Frank's House worth it?"
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Langerzug, No it is not. I am more than aware as to the sensitivities here but my impression was that Dachau is a place of remembrance to (largely) "domestic" victims of the Nazis. As stated above it was established soon after the Nazi's came to power and was used to imprison, mistreat and latterly kill opponents of the regime, many of whom were Munich folk such as journalists and members of political parties. If you have family reasons for wanting to visit some of the sites connected to the Holocaust then there are more relevant places obviously Auschwitz but sadly many other places too. None of that takes away the the dismal history of the camp at Dachau. To some extent it is more well known as it was liberated by the Americans who had various journalists with them. There were many other similar places that did not get the level of exposure but were equally dreadful. I wouldn't suggest it as something to see if coming on a ski trip but if anyone is spending any length of time in the area it is worth going. I went pretty soon after I got here.
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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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Schladming.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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How is Schladming for Christmas?
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