Pick an Austrian resort

A snowHead

Hello and apologies in advance for what is possibly very lazy of me….. I find it really hard to make a decision about resorts so hopefully some of you can help me cut to the chase….. I fancy Austria this year - an easy going resort for me and my family of 4. Two boys 17 good /reckless skiers who want variety/fun in a resort they can get around on their own - oldest has some special needs. Me - 2nd time after a big injury a few years ago so still nervous & want wide, cruisey blues/reds & scenery & poor old hubby who is decent skier but ends up lumbered with me or policing the kids. We want as budget friendly as we can get, flexible with dates though probably March, ideally cute with a few facilities /bars etc but not especially bothered about apres-ski. We used to live in Munich and have been to Schiki places like Kitzbuhel (when his boss was paying and which is not really our thing these days) as well as some small resorts, but we only really went for the day/weekend so not sure they’d be suitable for a week and tbh they’ve all merged into one in my mind…… Oh and easy transfer to Salzburg if poss. Thank you for any and all suggestions. Smile

A snowHead

Ski Amade - Salzburgerland, kids get free lift passes from mid March when an adult buys a week pass. Loads of places to pick from. hth Ange snowHead

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@flangesax, but would you know a good place to stay? wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Goslowski, If you want to fly into Salzburg then obvious spots are either (as above) Ski Amade or Saalbach. I know there will be objections from the usual quarters to this view but if you leave it later in March then a large part of the Saalbach area can be affected by sun (a lot of the easier skiing is low and south facing), in other ways though it is good some harder stuff especially over towards Fieberbrunn and easier stuff for you. If budget less of an issue then either Ischgl or Arlberg (you might prefer Lech your boys St Anton) but a long way from Salzburg (Zürich probably easier than Munich)

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Serfaus?

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Its all great till you mention the word Budget Puzzled

After all it is free

@DrLawn, Not sure any of the larger Austrian areas now fall into the "budget" category. Last season I paid more for a day ticket in SkiWelt than I would have done in St Anton! Costs have gone up significantly in the past few years. The cheaper Austrian & Bavarian spots tend to be marginal for snow.

The key here is pistes to build your confidence. St Anton and Ischgl definitely entail tricky packed blues and reds. I was with two less confident skiers in St Anton who hated the slopes.

By contrast, they loved Zurs or Rohrmoos Untertal (a hamlet above Schladming). Ski to door, wide gentle blues. Schladming itself has the steeper Planai, churned up home runs by lunchtime. For the adventurous teens there’s loads for them too.

I haven’t skied the other Amade resorts, the experts on that will advise.

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Obertauer may suit well. Easy enough area to navigate (everything leads down to the village) so your sons can do their own thing.
There is a good variety of pistes from the easy to a couple of blacks (but nothing with NFZ), a bit of good off-piste is available too. Ski schools are always good too if you are using them. The lift pass used to permit a day's skiing in the neighboring area of Spieleck (free bus between the two areas).
So a great little area, more than enough for a week, 17-year-olds can be cut loose to do their own thing in relative safety, OH can find so good and varied runs and terrain. There are a good number of confidence-building runs to help you get back into your groove. There is no massif vertical so you always feel secure that you can reach the security of the village easily at any time. The circuit design means that it is easy for everyone to meet for lunch. or Apres.
Apres is good without being ridiculously rowdy, locations on mountain or in and around the village.
Its easily reachable from SZG, we normally book a taxi or drive journey time is just over an hour. lots of accommodation options, depends what you are looking for.
Obertauern is one of the most snow sure resorts that I've come across in 40 years.
And my daughter and I are going back again this season, I can'y wait.

Superb area

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Ski Amade and look at Zauchensee/Altenmarkt. Zauch is well-linked and just that bit higher. Plenty of skiing opportunities that should suit the family requirements and enable a decent degree of being able to ski together.

Saalbach Hinterglemm as has been suggested already.

Rohrmoos is also a good shout with Planai, Hauser Kaibling and Hochwurzen providing some decent altitude if things get a bit warm (or wet) lower down.

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Another shout for Ski Amade, we're off to Flachau in January

I'll be in Flachau next January as well, but this year I've been there mid March for a day from Obertauern and the local slopes were terribly mushy and slushy, only boarders were enjoying it.
Obertauern, OTH, was still white and wintery.
Nice local apres ski options for the afternoons.
Budget friendly it's not, unfortunately.
But you can buy the Super Skipass and ski both domains if the weather wil require it, it's a short and easy drive in the valley.

You know it makes sense.

Love Zauchensee.

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

A snowHead

1. Schladming
2. Bad Gastein
3. Val Gardena

A snowHead

Of the Schladming "group", I agree Rohrmoos is a good shout for cruisy blues. However, of the four mountains there my favourite is Reiteralm. I love taking the old 2-seater lift up from Talstation Pichl. It's such a relaxing way to start the day, and parking is always better than at the main Talstation Gleiming. The Crosspark is a bit of fun for your teenagers. There's also a permanent parallelslalom track and a speedcheck run. Maybe it's just my perception, but I also find the pistes a little less choppy in the afternoon than at Planai or Hauser Kaibling. Accommodation is likely a short drive away in either Schladming or Radstadt perhaps.

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Thank you all!
Btw when I used the word ‘budget’ I obviously used it in the ‘First World Problems’ sense of the word…..
I had always dismissed Austria as too expensive now - but last year I booked really cheap flights to Geneva thinking we’d get a cheap ski in France…… Even our 2 bags cost more to take to Geneva than all four of our plane tickets! I realise there is no such thing as a cheap ski trip when you’re also paying for 2 entitled teenagers on top Smile

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2nd Obertauern for your requirements. 50 mins from Salzburg. Easy to navigate. Runs short but a good variety mainly easy for categorisation. Pretty snow sure too which cannot be said for everywhere

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Another Obertauern fan but it's not budget friendly.
Might be worth investigating another village in Lungau and use either Lungau or Lungo pass?
Or look at Katschberg?

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If the OP ends up in Radstadt or Schladming, I’d recommend a day on the smaller Fageralm ski area. Plenty of easy blues at high altitude and usually exceptionally quiet because it’s the smallest and least accessible of the Schladming areas.

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Thanks for these suggestions - they’ve definitely helped me cut to the chase.
Am i right in thinking the Austrian resorts are smaller than French ones? Thinking a car hire would be a better option? Or are the various places easy enough to get to? Do they have good free ski shuttles linking various villages like France?

After all it is free

I wouldn't generalize and say they're smaller, some Austrian systems are bigger than some French resorts.
Google maps shows lifts for many resorts so useful to get an idea of scale, but pick a place and see if it's right for you.
It could be argued lift systems in Austria generally seem more modern (fast detachable rather than slower fixed lifts).
Public transport is generally good and normally will have free shuttle or free travel on postbus to neighbouring resorts.
Hotels are excellent.

@Goslowski, my personal experience with "good free ski shuttles" left me longing for Austria.
Ziller valley is an excellent choice with public transfer, both to arrive/leave and of course to easily experience its different ski resorts.
Same goes for the smaller Ötz valley which is perfect for beginners.
Zell am Zee is worth mentioning as well. Bus to Saalbach

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@Goslowski, “ Am i right in thinking the Austrian resorts are smaller than French ones? Thinking a car hire would be a better option? Or are the various places easy enough to get to? Do they have good free ski shuttles linking various villages like France?”

I can certainly answer your questions in relation to Saalbach (where I live). It’s located in a central position in the 270 km Ski Circus ski area - all fully lift-linked, and also encompassing the ski villages of Hinterglemm, Leogang and Fieberbrunn. There are free ski buses linking the main villages of Saalbach and Hinterglemm, but with judicious planning it’s entirely possible to spend a holiday there without ever catching a bus or walking more than 100 yards.

On the same lift pass you also have the neighbouring resorts of Zell am See and Kaprun, which add a further 138 km to the ski area. In theory you can ski to Zell am See (which has a scenic, but much smaller and limited ski area than Saalbach), utilising piste number 168 from Saalbach. However the bottom of this (wonderful) 7 km piste is the lowest point of the Ski Circus, has no snowmaking, and is south-facing, so it often gets closed. So, generally, in order to get from Saalbach to Zell am See’s ski area (which makes for a nice day’s or half-day’s excursion), you take an eight minute ride on the free ski bus, which runs every ten minutes, from Saalbach’s Schönleitenbahn lift station (which you can ski to) to the Zell am See Xpress lift station. And the same in reverse on the return journey.

Getting to Kaprun (a relatively small ski area largely on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier - so useful in very early and very late season) involves a 15 minute free ski bus ride from the Areitbahn lift station at the foot of Zell am See’s ski area.

But most people who visit Saalbach find the fully interlinked 270 km of the Ski Circus quite sufficient and don’t bother with the interesting but much smaller ski areas of Zell am See and Kaprun, even though they are covered by the same lift pass. Having said that the local post bus is free to skiers and gets you to Zell am See the quick way in about half an hour.

Incidentally Saalbach has the most gondola cable cars, as well as the fastest lift system, of any ski resort in the world. There is also a regular public bus from Salzburg Airport to Saalbach, costing around €16, with a journey time of about two hours.

Happy to answer any other questions.

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Just comparing a couple of resorts recommended earlier in the thread.

Saalbach has more wide, cruisey blues than Schladming. Basically the whole south-facing side of the valley is blues. And the area is better interlinked so that if a part of the group are cruising somewhere between Saalbach and Hinterglemm for an example, and one from the group goes for a few reds or the black run, people aren’t really that scattered around and can relatively easily ski to meet for lunch almost anywhere up on the mountain or in town.

Schladming on the other hand has those blues in Rohrmoos area but the layout on four mountains means that you really can’t split the group that much because people do get scattered around. Travelling from one peak to another takes time, and being “stuck” on one peak starts to get a bit repetitive.

I like both places. Schladming trumps Saalbach in town vs. village and more varied skiing, more interesting reds and the black World Cup slope to town is good fun. Saalbach has that nice “bowl” layout that’s easy to navigate and it’s an intermediate paradise in piste difficulty. And the village isn’t really that bad, you’ll find everything you’ll need in bars, restaurants, sport shops etc.

For this application I’d favour Saalbach out of the two.

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

The 2 man from Pichl remains.

The new lift is just along the road, at Planai West opposite the hospital - a gondola replacing a chair. It's all installed and ready to go. The gondolas still have their silver delivery covers on.

Piste prep is fully underway. Cannons are in place and orange matting/netting installed too.

Its always interesting to watch the prep. Yesterday was the last day of the summer lift schedule - so all the summer stuff will be removed in a flash ready for the snow.

Ange. snowHead

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Pick an Austrian resort

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