 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey guys,
My girlfriend is studying a language course at uni, and for part of this she is allowed to live in a German speaking country for 8 months which includes the winter season.
She says she would love to try some skiing as she has never done it before, however, I am sure she doesn't want a place that solely does skiing, so a place with lots of stuff going on would be ideal, but then she also likes the idea of not living in a massive city, I fear she may want to have her cake and eat it. Anyway, we have had a look and found that out of the choices available the towns/cities of:
Tyrol,
Styria,
Burgenland,
Voralberg,
Vienna ,
Salzberg
seem to be possible choices, although I fear I may be getting states confused with towns? lol
I have had a look on the internet for basic info on these places but am still none the wiser, finding out little but important things like those free buses to resorts seems harder than I expected.
Does anyone have any opinion on which of these places would best suit her?
Cheers, any input appreciated.
Tom
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You have got states/cities confused! Does your gf have to do any sort of study/work out there, or simply live?
If she's there to learn German then I'd be tempted to stay away from the major resorts as there are a lot of English around (most speak very good English) as she'd probably get more practice elsewhere. Have you thought about a small city like Innsbruck which is within driving distance/train ride of a number of ski resorts? If not try some of the larger towns along valleys that lead up to resorts. Accommodation/rent would be cheaper in those places than in resort too, if that's a consideration.
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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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Tyrol, Styria and Vorarlberg are regions. Burgenland also sounds like a region - surely you can google it?
Vienna and Salzburg are cities, with Salzburg smaller and closer to better skiing. Another good option is Innsbruck.
What will she do? any work? study only?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Burgenland is as flat as a pancake, good wine though. Innsbruck and Salzburg would be good choices. Although both are cities they are relatively small and have good access to a lot of skiing. Salzburg also has a large student population and is a beautiful city.
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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.
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Welcome to  's MWG_Thomas!
Have a look at the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria#States
I live in the county of Salzburg.
Each county also has regions... so I am within Sankt Johann in Salzburg. (bit like saying Canterbury Council, in Kent).
I think considering Salzburg and Innsbruck are good ideas.
Innsbruck is a Uni town and offersbus services to 3 different resorts. You are pretty well located for popping up into Bavaria or Munich or down to Italy.
Salzburg is a very historical and beautiful city but a bit less student based (although there is the Uni).
You can be skiing within 30 min of salzburg.
The huge area of Ski Amadé has over 860km of piste on the pass. The Salzburger Sportwelt section of this is within 40min of Salzburg. There are also some (but limited) free busses from the city to some ares.
One great thing is the Salzburger Super Card. This opens up tons of areas in Salzburgerland (and out a bit further) over 2,200 km of piste!
I think if I was a student.... I would probably go for Innsbruck!
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Got to be Innsbruck - city so lots of 'culture', loads of students, cheap compared to living in ski resort. Can go skiing on tram/bus to local slopes (good choice) cheapish lift pass. For the odd long weekend away (with you?) then a trip to St. Anton or Ischgl all very easy on the bus. Relatively easy to get flights to/from so 'rents can come and visit her.
Come the non-skiing season still stuff to do without going nuts...pop down to Lake Garda for a long weekend when it's a bit warmer.
Vienna is dull as ditch and without much skiing nearby, salzburg is on my to do list.
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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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The only problem, as I recall, is that the language assistants went wherever they were sent - they could put in a request for a general area but there was no guarantee at all that they would get it. A friend of mine wanted to go to St Quentin (God knows why) but ended up in Clermont-Ferrand. If she definitely wants to be in a specific location, she'd be better off going down the uni route.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Another vote for Innsbruck from "dull as ditch" Vienna lol.
Salzburg would be second on the list but make sure you are near public transport if you won't have private transport.
Burgenland is good for Windsurfing on Neusiedlersee (summer) and winedrinking (red, Wachau better for white) but there isn't much going on in winter and transport links to ski resorts aren't too clever.
Vienna isn't a ski resort but small resorts are ca 1 hour away (good for night skiing after work), medium sized ski resorts are ca 2-3 hours away (e.g. Schladming) but the big resorts are 4-7 hours away. A small ski resort is many multiple times the size of any ski sheds back in the UK and there is an overnight train to St Anton. (no ski surcharge and no lost travel days). Ski buses also travel to local ski resorts (e.g. Hochkar) Vienna has by far the most things going on outside of skiing. Innsbruck has a population of ca 115,000, Vienna has over 1.5 million in the city with another 500,000 just outside the city boundary.
Salzburg has ca 150,000 and Graz has ca 225,000.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Tue 3-11-09 9:29; edited 1 time in total
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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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If you want to learn German stay out of the Tirol & Salzburgerland. This is tourist central where English is used commonly used.
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Innsbruck
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
If you want to learn German stay out of the Tirol & Salzburgerland. This is tourist central where English is used commonly used.
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In Tirol, yes, if you look there are plenty of people who will speak to you in English. There are also plenty of locals who prefer it and appreciate it if you are willing to try and speak to them in their own language.
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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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MWG_Thomas, I did the exact same thing when I was at uni, did 8 months teaching English in Austria, and you are right it is only 12 hours a week, for not bad money, which is why I chose that instead of the self-funded uni study route.
I was in Klagenfurt which is in Kaernten (Carinthia). When I was filling out the forms, it was a bit like Countdown where you could pick one from the top and 2 from anywhere else, i.e. the popular places were Salzburg, Tirol and Vorarlberg (probably because they are the most well known in terms of skiing and resorts) and then any others for the second and third choice.
Pretty much everybody picked Tiorl or Salzburg for the first choice, and hardly anybody got it - because English is so widely spoken in those areas they don't struggle to get teachers. Provinces where I think you will still get loads of skiing (albeit not necessarily in well known resorts) are Carinthia, Upper Austria and Styria. Places with less skiing are Burgneland, Vienna (some resorts within an hour or so) and lower Austria. So if I was filling out the forms again I would put Salzburg or Tirol in first place, and then Carinthia and Styria in spots 2 and 3. Carinthia as an example is not very well known in Britain for skiing, but there is actually a lot of skiing there - Bad Kleinkirchheim and Nassfeld-Hermagor are the better known ones, but my 'Heimatsberg' (local mountain) when I was there was Gerlitzen which was unheard of in the UK, but fun to play on at weekends. There were half a dozen similar small local ski stations all within about 30 minutes on the train. It's also really well set up for train + ski for locals, I used to pay something like £15 for the train fare and lift ticket. It was 10 years ago so obviously it will be more now, but there are still lots of offers around if you look at the train stations.
What I would consider (and this depends on where you live in the UK), is the options for getting home for Christmas and holidays etc. When I was in Klagenfurt, I had to fly from there to Vienna, to Zurich, and from there to Manchester. It would have been easier if I had lived in London as I could have flown Vienna to London. It's just something to think about - proximity to useful airports. E.g. no good being near Graz airport if there are no flights from there that go anywhere near home. It's a bit easier now with Ryanair and Easyjet etc. as there are more options from local airports, but it is something to bear in mind. Where I was it was 5 hours on the train to Vienna, so using Vienna airport was a pain!
Another nice thing about being where i was in Carinthia was it was just 40 minutes to Italy and half an hour to Slovenia, so lots of travel opportunity at weekends - your gf won't have any marking or prep to do really, so it's a great opportunity to see some of Europe for relatively little cash.
Anyway, hope this helps!
D
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Poster: A snowHead
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Innsbruck, 130,000 population with lots of students and not much English was spoken (relatively) and especially at the resorts up the Stubai valley and Kuhtai the time I have been there over the last few years
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I meant to add, I agree with everybody who has recommended Innsbruck as it is in my opinion a fab place - small city, small enough to know your way around in a few days, big enough to have a range of culture and social opportunities, good university and skiing ridiculously close to the city. It's more or less my idea of a perfect place.
However, things to bear in mind are:
Everybody wants to go there for the reasons stated above, so there are loads of applicants for each place.
You can only select a province (so Tirol for Innsbruck) and so have no way of knowing until you get the placement exactly where you will be.
What I would say is this, try and make sure your gf doesn't completely set her heart on Innsbruck as the only place to go, as the likelihood of her getting Tirol is slim, and the likelihood of happening to be placed in Innsbruck even slimmer. She will get what she gets and apart from the ticky boxes on the form she has very little control over it. All you can really do is increase your odds by trying to select the provinces for options 2 and 3 that will also afford access to skiing. I know when I was applying it was a bit traumatic as I really wanted to be in Salzburg and felt that it was terribly important that I was there, and then was a bit p'd off when I got my reply back and realised I had ended up in what seemed like the ar$e end of nowhere. However, it didn't really matter, as it wasn't the ar$e end of nowhere, and in actual fact there is loads to do away from Innsbruck and Salzburg so there is no need to feel like one's entire happiness depends on getting a specific town or city. The whole application process can be a bit of a stressful time (even though it's actually very exciting), so I think it's probably a good idea to keep an open mind as much as possible. She will have a fab time anyway!
Come back and update us with what she decides, and definitely come back when she gets her placement, as there will be loads of with words of wisdom or just the propensity to get excited and live vicariously through the lucky people who get to spend more than a couple of weeks in the alps!
D
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I forgot to say put an exception in Tirol i.e Innsbruck.
Innsbruck does have a large Austrian young crowd i.e University & a better nightlife,more bars than Wien.
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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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| DB wrote: |
Deliaskis,
Die Welt ist wie ein kleines Dorf (also spent a lot of time on the Gerlitzen ca 5-10 years ago) |
It is indeed!
I feel very nostalgic about Gerlizten. It was 1998-1999 when I was there and it was my weekly haunt for most of the season, and as I had never skied before I got to Austria, I spent lots of time doing the blue from the top to the gondola station over and over, until I got a bit more confidence! I was very proud the first time I skied the red all the way down to I can't remember what valley. There was also an epic day when we were supposed to be going to Simonhoehe (tiny little area) for ski school, but the bus wasn't going there as it was too snowy (it's up a windy steep access road), so we went to Gerlitzen, and skied through thigh deep snow all day. There were only about 3 other people on the slopes. Ahhh..fond memories!
D
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| stanton wrote: |
| If you want to learn German stay out of the Tirol & Salzburgerland. This is tourist central where English is used commonly used. |
I wish I could find them all... it would certianly make my life a lot easier!!!
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| stanton wrote: |
| Innsbruck does have a large Austrian young crowd i.e University & a better nightlife,more bars than Wien. |
Find it very hard to believe that Innsbruck has more Bars than Vienna.
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[quote="Deliaskis"]
| DB wrote: |
I was very proud the first time I skied the red all the way down to I can't remember what valley. |
3.5 km Gipfelabfahrt? First time I did it was my second week skiing, took over 45 mins as it was more a series of linked falls than turns. 
http://www.bergfex.at/gerlitzen/panorama/
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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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| flangesax wrote: |
| stanton wrote: |
| If you want to learn German stay out of the Tirol & Salzburgerland. This is tourist central where English is used commonly used. |
I wish I could find them all... it would certianly make my life a lot easier!!! |
You're no longer a tourist, du muss zee Deutsch sprechen !!!! 
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DB, looking at the map, the one I was very proud about was the Kloesterle run (I couldn't believe I had made it to the bottom and skied to, well...somewhere else!), and the one I did over and over (like you in a series of linked falls) was the Gipfelabfahrt, and you're right, it took ages! Although I was sure it was a blue, but it definitely took that route, so either it was always a red or they have re-graded it?
Feeling very nostalgic now!
D
PS sorry MWG_Thomas, for derailing your thread with my trip down memory lane!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Deliaskis,
Think they have regraded, don't remember any black runs there 10 years ago.
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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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MWG_Thomas, don't forget to come back and update with what she decides and what she gets allocated.
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You know it makes sense.
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MWG_Thomas, as I'm bored today, and was curious about the region groups, I found out online that they have to pick one from each of the following groups:
GROUP A Burgenland - Niederösterreich - Vorarlberg
GROUP B Kärnten - Oberösterreich - Steiermark
GROUP C Salzburg - Tirol - Wien
So to guarantee skiing nearby I would pick Vorarlberg from group A, Kärnten or Steiermark from group B (although would lean towards Kärnten as lots of the Steiermark people will be in Graz which is slightly less handy for the slopes than Klagenfurt), and either Tirol (for a shot at Innsbruck) or Salzburg for group C.
Your gf will need to bear in mind though that Vorarlberg in group A is linguistically closer to Swiss German than the other areas so she will come away with a stronger accent/dialect than the other areas, although that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just hard when you first get there and understand hardly anything!, but people seem to like my unique brand of British Kärntnerisch!
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Off to get a life and stop pretending I was about to go and live in Austria again!
D
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FAQ
Having said that I'm doing a season with a tour operator this year so will get my fair share of mountain time 
...Can't wait.
