LSUvetgirl

My husband and I (early 30's) will be going to Austria for Christmas this year. We are living in Belgium, and the current plan is to take a couple of days driving down, stopping at some Christmas markets etc, then arrive in Salzburg on the 23rd, stay over Christmas in a place on the outskirts of Salzburg and spend about 5 nights, visiting Salzburg, doing day trips to Berchtesgaden, etc.

On the 28th or 29th we'd like to switch gears and go somewhere a little more laid back and fun. Looking at the popular ski resorts it looks like everythign's booked solid but we have found some places with availability in smaller villages within 30 miles or so of resorts in both Austria and Germany (i.e. Seefeld, maybe Oberstdorf, Garmisch, Kleinwalsertal etc) We'd like to find a place to stay for about 5 nights, including our wedding anniversary and New Year's Eve. I don't drink, so driving in and out of somewhere after NYE celebrations wouldn't be too daunting, although of course celebrating right out your front door is great too .

I'm having a hard time choosing the right place, though. The type of New Year's I'm imagining would be similar to a wine festival we went to on the Rhine a couple of years ago. People out on the street drinking gluwhein (sp) and eating bratwursts, maybe some type of special holiday food, with bands playing festive live traditional music, everyone singing along and laughing, then gathering to watch a spectacular fireworks display at midnight.

I know the best way to be disappointed is to have specific expectations, but I'm just describing my ideal to contrast it to previous NYEs in Paris and Rome, and some that I've heard described in some of the ski resorts, full of drunk 20 year olds shooting bottle rockets at each other and masses of people so jam packed you can't move, which isn't what I have in mind for this year.

Also in an ideal world it would be placed in such a way that it would make a convenient day trip location to see things that we didn't see while around Salzburg (Neuschwanstein, etc) and have options for a variety of activities ( a day or 2 of skiing, maybe ice skating, hiking, etc)

Again, if this was a "make your own holiday" dream it would have spectacular scenery to wake up to and soak up all day long

Am I describing anything you have experienced? Anyone have any suggestions, or almost equally helpful, suggestions of places to NOT go, if this is the kind of trip I have in mind?

Another limitation is that we would like to stay for about 5 nights so places with a 7, 10 or 14 night minimum don't fit the bill either :/

Thank you so much in advance for any replies
Carrie

wanderfrau

Carrie
I'm sorry I can't offer any suggestions as the places I am familiar with require a 7 night stay over both Christmas and New Year's.
I will be anxious to see what replies you get.

EmilyC

This is a tough and very specific question! I would think about maybe staying in a small town like Hallstadt or B'gaden for what you are seeking. You would have the benefits of the attractions of the town plus these towns are very walkable so that you could enjoy any celebrations that may be going on. There are hiking trails just outside of B'gaden that are maintained during the winter.You could also stay in the Konigsee area for its' proximity to Salzburg and hopefully some ice skating. I think staying in the center of B'gaden would fit your bill.

LSUvetgirl

Thanks for the suggestions.

Those suggestions are exactly the kind of thing I was looking for; the only problem is that I was hoping to do Salzburg around Christmas and go discover another part of Austria or go into Germany the next week. So, I'd prefer to not just go to a town within 30 minutes of Salzburg, if that makes any sense.

I've pretty much conceded that I'm not going to find anything in a ski resort area. But surely there is a cute village or two that's not *in* the wintersport centers but within day trip distance of one?

if this doesn't pan out I will probably go ahead and stick around the Salzburg area for the whole time, as that seems fairly feasible. I had just hoped to cover a bit more ground and see some stuff that was a bit different.

LSUvetgirl

ttt

Betsy

This non-commerical site is great for searching out small Bavarian villages. You may want to contact Ben for NYE recommendations.

www.bensbauernhof.com/

LSUvetgirl

An update:

i am currently looking at

Seefeld
St. Johann in Tirol
and Mittenwald (Germany)

any input on these?

LSUvetgirl

An update:

we went to Kirchdorf, a village just north of St. Johann in Tirol; by the time we were looking for a room, Kirchdorf was the closest we could get to St. Johann in Tirol. But we had an absolutely fabulous time.

We stayed at the Hotel Kramerhof in Bad Gasteig, up above Kirchdorf. We were able to reserve from the 28th of December to the 2nd of January, so 5 nights.

Our New Years was spent at the hotel. In the afternoons around 4pm they always had a little "happy hour" with soup and cakes. Then in the evening we had a lovely dinner (we had selected a half board option for an additional 5 or 7 euros per day) We then went to their bar, listened to some music, danced, made new friends, and ordered a bottle of champagne for the midnight celebration (the waitress had come by with a list of all they had available, and took orders). At midnight they had a great fireworks show, and the dancing and fun continued. In addition they had a buffet set up after midnight, apparently filled with all sorts of traditional foods that you're supposed to eat on New Years in Austria for good luck (No black eyed peas in sight though!!) We had herring (both with tomato sauce and onions and without) and a white boudin-y sausage, none of which were particularly tasty but we didnt want to curse ourselves with bad luck for the whole upcoming year!

I really enjoyed having all these festivities available right at the hotel. I was a bit nervous about driving around on icyroads in the middle of the night with a bunch of drunken revelers all over.

The people at the Kramerhof speak only a little English but they really did their best to accommodate us at all times. They conveniently kept a running tab of all of our drink purchases, etc and we were just able to pay for it all when we checked out.

It was a very laid back relaxed experience and I would definitely stay there again. (one caveat: if you want wireless access, it is only available in the main building. We had a room in the annex building across the way, and we had to come to the main building to use our laptops. There really weren't very many inconspicuous places to sit and do this so our internet time was kind of limited.)

During other times of our stay we got to go sledding, curling, riding on a (two horse) open sleigh .....all through the hotel.

This place also looks like it would be fun in the summer, with hiking, more farmy activities and horseback riding, plus they did have a pool.

Thanks everyone for all their input.

bettyk

Thanks for the update, Carrie. Sounds like you had a great time.

wanderfrau

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. You picked a very picturesques part of Austria and were lucky to find reservations for less than 7 days. Good for you! Thanks for the update.