Hi all, I have 10 days in Austria of which 4 nights are in Vienna. I certainly want to visit Salzburg (2-3 nights). I'm travelling with my lil 3 year old daughter. We are interested in trying skiing, but neither of us have ever done it before! Any suggestions as to where we could go?
Since we have another 3 nights left, should we just go to Innsbruck or is it too commercial? Is Zell am see any good? Any other suggestions please? We have a mid range budget: fyi.
Thanks much in advance. Cheers!
Some travelers reporting in here do feel Innsbruck is too commercial, and some like it. I would keep researching that, to see if it seems too commercial to you.
The first time I tried skiing, I broke an ankle. I'm sure you'll be fine, but this might be a good time to check to see whether your current medical insurance covers you and your daughter in Europe.
Hopefully some of our contributors will be able to suggest where you can go in Austria to try skiing.
To be honest, anywhere with a ski-ing infrastructure good enough to be safe and practical for total beginners is going to be quite "commercial".
For the skiing I recommend staying at the Tritscher Apartments in Rohrmoos-Untertal which is a little over an hour away from Salzburg by train (a very scenic ride indeed). The website of these apartments is www.tritscher.at/en/app/start.html This place is VERY family and kid friendly. They love children. Also, I recommend it because they have a ski school and the lifts are right outside. You can rent your equipment right there. The food is good and the small apartments are very welcoming of kids. Use that link to actually see a video of the place and how one child enjoyed it.
Another reason is they have a fun ski school program for 3 and 4 year old children called their mini school which involves safe ski instruction with teachers experienced with teaching this age group to ski and also with some fun activities that are fun and safe for tye little ones. The link for this is www.tritscher.at/en/sks/sks_gruppenkurse/ski_schule_kinder/miniclub.html When you get to this link, on the left click "Mini Club" as that is the program for the 3-4 year old children.
They have a great ski class for beginning adults too are quite patient. The link for that is www.tritscher.at/en/sks/sks_gruppenkurse/Ski_Schule_Erwachsene.html
I like Innsbruck and enjoy all it has to offer. Zell Am See is awesome and gorgeous.
If you're going to be in Salzburg, consider Obertauern just to the south for skiing. It has plenty of beginer hills, and you can practically ski out of the back door of most of the hotels.
My Austrian experience is limited to Salzburg and the PillerseeTal area where we participated in a cross country ski event. The PillerseeTal area links five villages, all with both XC ski and Alpine lift skiing, by free local bus service.
http://www.kitzbueheler-alpen.com/en/pillerseetal/holiday-skiing-crosscountry.html
I should add that the PillerseeTal area seemed to be pretty low-keyed with respect downhill skiing - a lot of older skiers and families.
We stayed at a hotel in Fieberbrunn that has ski lifts at the back of the hotel. http://www.sporthotel-fontana.at/en/
http://www.skischule-fieberbrunn.at/en/kids-ski-school.html
Fieberbrunn was a two hour regional train ride from Salzburg. Cost of the train was 35€ total for up to five passengers. (Einfach Raus tickets: low-cost regional transport ticket for 2 to 5 persons Valid on the selected day of travel until 3:00 a.m. of the following day (on workdays after 9:00 a.m.)). http://www.oebb.at/en/Tickets/Basic_offerings/index.jsp
Serfaus is an excellent resort which caters specifically to families with small children.
https://www.serfaus-fiss-ladis.at/en/accommodations/search-book
Just got a snow alert from snow-forecast.com for Fieberbrunn:
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Fieberbrunn?utm_source=Fieberbrunn%2Bsnowlalert&utm_medium=email
Here are the website's Austrian resort listings from A to D (of the 317 resorts listed for Austria):
http://www.snow-forecast.com/countries/Austria/resorts/A-D
Austria: latest snow conditions round-up INTRODUCTION Thursday 29th
January marked the beginning of an extremely snowy period of weather
for the Alps and Pyrenees. Over a metre of fresh snow is expected by
the end of the weekend across a large area and to low levels,
transforming the snow conditions. Between 15 and 50cm has already been
recorded this week across the northern Alps, already improving the
skiing.
Here's the snow forcast for the bottom elevations of Fieberbrunn:
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Fieberbrunn/6day/bot
I learned to ski at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado. Most of my skiing has since been around Lake Tahoe, California.
I once ventured to Innsbruck, Austria to ski and found it to be a completely different experience.
European ski resorts are typically more difficult slopes to navigate. They're steep, cold and often icy.
I once was touring around Cortina, Italy. You can go up on the mountain in Winter and ski from town to town. Just this one small area had twice the ski runs than in all of Colorado. There are great ski mountains all over The Alps.
But beginner skiers need good ski schools and less demanding slopes to learn on. You've received some good suggestions for beginner mountains. They will suit you well.
I know the Salzburg region a little bit and a nice place to visit is Hallein. Its close to Salzburg and to good to access with car as well as public transport. You can do day trips to the lake Mondsee area north of Salzburg. I have been there and it was simply incredible amazing. Some smaller lakes, surrounded by lovely mountains and traditional villages. Especially in Winter this is a very nice location to visit!
