 Poster: A snowHead
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We have just returned from our annual ski holiday to Zell am See where we spend the February 1/2 school term break.
We travel in a party of around 15 families and this is the second year we have been to Zell.
The town and atmosphere at Zell suits us very well in that it is a smallish isolated town with a variety of bars to suit the needs of the both the parents and the older children/young adults.
We have a complete mix of skiing & boarding abilities in the group and although Zell provides us a variety of runs, we would like to explore if there are other resorts in Austria we should be considering.
The accomodation needs are mixed in that we have some families who prefer appartments where others prefer the mid range Hotels.
The travel arrangements are also mixed with some people flying whilst others use the drive down from Rotterdam, as we use the PO North Sea Ferry.
We have previoulsy tried France and stayed in Morillion 1100 and Les Coches but prefer Austria.
Could anyone please recommend other resorts we should consider based on the following critiera:-
1) Largish ski area with a good mix of blue, red and black piste.
2) A reasonably sized town which has a number of appartments centrally based.
3) Sensible night life that would not be too threatening for young adults going out with parents.
4) Easy to reach by road and air in terms of travel arrangements.
We have thought about trying Saalbach and would be interested in peoples opinions who have visited both resorts and could provide a comparison.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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jezzer96, Would have suggested St Anton until I read the
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Sensible night life that would not be too threatening for young adults going out with parents
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I would think Saalbach would do the job very nicely.
I'm not long back from Kappl and thought it was an excellent family ski resort - although only 45 km of runs in Kappl alone (much more when you add Ischgl, Galtur, See and Samnaun in the mix), the main chairs had blue, red and blacks running from them and the runs long and varied. I was really impressed with the skiing in Kappl. Also, very good value for money. Plenty of nice looking appartments and up to 4 star hotels - again good value when compared against other resorts. The apres ski was surprisingly good for such a small family orientated resort but nowehere near as good as St Anton. Great kids area up the hill too if there are any very young ones in the party. Fun park and timed slalom course for the older ones (including the adults of course)
I've stayed in Stuben with the family before and again great skiing on doorstep (part of the arlberg circuit - St Anton/Lech...) and is very queit but then again St Anton just down the road so you could sample the apres ski there too
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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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St Anton, Ischgl, Saalbach, probs Kitzbuhel too...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Some of my favourite places in Austria and my thoughts on them are as follows:
Ischgl - absolutely love it, great ski area, large and varied but compact enough to be able to hook up with party members for lunch etc. on the hill if you want. However, it is significantly more expensive than some of the resorts further east and you will notice the difference in cost as you move west. Also, the nightlife is renowned which may be great for some people, but as you have mentioned 'non-threatening' it's worth noting that the nightlife in Ischgl is epic, and errmmm...'large', which may be more of a worry with the young adults in your party. Skiing there and range of accommodation is fab though.
Kitzbuhel - I really like it but it's quite a big town and so accommodation options might be fairly spread out. If you find good accom near the Hahnenkamm you will have a good time though.
Obertauern - This might be ideal for your party. Plenty of accommodation options and skiing in the circuit is varied yet compact enough to be able to stay in touch with other group members. Fun nightlife but not too OTT. Will be a bit more expensive than Zell but not as expensive as Ischgl.
Saalbach - Lovely area and great village with lots of accommodation options. Not as easy for people to meet up while skiing though as the skiing involves more travelling up and down the valley and there's not as much of a focal point for people to meet up on the hill as those over at Hinterglemm are a good hour away on skis from those up above Saalbach.
Schladming - Might suit you very well. more difficult to meet up on the hill if people are away skiing at Reiteralm or whatever, but when we went with a big group, we just planned 2 days when we would be skiing away from the main Planai mountain (one at Reiteralm and one at Hauser Kaibling) so managed it that way. Town has lots of accommodation options and is very good value. Nightlift is quietish but there are enough options.
I think you could conceivably also look at some of the other Amade resorts, such as Wagrain or Flachau, both with lots of accommodation options, good value and lots of skiing.
One of the nice things about Zell if you're in a big group is that the ski area is fairly compact (OK, so for some people it is small), so it's easy to hook up with fellow group member on the mountain. We find this useful in a group situation, as some group holidays have ended up being a real parting of the ways after breakfast, not to meet up again until evening, due to the type of terrain and the design of the ski area, along with differing abilities. So I've commented on this quite a lot above as it is something we look out for when planning our group trips now.
HTH
D
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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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there's not as much of a focal point for people to meet up on the hill as those over at Hinterglemm are a good hour away on skis from those up above Saalbach
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What?! I'ts easily possible to ski from Saalbach to Hinterglemm in 15 form the top of Schattberg, 30 mins at the very most, unless you snowplough/traverse right across every slop.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
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there's not as much of a focal point for people to meet up on the hill as those over at Hinterglemm are a good hour away on skis from those up above Saalbach
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What?! I'ts easily possible to ski from Saalbach to Hinterglemm in 15 form the top of Schattberg, 30 mins at the very most, unless you snowplough/traverse right across every slop. |
Well I know it is, as that is one of the quickest routes from one village to another, if that is where you happen to be, but that's not really what I was getting at. I meant for example if someone is riding the lift up to Wildenkar and wants to meet pals for lunch and discovers everyone is over at Zwoelferkogel then it's going to take around an hour to get from one to another, depending on queues.
Don't get me wrong, I love Saalbach and ski there most years, but skiing there with a group requires a little more communication and planning than some of the alternatives if people want to stay in touch throughout the day. Ischgl for example has more of a focal point at Idalp, with lots of runs and lifts leading from or to a focal point (obviously there is more to Ischgl than that as well, just illustrating that some resorts have one focal point and some don't).
Whilst Obertauern has a circuit much like Saalbach, it is quite a bit smaller and all centres around the resort, whereas the Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang one focuses around 3 villages and 2 valleys.
I wouldn't write Saalbach off though, it's great place, it's just something I thought might be worth considering.
D
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Thanks for the help provided.
Saalbach does seems to be a very good option. I have spent some time reviewing the piste maps for the immediate resort and initial thoughts are theat it seems a bit limited in terms of black slopes.
Having not been to the resort, and comparing to Zell, would this be a fair comparison?
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jezzer96 not in Saalbach itself perhaps but the whole ski area of Hinterglemm/Leogang has some more challenging terrain and the loop itself is a very nice challenge for those of greater ability in your group.
IMHO it is more challenging as a whole than Zell.
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jezzer96, I wouldn't focus too much on the number of black pistes on the map - while there are not many blacks on the piste map at Saalbach (I think only 1 or 2), the blacks at Zell are not really very 'black' at all, and I think both Saalbach and Zell only have those few runs graded black so they can say they have black pistes. An example in Zell is the black that goes off the back of the Schmittenhoehe, to the Ketting area - it's really not black at all.
I wouldn't say there is a any difference in difficulty or steepness between the two resorts. In fact, they're so close you can see skiers in Saalbach from Zell, and vice versa, they are in the same region with similar terrain.
What is different is the layout, Saalbach is an elongated circuit whereas Zell is a horsehoe shaped mountain with runs going down the different 'arms' and into the valley in the middle.
Saalbach is obviously bigger so there will be more choice and variety there.
I wouldn't have said the lack of black pistes at Saalbach should put anyone off who wasn't put off Zell by it being on the small side.
D
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