Skiing in Austria
 

Hello everyone,

I have some questions regarding skiing in Austria. I am organizing a ski trip with some friends(well I'm organizing) to Austria. We are a group of 4 for now, as 2 still have to confirm. We want to go by the end of January, beginning of February, for 4 days. Is there someone who could recommend some nice skiing places? Also recommendations of places to stay and ski rental shops would be highly appreciated. Would love to report on the ski afterwards.

Cheers,
Nikole

Hi Nikole,

there are so many great places in Austria. I speak from experience of living in Salzburg for six months and going to ski every weekend in Flachau. From Salzburg to Flachau there is a bus everyday, but you would have to wake up really early and stop skiing at 16. So I'm no big help on places to ski, but rather on the experience in Flachau. It is a great place, lot of mountains and long tracks, snow should be fine around that time. You might get the tracks full some days but its a nice place.

Have fun there

Will definitely take a look at Flachau, thank you for the tip! By any chances did you rent your equipment there?

There are a ton of follow up questions to really give you a good answer, because as the other answer noted, there are tons of options in Austria. First of all, how much are you willing to spend? There are plenty of places you can do day trips to from many cities like Salzburg. Or... You can splurge and do a trip to a place like Lech/Zürs. If you are willing to spend, I'd recommend heading to that area because there is a lot of different skiing there and the towns are fun.
If you're a good skier, the off-pist skiing is amazing as well.

Choose your poison:
Lech
Galtur
Ischgl
Ellmau/wilder kaiser
St Anton
Zell am Zee / Kaprun

all are great or can be if the snow is good.

Ski Welt / Wilder Kaiser is spectacular and huge.

Amen to that. We’ve stopped our heretofore annual mid Jan trips due to poor snow conditions the last seven years.

Definitely a good list, but there are so many more places in Austria. Obertaurn is also a good skiing place.
St Anton and Ischgl are also great places

What is your budget?

What is your start point? How long will it take to get to the resort?

What type of accommodation do you want? Hotel with separate rooms or chalet style?

Why did you pick Austria in the first place? There are hundreds in Europe where you can ski

What level of expertise are your party? You'd need a resort with a good mix of runs to allow for that

Will there be any non skiers in your party. You'd need to go somewhere with things for them to do.

Will you behiring a car or relying on public transport?

I ski in Austria every year, and I honestly can't think of a bad place to go...

First of all, Austria definitely is a great place to ski at, and I think the best and largest area to ski at would be the Arlberg region (includes St. Anton, Lech and Zurs). It is unlikely you can ski all the lines at the Arlberg region in all 4 days, and while Lech and Zurs tend to be more expensive, look at the smaller villages in the Arlberg region like Warth/Schrocken or Zug where lodging prices might be cheaper. If you prefer convenience, St. Anton and St. Jakob are closer to the train station for easier access.

Ischgl is another great choice. Another great option is Solden along with Obergurgl/Hochgurgl, located in the Otztal valley. Solden is quite easy to access from Innsbruck and if you plan to have cheaper lodging, probably staying in Oetz might be cheaper and taking the bus daily to ski. Otherwise, stay at Innsbruck and take the ski bus to the various ski areas around Innsbruck if you like to try out different ski resorts each day. Finding lodging in Innsbruck should be easy but you might not get the ski chalet ambience.

If you are travelling from London, you should either fly to and stay in Innsbruck, exploring the many different mountains on the local bus routes, or simply take a package holiday to one of the main resorts. The former is more adventurous, the latter is much easier and will probably work out cheaper.

Innsbruck is a great place, but I would say it is rather full around the time she is planning the trip. As all of Austria, around that time... I would even say that January and February are almost no-gos

Overall you have so many places to rent equipment, as in every region you have so many shops and with different prices. When I went there I rented at Sport 2000. My advice rent online as you might get cheaper prices. If you end up doing more skiing trips, buy your own equipment as it gets even cheaper. Also be careful with your skiing boots if you rent some, as many times you end changing them during the day as they are too small and hurting your feet.

Renting skiboots is really disgusting. Think of how much sweat gets deposited in them every day, and how they are kept overnight in warm rooms to dry. Do your feet a favour, spend the money to buy your own.