Skiing in Austria

Austrian skiing is a world away from the impersonality of the purpose built resorts of France. Alpine charm is in abundance, from the Rustic chalets, farmhouses and onion domed churches to the delightful mountain restaurants serving delicious home cooked food.

Whilst Austria may not have enormous ski areas such as France they usually are well thought out with good lift systems. Austria has some excellent glacier areas rated as some of the best in the world. There are still many hidden gems that large operators don’t offer with ski areas that are an intermediates paradise.

Austrian resorts have made great improvements to enable them to compete with their rivals and have radically improved their snow making capacity with state of the art equipment.

Ski school in Austria can be the highlight of your holiday. Most Austrian instructors speak good English and this, combined with their warm and easy going temperament makes for easy learning and lots of fun especially for children.

Austrian Ski Resorts

The majority of Austrian resorts are real, working villages. They have expanded greatly over the years and most of the development has been done sympathetically in traditional chalet style. Even the most seasoned skiers cannot fail to be charmed by the alpine villages and traditional dress that is still worn throughout.

Austrian cuisine has certainly moved ahead with the times and you will often find that the focus is now on healthy options often using organic produce from the local areas. Mountain restaurants never fail to please, and still comparatively inexpensive compared to their rival countries.

Nightlife varies as in any other country, but the Austrians have a particular penchant for Après Ski. There are open-air ice bars on the mountain, umbrella bars and countless transparent “igloo bars” in case of inclement weather where Beer and Schnapps are consumed in copious quantities.

One of the main disadvantages of Austria is that it does not have scheduled flights to Salzburg therefore making weekend breaks in and around the region somewhat difficult. Also credit cards are not universally accepted and you may have to pay for ski lessons, lift passes and extras by cash.