Alternative Austrian resort to Tignes end of Jan?

A snowHead

I'm looking for some advice from snowheads (i notice there seems to be a bit of a debate raging over france/austria) as i'm planning a trip for myself and my gf together with another couple for the end of jan.

We are already going out to Tignes twice before xmas and also plan to do a trip there at the end of the season so we are looking for maybe a different resort for a change. As you can prob tell Tignes is my fav resort-the main reasons being the amount and varied terrain but prob just as important is the ease of access to the slopes from most accommodation.

I've been to about 10 diff french resorts,a few in italy,2 in andorra and once to switzerland but i've never been to ant austrian resorts-so i'd like to maybe try there especially as a few on here reckon in resort costs are cheaper than france.

The main drawbacks i seem to encounter looking through te guides is that austrian resorts in the main tend not to be ski convenient-having to queue to get on a crowded bus for us then to queue for ages to get on a cramped cable car even before we get on the slopes is my idea of hell,also we kind of like chalet board or club hotel mainly as a cost saving issue and again i hear austria doesn't have many of those.

As for ski terrain looking for-i'm looking for plenty of long fast reds/blacks(i rarely go off piste-so thats not really an issue),my gf and the other couple are early intermediates and so would be looking for gentle blues.

Any suggestions for austria or am i better off trying somewhere like les arcs or serre chevalier in france?

A snowHead

In my experience, you're much more likely to get genuine ski-in ski-out in the larger French resorts. We spent many a year exclusively in French resorts (Tignes 3 times, La Plagne, Les Arcs, LDA) as we put a priority on proximity to the slopes.

That said, our last few trips have been to Austria and, for me, its just a much better place than France. For a start, the apres-ski is brilliant, and I just find the resorts to be a lot more laid-back than their French counterparts.

I can only give advice on where I've been, and my recommendation would be Mayrhofen. Granted, there's one main gondola up to the mountain which can get bad for queues, but once you're up the mountain the lift system is excellent, with pretty much all pistes serviced by high speed large chairlifts. It's an intermediates dream with plenty of long, wide reds and blues. From emory there are about 5 black runs, which we completed all of last time there earlier this year; I don't know if they're the most challenging of runs, though one is the Harakiri which is supposedky the steepest black run in Austria.

There's plenty of accommodation in the town close to the main lift, with lots doing a half board option. We stayed in the Strass hotel which is right next to the lift and highly recommended.

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Atomic_Mick, Ischgl might be worth a look Puzzled

Not cheep but compared to Tignes its not bad
We found the gondolas up to the mountain were fine if you were there around start time
We were there late March and had no queues when on the mountain other than the wait for the cable car on the Swiss side
Not much in the way of trees if the weathers poor though

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I would echo the Arlberg (Lech esp) and Ischgl, and add Serfaus/Fiss - skiing at all is great and abundance of accommodation a 100m stagger from the lifts

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Thanks for the replies- i wondered if st anton might be suggested as its supposed to be pretty ski convenient, but is it a definit e no-no for early intermediates-is the terrain that much tougher than tignes?

I'll look into the resorts suggested though we do like our cheap late deals and it tends to be the french resorts rather than the austrian ones that seem to be available at better prices when i've looked previously(on the cheap late tour op deals that is),thats the only reason why we haven't got out to austria beforehand.

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Atomic_Mick, how about Saalbach? Another one where it will probably be a short stroll to the lift not a a bus ride. Lots of reds and blues and a nice area to ski round. Otherwise Serfaus is good, but expensive. Or Mayrhofen

After all it is free

Austria has 337 resorts according to [url=http://www.bergfex.com/schweiz/#/oesterreich/ ]Bergfex[/url].

St Anton, Serfrau, Saalbach, Oberlech, Mayrholfen etc are just some among the many possibilities.

You have to try them out in order to appreciate why

There are large but no huge Austria resorts.
Austria has many resorts spread evenly out and you can often buy ski pass for the whole region.
Austria resorts, as many countries in the Alps too, do not like ski-in and ski-out large concrete apartment blocks in their resorts.
Austria resorts are car friendly as they always have free huge and multiple car parks.
Austrian like to serve their own citizens and do not want to turn their resorts to suit foreign skiers/visitors coming in huge number in the winter but none in the summer.
Austrian generally take pride in serving their visitors.
etc, etc

In other word the Austrians are after a market different to the French and it may be difficult to get a like to like comparison.

Atomic_Mick, Would agree with a lot of the other replies. Personally I don't think Mayrhofen would have the ski convenience you 'desire' but I've only been for two summer holidays there but essentially AFAIK you can't ski back to village. Gerlos and Konigsleiten are just round the corner from Mayrhofen and do have the ski convenience you seek - again not been but have driven through during summer and have read good things about both places on www.ineedsnow.com I was within a bawhair of booking Gerlos for the 2010 family trip but opted for Kappl as finances dictated. Both resorts are at good heights and seem to have a pretty decent apres ski (you might not have experienced this yet, having missed out Austria so far wink

) thing going on - mainly Dutch and German visitors.

I've stayed in Oberlech twice and is simply one of my favourite places on this planet, but does come at a cost to stay there. Once there though, the prices for lunches etc will be cheaper than Tignes.

St Anton is another great option especially if there are a few of you going. There are plenty of places that are pretty much on the main gondolas doorsteps. The main thing is to be within staggering distance of the run back down from the Mooserwirt and Krazy Kanguruh. Even staying at the Nasserein part of town gives you fast access to the slopes and is only a 5-10 minute walk. There are quite a few caterd chalets at the Nasserein part - if looking for that type of hotel. Try to stay as close to Nassereinbahn as possible, otherwise you could end up getting the free and frequent bus - which I've never needed to use in my 6 visits to St Anton so far.

Saalbach would be another good option, as would Obergurgl and Serfaus. I've not been to Ischgl yet but will be staying 7km along the valley in Kappl this year for the family trip. The hotel we're staying at for example is right on the piste and costing me around €1400 for a week half board for 5 of us - 2 adlts 3 kids. This compares to almost €5k for a week in a 4 star superior hotel in Oberlech. Shocked

Dicth France in favour of Austria

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Atomic_Mick,
A few points
Cheap late deals that you like are a very economical way of skiing. In my experience they are far more common in France and one or two other resorts like St A and Verbier than elsewhere as this is where the operators concentrate on and often have spare capacity low season. Although I would tend to agree with the idea that Austira is cheaper than the big French resorts a good late deal is usually very hard to beat for price anywhere.

With regards to crowded buses and lifts my own experience of Austria is that lift s are less crowded than the big French resorts but if you are staying a significant distance from the lifts crowds for the ski bus can be busy in high season. This can be avoided either by getting accommodation close to the lifts or by DIYing and having a rental car which you take to the car park.

Resorts in Austria which have a fair bit of ski in and out acommodation or close to it include Obertauern, Zurs Oberlech and Zauchensee, none of them are tremendously cheap by Austrian standards.
I would agree that St A is not ideal for earlier intermediates and it does not have as much easy skiing as Tignes.

I love Serre Che and much of it would suit but little of the accommodation is ski in ski out and quite a bit is a fair distance from the lifts. If you are wanting a cheaper French experience that you can book late on and is convenient for skiing and excellent for early intermediates Montgenevre may be worth a look, though long blacks is not its forte.

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Seems to me the trick of skiing in Austria is to pick an accommodation within an easy walking distance from a chairlift that serve a big area. The need to go into a ski bus should be for supplementing skiing other areas if one gets bored with the main facility.

Not able to ski back to the base station isn't an issue as many real Austrian skiing (and many other Alpine resorts) starts at the mid level.

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I tend to prefer traditional resorts to the purpose-built ski in/out style. They just have so much more character, not to mention nightlife/shops. Most get round the drawbacks of not being ski in/out by having rentable heated equipment lockers at the lift stations. This means you can have a pleasant walk to/from your accommodation in comfy shoes and stop off via the bars or shops. I don't consider this an inconvenience! Very Happy

Atomic_Mick,

Austrian resorts I have been to include

St Anton which was a five minute walk to lifts from my hotel. My mate pn one trip had had two weeks skiing 18 years ago and was fine there. I do not really know where St Anton gets its reputation from for being a difficult resort for intermediates Puzzled

not good for learners maybe but once you can ski it is not a problem at all

Hinterglemm (linked with Saalbach) again was a two minute walk to lifts and mainly blues and reds and perfect for early intermediates

Kuhtai, which is a small resort and a few minutes walk to the lifts from most hotels, but I accessed it from Innsbruck as part of a city break so it was a long bus ride

Not much difference to France really, you just need to pick a hotel near the lifts Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

Hi, I can only really talk to you about St.Anton as I live there. It is very easy to get accommodation at good rates that are very close to the slopes. We now have a great, fast, modern lift system and there is hardly any queing (especially if you are flex with your dates to some degree). The only time you will have to queue for more than a minute or so is half term and easter holidays and these dates I would avoid any way. Lech and Zurs is very easier to get to from St.Anton and the skiing there would be just the sort that you seem to be looking for so a couple of days skiing there would def be very enjoyable. As for the slopes being very tough, I would say to you that all the main areas have black, red and blue runs down from them and that I have plenty of friends who have learnt to ski here and others who are not great skiers but still enjoy the place and keep coming back year after year. I agree with Boabski when he says that you should always end up at the Galzig side of the slopes as this is where the majority of the apres ski bars are. Yes the Nasserein end of the village can be cheaper than the Galzig end but if you look around there are deals to be found there too. St.Anton is one of, if not the best resorts in Europe for fun and apres ski - nuff said!

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

One more thing, many people who ski here say that the food and drink on the mountain is much better and cheaper than in France.....

A snowHead

Yes, it needs a little bit more "insider knowledge" to find perfect ski-in / ski-out in Austria. The main reason is simple that in Austria the ski resorts developed "organically" from a real village as a base. Hence, you would have to research the exact location of a specific hotel / chalet in an Austrian village in relation to the main cable cars / gondolas / chair-lift. If you choose the right location you can ski right to the terace of the cafeteria.

However, here is a list of fairly interesting ski resorts which do have ski-in / ski-out (irrespective of the choice of the hotel /chalet) at a comparable level with typical French resorts. I did pick only the larger resorts:

Hochsoelden
Obergurgl
Hochgurgl
Zuers-Lech (in Lech may be some walking necessary)
Stuben (some very short walking necessary)
St. Christoph
Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis (some walking may be necessary)
Königsleiten (lift/piste access to Gerlis-Zell/Zillertal area)

Obertauern
Saalbach-Hinterglemm (thorough researching of the location of the hotel / chalet necessary!)

Then there is a bunch of smaller ski resorts, where you can live directly at them mountain in the ski area (for example Planneralm, Tauplitz).

I understand, that you are planning for January? If you can manage to go before the Eastern Austrian winter holiday season starts (first week of February) I am pretty sure that you will not encounter lift queues at all.

Help!!

Alternative Austrian resort to Tignes end of Jan?

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