 Poster: A snowHead
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After many hours of scouring brochures,  and WTS&S I have concluded that the only Austrian villages that are genuine Ski In / Out, with a wide range of Blue Runs (including down to the village) are Lech and Saalbach.
Is this really the case?
Pete
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oberlech is ski-in/ski out. Lech has few hotels as such that are ski-in/ski-out.
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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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| erica2004 wrote: |
| Oberlech is ski-in/ski out. Lech has few hotels as such that are ski-in/ski-out. |
I don't need ski in / out hotel, I do need ski in / out village!
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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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What? Do you just mean somewhere where you can ski to the village? In that case there are hundreds (as in, most resorts)!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Some of these resorts might have skiing down to the village ....
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Austrian Ski Resorts with the Best skiing for Beginners
Koppl *****
Leutasch *****
Alpbach ****
Spittal an der Drau ****
Angerberg ****
Berg im Drautal ****
Bezau ****
Zillertal Arena ****
Königsleiten ****
Nassfeld Hermagor ****
Innerkrems ****
Biberwier ****
Radstadt ****
Berwang ****
Rifflsee ****
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http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Austria/TopAustrianSkiResorts.html
As clarky999 says it depends how you define a ski in/out village .....
Westerndorf & Soll?
http://www.bergfex.at/westendorf/
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Theres not actually that much ski in ski out in Saalbach, plus its a massively over developed resort , and often very crowded.
Go for Lech, Obertauern (tauernglockl is excellent) , or Hochgurgl (hotel sport-ideal is you can ski to and from the door, or could in Dec)
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I'm struggling to think of many Austrian resorts that don't have skiing to the village (assuming that's what he means). Axamer Lizum, Stubai... nowhere else I can think of off the top of my head, certainly not any of the more well known places.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| I'm struggling to think of many Austrian resorts that don't have skiing to the village (assuming that's what he means). Axamer Lizum, Stubai... nowhere else I can think of off the top of my head, certainly not any of the more well known places. |
Yep, most places I've been to in Austria have skiing to the village. Altenmarkt and Radstadt are a couple I kow of that don't (slopes are a km or so from village)... this list of those that do is pretty long.
For ultimate convenience Zauchensee has skiing to the door or almost to the door of hotels. I've not skied at Obertauern but I think that is similar.
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There are loads of others. Oberlech is more ski in/out than lech. I stayed in a ski in/out gasthof in Kappl this year and I'm sure there are loads of other places like that all over Austria. Sadly the brochures won't have too many for austria. My advice would be find an area you like the look if and research accommodation based on proximity to slopes - most resort websites plus others like bergfex have filters to allow for that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| I'm struggling to think of many Austrian resorts that don't have skiing to the village (assuming that's what he means). Axamer Lizum, Stubai... nowhere else I can think of off the top of my head, certainly not any of the more well known places. |
From my perhaps limited experience the majority of Austrian resorts don't have skiing back to the village.
Of the Austrian resorts I've been to Hinterglemm and Zell am See have skiing back to the village.
The ones that don't (from my experience of course) are:
Scheffau, Soll, Bad Hofgastein, and Kaprun
That's just 1 in 3.
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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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I thought you could ski into Scheffau? Looks like it form the piste map.
I can still think of more that you can ski down to than you can't though.
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clarky999, the village is up the hill on t'other side from the slopes, across the main road - ditto with Soll
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You know it makes sense.
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Fair 'nuff, I've never been into the villages, I've only stayed in Westendorf out of the Ski Welt lot.
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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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PeteMan, Personally I would not call much of Lech ski in ski out, lovely area though it is. The blue runs to resort level are also a bit trickier than the average blue.
Obertauern and Zauchensee would fit your description a bit better, as would Zurs or Oberlech in the Lech area.
From memory Gargellen may suit though it was only a flying visit a long time ago.
Never been to Saalbach.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks everyone. Looking at the suggestions so far some places look like they'd fit the bill more than others....
Westendorf - Looks possible (main lift 5 mins from centre a few blue runs down to the village) but limited skiing overall unless you take in the wider Skiwelt.
Soll - Nope, Slopes are wll outside the village (as per WTSS)
Obertauern - Looks possible with various lifts in the village.
Hochgurgl - Appears to be convenient but isn't with roads / stairs to negotiate before getting to the snow (as per WTSS)
Whilst perhaps a lot of villages can be skied to I think that a fair few are spread out with some hotels away from the lifts (1km or so) and therefore best reached by bus. Also there's probably lots that you can ski down to but the lifts may be on the outskirts of the village.
What looks appealing (unique) about Lech is that it appears to be a compact village with all accmmodation near to a lift and loads of cruisy blue runs.
Pete
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PeteMan,
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What looks appealing (unique) about Lech is that it appears to be a compact village with all accmmodation near to a lift and loads of cruisy blue runs.
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Lech is not that compact, there is a bus service that runs through it to take people to and from lifts and accomodation, though parts of the centre of Lech are very convenient. Also the blues back to base are not easy ones and I would not say that it has much more cruisy blue skiing than many other resorts.
Having said that it is a lovely place to ski and highly recommended just not much superior to several other Austrian villages for the two criteria you specify.
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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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I wouldn't necessarily rely on WTSS. They rely a lot on reader reviews and some are absolute cr@p.
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| Quote: |
Westendorf - Looks possible (main lift 5 mins from centre a few blue runs down to the village) but limited skiing overall unless you take in the wider Skiwelt
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Nope, you take a chair up form the village and traverse across, and it's only a red that'll take you back over to the village centre (can get down to the 'main lift,' the Alpenrosenbahn on blues though). Doesn't have a huge amount of skiing in itself but it's good skiing - i've spent 6 weeks there and sill enjoy going back, nd prefer to stay i the Westendorf area. Some fun fairly mellow offpiste too and Kitzbuehl/SkiWelt are connected too.
Also look at Kitz, Ischgl, Mayrhofen, St Anton (and the other Arlberg villages), Fiss, and plenty of other smaller places too.
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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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Ischgl - Only Reds down to resort acording to Piste Map.
Kits - Some lifts from the centre but as it's a fairly big place a lot of accom is away from the lifts. Also most runs back down to the village are Reds.
Mayrhofen - There's a couple of lifts in the centre but Piste Map does not show any runs that return to the village.
St Anton - Stated elsewhere on this forum that the runs that return to the village are not for the faint hearted.
Fiss - Only Reds down to resort acording to Piste Map.
See my point now!
Pete
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| St Anton - Stated elsewhere on this forum that the runs that return to the village are not for the faint hearted |
That's only because you have to somehow get past the Mooserwirt without needing a liver transplant afterwards.
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| Fiss - Only Reds down to resort acording to Piste Map |
Serfaus, Fiss and Ladis are all reached by easy runs. Can't remember whether they are reds or not, but if so then they are easy reds.
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| Quote: |
| Serfaus, Fiss and Ladis are all reached by easy runs. Can't remember whether they are reds or not, but if so then they are easy reds. |
Maybe to you but not to a lardy ar5e forty something third week skier like me! Serfaus, another place where there are lifts are at the extreme end of the village! Ladis looks pretty stuck out on a limb.
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PeteMan, Serfaus is served by an underground railway that takes you from the lifts right the way through the village. Couldn't be easier. The lifts in Ladis are a small way out of town though.
I would have thought that after three weeks a red run would be just the thing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Steilhang wrote: |
| PeteMan, Serfaus is served by an underground railway that takes you from the lifts right the way through the village. |
Wow, how cool is that! Just read up on it, the worlds smallest subway!
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Yup, and one of only two subways in Austria. The other one is in Vienna, so the locals take great pleasure in telling you!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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PeteMan, If I may (as a resident of Saalbach) very gingerly stick my head above the parapet, I think I know just what you're getting at in your original post. The French purpose-built resorts spoil you into expecting to ski to and from the door-step, and then you get to Austria and find that the farming communities who originally built the villages didn't have the foresight to bear skiing convenience in mind, so generally speaking, you have bus rides or walking in boots to contend with. For example, I don't know if Mayrhofen has changed, but, as a blue run beginner many years ago, I used to find it such a bind, having to queue for the Penken and Ahorn cable cars to get up and down the mountain, or get a ski bus to the gondola, located outside the village.
Many Austrian villages are also situated in wide, flat-bottomed valleys, so you can find yourself a distance from the lifts - e.g. Soll. Either that or they're in a steep-sided gorge. From what I remember of Lech, you do have good skiing convenience, which is more than I could say for St Anton.
Much depends on where you actually choose to stay - find accommodation next to a ski lift and the end of a run, and you've got ski-in, ski-out. In that respect, whilst having the advantage of being mostly in a V-shaped valley with ski runs fanning out in all directions, Saalbach and Hinterglemm are no different from many other ski resorts. Stay somewhere along the valley road, and you'll probably end up waiting for ski buses and taxis. However, stay in the village centre, and you'll be more or less ideally strategically placed for walking the short distance to one or other of the lifts, depending on which direction you want to head in.
There are 34 blue runs in Saalbach-Hinterglemm (not forgetting Leogang), and I'm happy to say that 4 of them end up opposite my front door, which is opposite a cable-car and in the village centre, so you are quite right in saying that it can be regarded as ski-in ski-out, if you select your accommodation with that in mind - in fact the Hinterhag Hotel in our village prides itself as having the unusual distinction of being able to literally ski into the hotel itself (Google its website).
Of course you're unlikely to find a resort in which all the runs end up in the village centre, but I think I know what you are getting at. It does of course make a big difference to beginners, who benefit greatly from a resort that is high enough and has village-level nursery slopes and blue runs (if they so choose) virtually to their front door, with no need to catch buses. (They also save on not having to get a full lift pass). Purpose-built places like Avoriaz, Alpe d'Heuz, 3 Valleys, etc etc of course have that advantage, but it's certainly rarer to find it in Austrian villages.
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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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Tatman's Tours, you are absolutely spot on. In addition, the topography of the typical Austrian ski resort often means a steep sided mountain / hill adjacent to the village which makes the run down difficult.
What triggered my question was a visit to Niederau at New Year. This is a smallish elongated village but all along the top are the slopes and various drag lifts with a single gondola in the middle. As a result you can ski back to virtually all the hotels (wih perhaps a very small walk to the door). There are lots of drag lifts for beginner slopes that enable you to traverse back down to the gondola. The skiing is very limited in Niederau and the red run back to the resort is steep for a beginner. However, Niederau punches wll above its weight in the popularity terms for UK visitors, many of whom return year after year.
So the purpose of my thread was to combined the convenience and charm of Niederau with far more blue runs and a much easier ski back to the village.
Serfaus does look like it may offer this (as does Lech and possibly Saalbach) so I will definitely add it to my list of possible destinations.
Pete
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You know it makes sense.
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PeteMan,
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So the purpose of my thread was to combined the convenience and charm of Niederau with far more blue runs and a much easier ski back to the village.
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Lech is a great place to ski and I am sure you would have a great time there but it does not really fit the criteria you state.
There is not an easy ski run back to the village.The marked blue is not easy for the last few hundred metres it is significantly steeper than other blues on the mountain and would I suspect normally be classified as red except for marketing purposes the resort prefer to have a blue to return to the village on. It can like most other return runs to resort get icy at the end of the day. You see plenty of people struggling on it. The edition of WTSS that I have annotate their piste map of Lech with 'Uncomfortably steep slopes above village' This is the return run. It is not a problem really as if you don't fancy it it is easy to download from Oberlech but this is true of most resorts.
The original centre of Lech may be small but there is relatively little accommodation immediately next to the slopes and now Lech sprawls along the road and the majority of the reasonably priced accommodation is best reached by a short and efficient free bus service.
About half the skiing is over towards Zurs you have to take a (gentle) red to get there or the bus. To get back you either have to take a trickier red or get the bus. If you are going during a warm sunny spell these slopes hold better snow than the Lech ones. The snow record overall is excellent though.
I am sure if you went to Lech you would have a great time it is a lovely area and the village is very attractive but it is not really a lot stronger on the points you have mentioned than quite a few other resorts.
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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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Thanks everyone for your feedback. Going back to my original requirement for an Austrian ski in / out village, good atmosphere, lots of blue runs including a blue down to the village my shortlist is now as follows:
1) Lech (I know it's not that compact)
2) St Anton (I know the run to the village can be tricky)
3) Obergurgl (I appreciate that most blues are in Hochgurgl)
4) Serfaus
We're thinking of going Easter 2012 so the secret seems to be to book flights to Innsbruck and hold out for a later hotel deal.
Does anyone know the usual changeover day in Austria (Sat or Sun)?
Cheers, Pete
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Poster: A snowHead
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PeteMan, changeover day depends on the tour operator - for example, Ski Total's is on a Sunday but most of the big ones such as Inghams & Crystal will be on a Saturday. I really wouldn't recommend Lech as a ski in/out place if that is high on your criteria, unless you stay in Oberlech. Ski Total's chalet hotels are fine in Lech, we stayed in Sonneck last year.
St Anton - it not just the run to the resort which can be tricky. I think if you are a cautious skier who wants to ski the blues, the main problem you may find is their lack of piste bashing, making what may appear to be a nice blue on the map become a whole lot harder.
I do love Serfaus and the underground railway is a great way to get to the lifts. The village itself is built along the hillside, so if you stay along the top side you may be able to ski back to your hotel or close by. If you stay along the bottom you'll probably have a walk up to one of the railway stops (there are only 4 stops - 1 at each end and 2 in the middle).
Have you considered Obertauern? We stayed in a lovely hotel, Hotel Schneider which was truly ski in/out, the runs were quite gentle and you can book a transfer minibus from the airport through the resort website.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PeteMan, Most popular changeover day seem to be Sunday but some package deals do change on Saturday
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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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From my experience hotels that allow changeover any day other than Saturday during peak season in Austria are very rare indeed!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Tatman's Tours wrote: |
PeteMan
Much depends on where you actually choose to stay - find accommodation next to a ski lift and the end of a run, and you've got ski-in, ski-out. |
Last year I spent a week in Niederau, at the Hotel Harfenwirt. It was the most ski-to-door place I've ever been. Directly across the road from a drag lift that took you up to where the nursery slopes started and up on to the rest of the mountain. My girlfriend, who is not an especially confident skier, loved this and spent most of her time pootling around this area on account of its proximity to the hotel.
It's about a 10 minute walk from this hotel down the road into the village centre.
Don't think it's especially high altitude though, so it might not be quite as ski-to-doorable later on in the season, but if you get good snow conditions it's perfect.
D'oh: note to self - read entire thread before replying. 
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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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Bit late to this thread, but Alpbach is a bus ride from the slopes (except for one nursery slope down in the village itself, which can be a sea of slush - indeed that was why my son broke his ankle toboganning - so blinded by slush the silly chap smashed straight into a fence).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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PeteMan, Look into stuben as well/instead of st Anton....
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A couple of thoughts.
The final blue into Lech is relatively steep, but there is a straightforward route to the skiers right of it which is much easier and brings you to exactly the same point. Oberlech as others have mentioned would simply cut out this problem. Plenty of very nice hotels up there (and for those curious about tunnels a massive network to allow trucks to drive back and forth delivering goods between all the hotels unseen).
Obertauern also has three or four really nice ski in ski out options.
Easter next year is fortunately a lot earlier than this year!
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Having done Saalbach I wouldn't think it was ideal for your needs (just my opinion)
However, Sölden and HochSölden has all that you want.
Choice of skiing back to centre of the village even if you're still a bit of a learner!
Just back from a brilliant week there. Not expensive either!
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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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| nozawaonsen wrote: |
| Easter next year is fortunately a lot earlier than this year! |
Sadly not from a Gloucestershire School holiday perspective.
This year the two weeks off are: w/c 11/4 and 18/4
Next year the two weeks off are: w/c 2/4 and 9/4
So only 9 days earlier!
Pete
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Round my way...
Schladming - ski to village/accommodation
Obertauern - ski to village/accommodation
Zauchensee - ski to 'village' /accommodation
Flachau - ski to village/accommodation (if your choose the right lift  )
Best for blues is Zauchensee and Obertauern.
All other areas offer blue runs but the runs to valley are much more purple... so download at the end of the day with tired legs!
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