Skiing and New Year's Eve in Austria

For pure skiing I would go to St. Anton von Arlberg - many lifts and several villages. But...the Ziller Valley and the Stubai Valley south of Innsbruck both have excellent skiing and a much broader variety of terrains. Innsbruck is also fun day trip into a larger town.

https://www.zillertal.at/en.html

https://www.stubai.at/unterkuenfte/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI89DcnqKI5QIViojICh2S2wE8EAAYASAAEgIcqfD_BwE

The town of Mayrhofen is near the head of the Zillertal (reachable by the local train (Zilletalbahn, aka the local school bus) from Jenbach just east of Innsbruck). and is the biggest/most developed ski center in that area. The Ziller Valley has about half a dozen different ski areas, and Mayrhofen has three - The Penken side, the Ahorn Side, and a bus to the Glacier further south. All of the ski areas in the valley are accessible by the local train (your lift ticket or just carrying your ski kit) will give you free passage.

The best ski area in my opinion is Hochfugen, that is west of the main valley and can be reached by bus from Fugen in the valley or by gondola up from the town of Kaltenbach.

Mayrhofen has no shortage of party opportunities. Beware of drunk Brits (applies to all Austrian areas I have been to).

Have fun!

With school vacations over the holidays in Europe, this is absolute high season time in the Alps. Some hotels will not book for less than 7 days. Wherever you chose you should book soon.

For small, less known, places with good skiing I prefer Hochgurgl and Obergurgl. I always liked to go to Kitzbuhl and St Anton is high on my list too.

A lot of the Austrians I know prefer to ski Slovakia as it's cheaper.

We spent a long lunch stop in Zell am See and I think it would make a great place for skiing and New Years. There are lifts from the center of town and the market area (marktplatz) looked really lively.

Although I have skied at 62 N American resorts, I've never been tempted to hurl my body down a mountain at what my body thinks is 3:00am in the Alps. On the other hand, we've spent some 32 vacation trips in Austria, so we have some sense of the ski scene. I would pick Lofer or Zell. Lofer is an incredibly quaint old Alpine village with a small but decent ski area (the Post Hotel is right beside the lift). Zell is a new resort brilliantly built to pretend to be a classic Alpine village. Its Disneyland (Zell) vs reality (Lofer). Both work.

Shopping is an another advantage of Lofer, which has the closest thing to an outlet mall we have ever found in EU (54 tourist trips). Example: got my wife a Geiger Loden jacket for $65 in Lofer. Saw the same thing back home in the states for $365 (different color). 

St. Anton am Arlberg, Kitzbühel, Lech-Zürs am Arlberg these are the most popular ski resorts in Austria. No matter what you are about to choose you will remember the time spending there especially celebrating the New Year.