 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I am helping to organize a ski trip for a group of friends.
We are trying to do something similar to what we did last year.
I will try to be as clear as possible, sorry if it is too long! 
We went to Sta. Caterina Valfurva, Italy, in a group of 21 people, in January 2008.
Some stayed for up to a week, but about half of us stayed for a long weekend.
We left London Thursday evening, arriving in Valfurva that night.
We left on the early morning of Monday, so some of us worked on that same day (me included).
This way we had three full days on the slopes, sleeping four nights there.
It was short, but it was what we had and it was really good fun!
The whole trip, for the ones staying only the weekend costed £300.
All inclusive, flights, transfer, accommodation, ski hire and pass, food.
I am almost sure some ski lessons were in that price as well.
This year I would love to go to Austria, for a change and because of my family roots.
So, the points I've been considering:
The group is not closed yet, but I am guessing we would be from 10 to 20 people.
Ages vary from from mid 20s to mid 30s, some couples.
Ski and snowboard, from beginners to experts, a pretty good mix 
Being a young-ish group après-ski is a point to consider, however the main point is still skiing.
Sure it would be great if it is in a nice little Austrian village.
Date is not so important, anything from mid January to mid March.
It should not be a place very crowded (specially at the lifts).
And of course the price is quite important.
Because I think that just coming here and asking a question wouldn't be fair,
I thought I should contribute a bit too.
I've compiled some information from websites, as I've been trying to learn a bit about ski in Austria:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pxUGhjNwbp4rs9WCIh8tNPA&hl=en
Not sure this is very accurate, but I was hoping it would help me.
I've also been using google earth to find out about resorts and ski lift proximity:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=1208236
So far I thought about several resorts, but couldn't find a definitive answer.
This included among others Saalbach, Silvretta Nova, Serfaus (too family/kids oriented?), Gerlos/Hochkrimml/Almdorf Königsleiten, Neukirchen, Mittersill.
If someone is still reading until now, these would be my questions:
- Which resort would you guys recommend?
- Where would I find about cheap accommodation (around 30 euros pp/pn) in that place?
- It seems quite hard to find a place that would do Thursdays to Sundays (Fridays to Mondays would be the other option), is it possible to find places at that price that do weekends only?
- Am I trying to find something impossible? If so, what would be more reasonable?
Many thanks,
Eduardo.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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!
Can't advise on all of those resorts, but I can reccomend Zell Am See or Elmau. Saalback is a great resort with a big ski area and a pretty village with good nightlife, but the transferr is about 3 hours from Salzberg making it a bit of a trek for a short break. Zell or Elmau are a much more managable 1 to 1 and a 1/2 hour transferrs, and you can fly Ryanair most days to Salzberg making it cheap (I just paid for my luggage last 3 years!). Pension Herzog in Zell is dirt cheap, google it for the website. I stayed there over xmas last year and it was about 20 Euro pppn. A general rule for Austria is that the cheapest places will be called Pensions (thats their version of B+B) Zell and Elmau are both very pretty towns with smallish sized ski areas, but plenty to occupy you for 3 or 4 days. Zell has much more to offer at night than Elmau, so that would be my reccomendation.
Hope this helps!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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| lalobr wrote: |
Hi,
Because I think that just coming here and asking a question wouldn't be fair,
I thought I should contribute a bit too.
I've compiled some information from websites, as I've been trying to learn a bit about ski in Austria:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pxUGhjNwbp4rs9WCIh8tNPA&hl=en
Not sure this is very accurate, but I was hoping it would help me.
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Welcome to snowheads
That's an amazingly detailed spreadsheet - good work! Is this something you're planning on leaving up as a tool for people to use as it would a great resource? If so then can I suggest a couple more columns for access via xx/yy airport' and transfer times. Probably need at least 2 or 3 airport/transfer times choices as for example St. Anton is easily accessed via innsbruck, friedrichshafen and Zurich. Tranfer times can make a big difference to resort choices when travelling from the uk
Now we (as in the snowheads community) just need to do the same for france, italy, switzerland and we'll have the best 'where to go for xx/yy tool ever'
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the replies so far!
Bertie, the idea of google docs is that multiple users can edit it at the same time.
So, any information could be added/updated by whoever is keen on contributing.
If you would like, I could add you as an edit user (not sure we should leave it open to all users for edit, though).
We could definitely leave it as an online shared resource.
I've used some rudimentary scripts to read the information from the web sites, and spit a table out.
This is one of the scripts I did at home (the other one was for linux):
http://laloschmidek.googlepages.com/bergfex.bat
Might seem a bit scary, but the idea is simple, just a lot of search/replaces to format the data.
And I am sure there are many different (and better) ways of getting the same information.
There are some other web sites that could be checked, but that's what I had time to do 
Jonboy21, I've found the pension you recommended in Zell am See, I've send them a message already, thanks!
Any more recommendations, anyone?
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lalobr, If you're all flying from London you should go from London City Airport to Zurich for a long weekend - the flight times are great and then you can get an easy and cheap train transfer to a variety of resorts. My favourite is Klosters/Davos but the Arlberg resorts of Lech & St A are eqaully doable if it has to be Austria
Lech or St A on £300 all in might be a little bit of a challange... but Davos is very doable on a budget, loads of cheap hotels and they all seem to do non-standard stays.
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[quote="jonboy21"]Can't advise on all of those resorts, but I can reccomend Zell Am See or Elmau. Saalback is a great resort with a big ski area and a pretty village with good nightlife, but the transferr is about 3 hours from Salzberg/quote]
Saalbach is only an hour and a half from Salzburg, and is a great place
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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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I'd also recommend Saalbach/Hinterglemm - from the airport, we've travelled with Taxi 6620 in a 17 seat minibus with a trailer, but they do custom transfers for up to 30 people: http://www.taxi6620.at/20_Sitzer.htm This will work out to be very cheap per person, even if it costs €400-€500 in each direction. Travelling time was about 80 minutes - straight through Germany and out the other side.
Alternatively, Flachau/Wagrain in the Ski Amade would be a good choice, and about 60 minutes from Salzburg.
In either case, cheap accommodation is best found either via the local tourist office ( http://www.saalbach.at/ and http://www.flachau.at/) or via aggregator sites like http://www.feratel.at/
Zell am see is also good, but might be a little limited for the experts, even with the glacier at Kaprun on the same pass, since it is a fair trek out of Zell on the bus.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Fri 7-11-08 8:45; edited 1 time in total
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I'd personally recommend Kitzbuhel. If you fly to Salzburg then the transfer isn't that long. There was a bus service advertised last time I was at Salzburg airport but I can't find any details at the moment. I've only gone for a week at a time as part of a package but there are places that can be booked by the night. I would try contacting the tourist board for more details of accommodation there. This is a link from the Kitzbuhel website: http://holiday.kitzbuehel.com/accommodations/
Kitzbuhel is very pretty and is quite lively for apres ski and good for groupa. I've always had a great holiday there.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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From the list you've mentioned and what you say about your group, I would think Saalbach would suit. It is nice and lively in the evenings for young group, with a good extent of skiing to match. It's not a 3 hour transfer from Salzburg as jonboy21 says (no offence intended) - I can appreciate it might be (or seem like it LOL) on a TO transfer coach, but Saalbach however is only 20 minutes from Zell Am See, and we do the drive from Salzburg to Zell in an hour and a quarter, so Saalbach is about 1.5 hours or up to 1.75 at the very most. It would suit your group well and you should be able to find somewhere to take a non-Sat-Sat booking as there are a lot of beds in the resort and you can always find somewhere.
However, as per ousekjarr I would really recommend Flachau or Wagrain to your group. They sit either side of the same mountain in the Ski Amade region, and are a shorter transfer (Flachau less then an hour) than Zell or Saalbach and so ideal for weekend breaks. Lots of good skiing, very sociable places, easy to get to, and you should easily get accom in your price range and for a short break booking.
Kitzbuhel is a great resort for skiing and apres, but it has got more expensive (and busy) since the russians moved in (not being russian-ist, it's just a fact), so you might struggle to get something in your price range for a non-Sat-Sat break that is near enough to lifts etc. If you can though, it would be a great destination.
D
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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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lalobr, Of the resorts you've listed Saalbach would probbaly be the best, both from the skiing front, the nice village and also the apres. Gerlos/Hochkrimml/Almdorf Königsleiten, Neukirchen, Mittersill etc are nice villages etc but spread apart (only been through them in summer though).
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Apologies for my apparent misinformation on the journey time to Saalbach... I was basing it on tour operator bus transferrs, but if you were getting a taxi or private coach, then it would be under 2 hours.... Good luck!
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for all the replies so far!
topcat, thanks for the tip about Kitzbühel. If their web portal is up to date, there should be a few places still available, matching my price range and dates.
Very direct and easy to use website, by the way.
Saalbach has definitely been among my favourite places.
Even if it was a three hour transfer (same we had last year), meeting the other requirements it would be ok.
My only problem is that it is really hard to find Thusdays to Mondays or Fridays to Tuesdays in Saalbach.
Even less for the price we're looking for.
Nevertheless there's one pension that seems nice, and we seem to be close to a deal, let's see! Fingers crossed!
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Fri 7-11-08 14:09; edited 1 time in total
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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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| lalobr wrote: |
Thanks for all the replies so far!
topcat, thanks for the tip about Kitzbühel.
My only problem is that it is really hard to find Thusdays to Sundays or Fridays to Mondays in Saalbach.
Even less for the price we're looking for.
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If you want cheap (and given the age ranges) then kitzbuhl has - http://snowbunnys.co.uk/ which is definately at the 'cheep and cheerful' end of the segment. Plus it's not a 7 day required, you can jst stay for as many days as you want. I wouldn't stay there myself for more than a long weekend, but as somewhere cheap to rest your head it does fine. Shortish walk to the londoner and other bars, perhaps 5 minutes to the main lift.
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Poster: A snowHead
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What about London to Innsbruck, train or minibus to Mayrhofen. It is possible to find accomodation in Mayrhofen for the weekend, although you will probably have to telephone as online booking tends to be restricted to week only sat to sat bookings.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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why not just ski the Innsbruck resorts ?
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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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Ghost Dog, rayscoops, LDN-Innsbruck flights are £££ and tough for a weekend....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hey lalobr
I would rule out the Arlberg, it is the most expensive area in Austria (but still great value compared to other countries). Mayrhofen, Saalbach and Kitzbuhel are good options mainly because they are big resorts and have good competition between accommodation suppliers. Rayscoops is right, Innsbruck is a great option, I live there and there are really small transfers times and some awesome skiing around here. Innsbruck also has great nightlife, not your resort type apres ski but an amazing selection of bars - http://www.ineedsnow.com/ski-holidays-austria/innsbruck/innsbruck.html.
hope this helps, if you do get over here just drop me a line, we are going to be running a very cool bar through the winter up at Axamer Lizum with crazy prices.
matt
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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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I just wanted to thank all the tips!
We are going to Saalbach, at the end I've found a place that accepted weekend bookings!
That had to be at the end of the season, around 21st of March, hopefully we'll still get some snow there.
Now I'll see if I find a place that can give us a good price on the ski hire, as the group has 24 snowheads!
Cheers everybody!
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FAQ
