ski resorts in austria
 

I was looking to go for a week to a european ski village in Dec. I have found great packages for Innsbruck and kitzbul(sp?) I am looking for a village atmosphere with ski/in ski/out accomodations, good restraunts and good ski apre'. We are average skiers and we are most interested in the village its self. I am looking into Austia mostly because of the great prices they offer. Do there too villages/areas offer what I am looking for. Thanks in avdance for the advice

Try St. Johann which is located on the other side of the mountain from Kitzbuhel. St. Anton is also nice. There are many small villages in the Tirol where you just walk to the ski lift.

You can get a package at various hotels or B&B's with half board, which is breakfast and dinner.

The smaller villages should cost much less than Kitzbuhel.

Here's a link: http://www.tiscover.at/at/guide/5583...,EUR/home.html

Kitzbühel sounds nice, but is not very snow reliable. Better look for packages in St. Anton or Lech (which are both more expensive, but snow reliable).

Avoid Innsbruck, it doesn't meet your expectations, is a city.

I agree with Ingo, St. Anton and Lech are IMO some of Europe's best ski-resorts and are usually more reliable to have snow than Kitzbuehl

Innsbruck is one of Austria's bigger cities. While it certainly has its charms, it definitely cannot be considered a village.

We were in Lech for Christmas last year and lucked out with tons of snow. But friends who were there the year before had very little snow. Just keep that in mind- there will probably be some snow. Zurs, Lech, overlech and St Anton are great towns/villages. Very quaint, amazing food and ski in/ski out.

We were in St. Johann for Christmas a number of years ago and it only started snowing on Christmas eve, but then we had tons of snow.
St. Johann is a lovely quaint village and we were able to ski right to our hotel. We loved it.
We will be in Austria for new year this year, but Aflenz this time, so are also hoping for lots of snow.
Good luck :-)

You didn't say when in December that you planned to go. The Christmas holidays can be more expensive and many resorts fill up quickly. Earlier in December you might run into lack of snow in many Austrian resorts. Lech and St. Anton should be OK, but to be sure you might want to consider places such as Kaprun or Obergurgl where the altitude usually guarantees snow from November on.

But Obergurgl doesn't offer village atmosphere and is not even an apres ski spot. And Kaprun doesn't offer ski in/out!

And although Kaprun's glacier has guaranteed snow the village itself will rarely have snow before Christmas holidays - and green (grey-brown) meadows are depressing in winter!

I took a two-week ski holiday in St. Anton a few years ago and loved it.

St. Anton has a quaint village atmosphere and good restaurants. The après-ski is great. Since I was there for two weeks, I was able to visit Innsbruck and Munich on day trips.

I highly recommend it.

Go to Kitz! There is just no substitute for it!! It is the chicest, gorgeous, quaintest, funnest resort in Austria..It is also one of its poshest, so the price levels are higher than the rest..If you are on a budget, then stay in either Kirschberg or St Johann (next- door towns that are cheaper overall)

I side with Ingo...in December, go with Lech. All our Austrian friends says Lech/Zurs is the best place to ski in Austria, they spend weeks there every winter. It's a pretty village
You might find some good deals at the www.lech.at web site. Although the "name" hotels are expensive 5 star places, you will find some very pleasant 3 star lesser known hotels.
www.ski-europe.com gives great information on the various ski areas in Europe.
Wherever you decide, if you're planning on a Christmas week trip, book ASAP.

On reflection, with your priorities, Ingo is right--Lech is the place to go.

To go further with what Ingo says, Innsbruck is very much a small city. Some people prefer the variety that goes with that, but it's definitely not a village atmosphere. As for Kitzbuhel, here is the brief review from www.ski-europe.com (their web site also offers a much more indepth review that covers everything you'd need to know to plan your trip for dozens of European ski destinations):

"Kitzbühel is an impressive name to drop in the pub. Every Ski Sunday viewer knows that the Hahnenkamm racecourse is the most challenging on the World Cup circuit, helping the resort to cultivate a reputation as a rather special place. But the racecourse is untypical of Kitzbühel's slopes - and there is nothing very special about coping with icy, slushy or bare slopes. We have visited Kitz countless times, and rarely found decent snow on the lower slopes. It does of course get good snow at times and has invested serious money in snowmaking. But Kitzbühel's low altitude means that its problems won't go away.

The resort is very far from exclusive. It has its expensive, elegant hotels, but it also has a huge amount of hotel and guest-house accommodation that is quite inexpensive - and not surprisingly attracts quite a few low-budget visitors, many of whom are young and intent on a good time.

We have received fewer reports on Kitzbühel lately, but enthusiasts enjoy its unique combination of historic town and extensive slopes."

We went on a trip from Dublin to Mayerhofen 2 years ago and it was perfect for us. The village is a 40 minute bus ride from Innsbrook and it was small enough to be cosy but there was plenty of apres ski and restaurants as well.

You take the funicular to the mountain each morning and stay all day on it. There are several ski lodges on the mountain serving food good and filling as well as tented bars for a schnaps on the way down. At the end of the day around 5 the bars on the mountian near the funicular get packed for an hour and then everyone goes down before it closes for the night. AT the bottom is the Ice bar where most go for a first drink and home to change for the night. They have 2-3 poor guys running round in a wolf's costume (Who knows why!?) lots of jokes about what big teeth Grandma had etc...fun week and nice skiing for all levels.

Thanks BTilke for sharing this insight report. Exactly what I thought from own experience.