My husband and I are looking to go skiing in Austria (Innsbruck, St. Anton, or Kitzbuhel) over New Year%26#39;s Eve. We think our skiing skills would be best matched at St. Anton, but heard hotels there only allow Saturday - Saturday stays. Is this correct? Does anybody have any reccomendations on places to stay, or which area we would enjoy most? We definitely would like a fun night life as well!!
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I think you mean apartment hotels that usually are to be rented weekwise only, and normally Sa - Sa. You can book hotels for any time you want, but you may not get discount prices thy might offer otherwise. I don%26#39;t recommend Kitzbuehel, as it is situated very low and around New Year many slopes might still be closed.
Your choices are the most glitzy, glamorous places, but not necessarily the best skiing. If it is what you want, fine; but in case you prefer good skiing at the costs of nightlife, I would suggest Ischgl-Samnaun area in the Paznaun valley, near the Swiss border. It is a huge skiing system covering several valleys, with 250 km of skiing runs, and going up to 3000 m. The village of Samnaun itself is at 1800 m over the sea level, so even at this time you will probably be able to ski to the doorstep of your hotel.
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Many hotels have only Saturday to Saturday stays as this maximizes revenue. This is especially true of higher quality hotels and is found many places in Europe. It also causes massive traffic jams sometimes.
In addition ,the Christmas - New Years period is perhaps the busiest and highest priced time of the ski season.Some hotels only accept reservations for the whole time often Dec. 26 - January 6th as schools are closed and many take this Holiday especially from Germany.
St. Anton has good skiing and also fine nightlife.
Also check areas such as Ischgl, some say best skiing and nightlife in Austria.
Lech and Zurs offer some of the best snow and ski network in Austria. Nightlife is OK but not exceptional. ( near St. Anton- generally more expensive and often completely booked.)
Kitzbuhel is totally filled at this time and I would not recommend it. Skiing often not good at this time due to low altitude.
However some smaller towns near there in St. Johann often provide good accomodations at less costs and good skiing.
Zell am Zee is also a good place with a glacier nearby to guarantee good snow
we have often stayed at the Hotel Theresa in Zell am Ziller not too far from Innsbruck in the Ziller Valley. Excelent food. Mayrhofen nearby offers many bars clubs etc. for excelent nightlife !
This valley offers many good ski areas, many now interconnected for excelent skiing.
I could also recommend the town of Gerlos - usually excelent snow , varied terrain Christmas- New years due to the huge numbers of people. However if this is what you like or the only time you can get away- go for it!
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Thank you for your replies!
Unfortunately, the travel dates we have are 27 December to 2 January. They are not flexible due to our work schedules. If you had your choice of any place, that had a good combination of skiing and nightlife, which area, of any in Austria, would you pick?
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Ischgl! a fantastic place
Look at www.ischgl.com ( in english too) for much information
also www.ischgl.at german only but look around -more info on nigtlife perhaps. These will also give you lodging info. Tourist office can help also.
Nearest airport is Innsbruck about 1- 1 1/2 hours by car
alsö train to Landeck then bus to Ischg from Innsbruck or Munich,
Extensive ski runs including those into Swiss ( no passport required) Fun places to eat on mountains- you can ski back into town from the top.
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Have to agree with the majority I%26#39;m afraid :-) Ischgl is the place to be - fantastic skiing (wider terrain than St Anton), great nightlife ! The pistes are literally peppered with great little bars and restaurants with that freindly feel that you can only get in Austria or Bavaria. Try the Tiroller Grostl - you%26#39;ll never look back :-)
If you want a great hotel there try the Elizabeth. Right at the bottom of the ski lift/ski run. Unclip your skis or board, walk 20 metres and you are leaning on the heated granite bar outside the hotel for a nice gluhweine, beer or vodka feig ! Hotel rooms are lovely and the food is pretty darn good. I%26#39;ve stayed in literally dozens of little family run Pensions in Ischgl and have yet to experience a bad stay. I suspect that this is because the majority of the resort%26#39;s trade is from Germany and the Germans are righfully fussy over their accomodation.
Wouldn%26#39;t recommend flying into Innsbruck as it is generally pretty expensive and tends to get affected by weather frequently. Flying into Munich I%26#39;ve always found to be the best option - cheap flights and the cost of a hire car for the duration is easily covered by the money you have saved by not flying into Innsbruck ! www.holidayautos.com I%26#39;ve always found to be pretty good. Make sure you ask for Winter Tyres as amazingly they are not offered by default - or hire some chains when you get there. If it is snowing when you arrive it is very common that the Austrian police will not allow you up the mountain unless you are either driving a 4x4 with Winter Tyres or you have snow chains. If you are driving don%26#39;t forget to get a Vignette as well (kinda like a temporary %26#39;road tax%26#39; for non-Austrians. You can get them at any motorway service station).
Other terrains of interest....Hmmm. If you were looking at St Anton then I%26#39;m guessing you%26#39;re both pretty competent skiers/boarders and I suspect you%26#39;d get a bit bored at Zell-am-see/Kaprun even though the nightlife in Zell is kinda fun. The ski terrain at St Anton is fairly technical (more so than most resorts) and, in my opinion, fairly limited. Hintertux is a decent terrain and a bit of fun. Otherwise, the ski-welt area (Soll, Elmau et al) is quite a nice %26#39;linked%26#39; set of resorts. Soll offers the more lively end of the apres-ski, or go a little off the beaten track to Westendorf for a more traditional Austrian stay.
I quite like Obertauen and Saalbach-Hinterglemm as resorts as well. They are nothing %26#39;special%26#39; ski-wise but offer a decent terrain and a friendly apres-ski with a nice selection of restaurants. Typical Austrian/Bavarian food though. As they say: %26quot;Meat is the best vegetable%26quot;.
In terms of the Hotel %26#39;Saturday to Saturday%26#39; thing.... The hotels that you find advertising on the Internet typically are in a position to turn down booking requests that do not fit into that category as they have enough business over that period. Your best bet is to do one of the following:-
(1) Don%26#39;t book ! Just turn up and ask the smaller familly run guesthouses for accomodation, or ask the tourist centre in the centre of Ischgl for a list of hotels with available rooms - they all phone their availability in to the central office every day. I used to live in Munich and go down to St Anton or Ischgl most weekends - I NEVER struggled to find accomodation even over the busiest periods. NOTE: This also gives you the advantage of being able to change your destination if you hear that the snow is going to be rubbish during the time you are expecting to be there.
(2) If you don%26#39;t like the idea of not booking then contact the Tourist Board in Ischgl - the number is somewhere on www.ischgl.com (or get it from the international operator) and phone them. They can give you a MUCH more comprehensive list of the smaller guesthouses that are far more likely to entertain the idea of you booking over a non-standard period.
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TheDoverMan, I%26#39;m enthousiastic about Ischgl, too. I was there only for 2 nights, in april 2004, and I still dream about it. I see you write a lot. Tell me, please, do you know anything about 3Vallees, in France. Unfortunately (maybe) my friends have allready choosen the destination this year. I don%26#39;t ski so well, so it doesn%26#39;t really matter for me if there are 200 or 600 Km of slopes, but I really liked the nightlife in Tirol. I%26#39;ll be devasteted if I will not find some heise oma or something like that in France!
Hope you write back
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Do you mean Verbier/ 4 valleys?
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No, in France, not in Switzerland. The region is larger, there are some resorts in it, Meribel, Les Menuires, Val Thorens, Brides-les-Bains. Have you been there?
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hi andra, I stayed in Brides les Bains in March. its a small pretty little town, as far as i could tell it had one street, bars, restaurants and a couple of pizza places. I didn%26#39;t venture out much as I went on holiday on my own but I had a great time and really enjoyed it!! :) The gondola takes you up to meribel where there are a lot more bars and shops but the last one down is about 6ish if I remember right so you miss out on the nightlife. I was so tired it didn%26#39;t bother me. Its more of a family resort than singles, I%26#39;d say. There%26#39;s a great little bar at the bottom of the gondola in Brides and the owner clangs the cow bell to get you to go in for a drink. . I bought the three valley pass and skied over to Courcheval. The pass isn%26#39;t cheap but I thought it worth it. The views from Meribel to Courcheval were fantastic. I enjoyed the ski-ing better in Courcheval, I%26#39;d say I%26#39;m an advanced beginner, I can whizz down a red on my bum... but there%26#39;s a lovely run down from Meribel into Courcheval. Stop and enjoy the views at the top. As I stayed in Brides, I had to make sure I got the lift back from Courcheval to Meribel in time to get catch the last gondola back to Brides.I think you can ski it from the top. I think its called the Saulire, but I%26#39;m not that good so I didn%26#39;t even look into it. Mottaret is nice, lots of bars and restaurants where you can sit and people watch. As it was the end of the season there was no snow in Brides and it was hot, but apparantely in high season you can ski off piste from meribel to brides, dont know whether its guided or not though. Brides is about twenty minutes from Moutiers. Loads of coaches going to and from everywhere. It wouldn%26#39;t be my first choice for a holiday again but it was a cheapie and I%26#39;d already had a good one in January so I can%26#39;t complain.
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you made me a picture, thanks. I can say now it is like I was there.. We are about 18-25 in this vacation and we did not choose yet the destination. I try to convince them to go in Ischgl, but we still want a cheaper one.. we shall see where we%26#39;ll go between 25 februry and 4 march.
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