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Austrian resorts suitable for a weekend?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi All,

Can anyone recommend an Austrian resort for a weekend in mid Jan. We a a group of guys, good intermediate level, and have flights booked into Munich so at max a couple of hours drive from there. Obviously good snow sure skiing and a lively nightlife are key!!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
nigels, oooh, I'm interested in the suggestions too - haven't been to Austria and am thinking about a weekend there later this season. For intermediates it looks like many Austrian resorts are best for weekends?
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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?
Nigels - Kitzbuhel or anywhere in that region is probably closest. In Kitz stay near the lift to avoid wasting time on buses etc. The Montana is near the lift. Soll is pretty lively also with good intermediate skiing. Snow should be ok in mid Jan.

Manda - if you can get to Salzburg on a budget flight then I'd go to Saalbach.
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Yes Manda, it is easy to get to, but booking a hotel for just a weekend is proving a challenge!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
nigels, if you don't mind driving a bit further, the Tuxertal (Mayrhofen, Lanersbach, Hintertux) would be worthwhile. It shouldn't take you much more than 2 hours to get there. You've got the assurance of the best glacier skiing in Europe up at Hintertux if the snow is thin in the lower resorts.
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Nigels - Kitzbuhel has a lot of weekend only visitors due to its proximity to Munich so I imagine getting a hotel there would be ok. Try the tourist office.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Why go all the way to Austria Why dont you ski Garmesh in Germany ? Great town , good skiing easy to get to from airport ?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Kitzbuhel is a pleasant spot. If want a small hotel, the Hotel (or Pension?) Licht does a good B&B. It is easily walkable to the Hahnenkammbahm (you can leave skis in a locker at the bottom of the lift for a Euro or two) and more or less in the centre of town..
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
stanton has a point. If the snow's good, the skiing at Garmisch is surprisingly good and quite interesting. You have the high-altitude area on the Zugspitze (which even has a small glacier) which is quite easy, and some nice wooded runs in the other areas.

The town is quite substantial, so there's plenty to do. You can see the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics.
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Thanks for all the input. We have our hearts set on Austria though, we had initially planned Soelden, but accomodation there is looking like a problem.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Garmisch is fine (for a weekend) if there's plenty of snow; it's very low. IIRC, the Zugspitze is on a seperate pass to the rest of the skiing, and the skiing on the Zugspitze is not linked to the rest. There is some good grub to be had, if you enjoy large pieces of pig, game and that sort of thing. Veggies need not apply.

You can drive or train from Munich to Garmisch very easily; it's a perfectly reasonable day trip from Munich. Kitzbuhel is trainable from Munich (1 change), but it takes about 2.5 hours min, I think.
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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.
according to Theaa.com, you should be able to get to St Anton or Ischgl or any of the resorts in that area in about 2 1/4 hours. You can't get much more lively than Ischgl (allegedly).
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Zell am Zee, You can get by train from Salzburg, good night life, and a weekend should see all the area skied
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Ray Zorro, Ischgl is fairly lively. One or two places have hoards of German and Scandanavian types singing very loudly to europop songs which gives it's reputation. It's not that lively, but it is good fun.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Now I'm confused, does "lively" mean busy, or does it relate to volume level or what?

Help - I'm going off topic again!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
nigels, You could look for anywhere on the Ski Welt (not far from Kitz). There are 5 or 6 different villages on it, including Soll, hopfgarten, scheffau, westendorf. However, it is a bit low.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
For a weekend in Austria, I would fly to Innsbruck and then go to St Anton.
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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?
Ischgl isn't really that 'lively'. I think there must be a few hotspts that I've managed to miss somehow. I've been twice and would recommend it - but the apres-ski is somewhat exaggerated. Would be good for a weekend if you fly to Innsbruck (1.5 hours transfer) but not the cheapest resort.
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nigels, If you don't want to drive from Munich Airport (there is always the possibility that if the weather turns wintry you might have to fit snowchains) you can get the S-Bahn (local rail) line S8 from the airport terminal to the Ostbahnhof station where you can get on the trains to Austria. Once in Austria, change at Worgl for the line through to Hopfgarten, Westendorf, Brixen, Kirchberg and Kitzbuhel, or change at Jenbach for the Zillertal railway line which terminates at Mayrhofen. Both Kitzbuhel and Mayrhofen should fit your bill for lively nightlife snowHead
Incidentally, if you want to checkout and book accomodation in the resorts try this site
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Fly to Zurich and rent a car, drive to St Anton and ski the week-end. I did this last season Thurs, Fri, Sat by using easy jet (unbelievably early flight - slept in car in short stay car park) and I was skiing by 1pm on the Thursday and skied until 3.30 ish on the sat and was home for Sunday roast in the local. It cost me £330 (but the B & B was dear, a really up scale one at £75 per night) so you could argue that its poss to do a week by booking last minute and pay only slighty more if you budget hard but frankly I think I got good value (I can't take the credit for organising this one though). Good Luck
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On the subject of drive time from airports do you think those route planner sites underestimate times? Do they take account of winding mountain roads? I am eyeing up flights to Munich also and wondered would Kitzbuhel snow be OK in early March or should I find somewhere higher?
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 brian
brian
Guest
Peter Ross, fwiw we did Geneva to Tasch (nr Zermatt) last week in just under 2 1/2 hrs. RAC said 2hrs 54 min.

It was a Sunday night so very quiet but we could've probably shaved off another 15-20 mins if we'd hammered it.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I was just looking at the www.ifyouski.com/airports webpage about resorts near different airports and it seems to underestimate times e.g. Livigno from Milan is estimated at 2.5 hrs, I'd say it would be more like twice that.

Munich to Kitzbuhel 1h 25min on www.ifyouski.com/resorts/airports/munich/ is this correct?
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 brian
brian
Guest
RAC (www.rac.co.uk and click on advanced routeplanner) has Munich airport to Kitz in 2 hrs 11 min.
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Peter Ross, I do Munich to Kitz in about 1h 15min if the roads are clear, starting from the center of Munich. I usually drive to Kirchberg and get into the ski area via the Fleckalmbahn, not from Kitz itself. The secret is to not follow the signs for Kitz, but to follow the signs for Hofgarten/Brixen im Thale and then drive through Brixen to Kirchberg. I.e take the exit from the Inntalautobahn at Woergl-Ost (means that you have to buy an Austrian Motorway Vignette for 10 days, but you save a lot of time ).

Booking hotels for a weekend by telephone can definitely be problematic because they don't want to give up rooms that they could rent out for a week until the very last moment. It's maybe a bit risky, but I would just go to the board outside the tourist office and take a look at what's free. I have never failed to get something, even on the weekend of the Hahnenkamm race. Again you are more likely to get something in Kirchberg than in Kitz itself.

Conditions in Kitz are about as good as they ever get right now. I was down there a week ago, and had a whole day of absolutely perfect powder. It's been cold all the time since then, so things should have kept well.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Munich to Kitz is a 2 hours+ trip even with clear roads; I've usually done it from the airport, which is closer to Kitz than central Munich but is right next door to the autobahn. I know that there's no speed limit on the autobahns (there is on some of the autobahn between Munich and Kitz), but 1h25 is pushing it somewhat. Once you're off the autobahn, you're on pretty modest roads, where max speed is lower and a slow vehicle can slow things up a lot.
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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.
richmond, not sure which airport you are talking about, but Munich airport is between Freising and Erding which is North of Munich. Kitzbuehel is south of Munich. The airport is certainly not closer to Kitz than Munich! Driving from the airport probably adds about 45 min to the journey. I drive down to Kitz fairly often. Every weekend when I can. From the end of the A8 in Munich (Giesing) to Kitz is only about 120Km, so if you get on to the A8 before the crowds then 1h15 is easy to do. To do that on a weekend you have to get onto the A8 no later than 7.30 in the morning though!
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Zell am Zee, 75 min from Salsburg by car or even catch a train. Enough piste for a weekend, nice town, good nightlife, superb views up the hill, and some nice interesting skiing. Snow is good at the mo.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
or what about flying to Klagenfurt in the Carinthia region of Austria ( Ryanair via Stanstead ). Several resorts nearby including Bad Kleinkirchem ( BKK ), home of Franz Klammer.

100kms of runs, spa town, Turracher Hohe mountain range - for more see www.badkleinkirchheim.com
watch the snow as its fairly low but OK at the moment.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I'd strongly recommend Saalbach.
Not far from Munich, 200km of pistes and an intermediates paradise.
Fanstatic snow at the moment (1M of snow in the resort, 2M on the mountain) and fantastic night life.
Accomodation is cheap (40 euros pppn for 3* B&B) and beer is UK prices.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
kamikaze, That's a recommendation I'd second. Transfer from Salzburg is about 75mins with more than enough intermediate sking to keep you happy for a week, so you'll be spoilt for choice over a long weekend.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Mike Lawrie, Thanks for the advice. It is quite close then. Is Kitzbuhel normally very busy as it's so close to Munich or does it manage the crowds well?
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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?
Peter Ross wrote:
Mike Lawrie, Thanks for the advice. It is quite close then. Is Kitzbuhel normally very busy as it's so close to Munich or does it manage the crowds well?


It's always been fine when I've been there; the Hahnenkammbahn is pretty effective at shifting people and the skiing spreads out quickly from the top of it. There have been queues, but nothing awful.

I'm off there for half term, which will no doubt test the lift system to destruction. It'll be interesting to see how the new 3S lift changes things; it will presumably shift more people from the Hahnenkamm area to Pengelstein and further up the valley, which will be a mixed blessing.
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Peter Ross, the ski area is so big that I've never really experienced any problems. Even on the busiest day of the year (yesterday in fact) you only get a 10 minute queue down in the valley in Kirchberg. Once you get up onto the mountain everything just seems to get distributed. There are a couple of lifts connecting to/from the Pengelstein area which can get crowded. Mainly because Pengelstein is where the sun lasts longest, so everyone seems to want to go there. But all in all crowds are almost never a problem in Kitz.
If you really want to avoid the crowds then ski over in the Jochberg/Resterhoehe area. This is now easily doable because of the new and amazing 3S lift which spans the valley between the Jochberg/Resterhoehe area and Pengelstein. It's worthwhile doing that run just for the ride!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
richmond, It is stll pretty quiet the other side of the 3S. The only real problem for queues is the t-bar on the way back. You can avoid it by cutting off down the side by a narrow track or going down the steep and icy Diretissima piste.

The 3s does make a huge difference to the area readily available fron Kitz itself. It is right by the top of the Pengelstein 2 lift.
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Mike Lawrie, does the new 3S have seats? I'm a big fan of seats on ski lifts.

BTW, I meant to say that Munich airport is further from Kitz than is central Munich (but because the airport is right on the autobahn the journey time is probably roughly the same). Nearer, further, very easy to confuse them. I've usually driven down and back in the evening, when the roads seem pretty busy.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
richmond, The 3S is a huge gondola thing which must seat at least 20. I'll put a pic of the inside of it on the media zone for you to see. Plenty of seats. Some of them have a glass bottom so you can look down on the trees too. snowHead
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Chris Bish, richmond, all the comfort in the world! It really is an impressive piece of engineering. Like I say, it's worth doing the run down to Jochberg just for the ride back in the 3S. And the pistes over on that side are practically empty. What more can one ask for?
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Chris Bish, thanks.
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