Salzburg Skiing With Ryanair

thegoth

Hi,

I group of us booked cheap flights with Ryanair to Salzburg. I was wondering if anyone could recommend good skiing resorts near there. One to one and half hours away. We would be very open to renting an apartment for a week if it was cheaper instead of staying in a hotel.

Scoobydoobydoo

Zell am See is a great resort and is about 1 hr 40min by train from Salzburg.

www.oebb.at

rossie1977

^^^^ i concure Zell am See is a fantastic spot, lovely town and only about 1 hour west of Salzburg via train.

If you are up for it try tackling the nearby 12,500 foot Grossglockner

thegoth

I have read a review of this place.

The following are listed as disadvantages

Sunny, low slopes often have poor conditions despite snowmakers, which makes the area more limited

– Trek to lifts from much accommodation, and sometimes crowded buses

– Less suitable for beginners than most small Austrian resorts

– The Kaprun glacier gets horrendous liftlines when it is most needed

Is this accurate ?

Imposter

I'd have to recommend Saalbach/Hinterglemm. I can safely say there is not one single thing that I think is better in Zell am See.

I'd also recommend these guys instead of a train. They are more flexible and it's basically a taxi to the airport for 35€ (each way). The train would cost less but you've got all the hassle of lugging your baggage around and probably getting a pretty expensive taxi at the end anyways.

Trust me on this. I live in Austria and i've had a Salzburg Super Ski pass for the last 2 years. There are much better resorts than Zell am See in the area.

sonners

I was in Salzburg for four days in January. I stayed in Salzburg itself and used the snow shuttle to go skiing 2 different days. http://www2.salzburg.info/offers_3545.htm It costs around €13 return and goes from Salzburg to one of the nearby slopes each day and returns that evening. It goes to a different resort each day so you could stay in the city and ski somewhere new each day! None of the resorts are more than and hour and a half away so its something to keep in mind anyway.

I had never been skiing before so obviously my advice on the resorts is fairly limited but we went to Leogang - Saalbach - Hinterglemm on the first day and Zell-am-See on the second day. The first place was perfect for beginners, loads of space, really wide runs and a number of smaller lifts so you can gradually move up the mountain at your own pace. There seemed to be alot of ski runs for more advanced skiers but I did'nt go near them so cant really comment.

I did'nt find Zell-am-See beginner friendly at all! the runs were steeper, narrower and had fairly sharp bends (hard for beginners!). Even though they were marked as beginner runs they were a very big step up from what was available in the first resort.

I dont know what our skiing abilities are but I definitely would'nt send a beginner to Zell-am-See, its a beautiful place but very daunting if your unsure of yourself. I would go back to Leogang in the morning though, it seemed to have a good range of runs for all levels and the lifts and everything were easily accessible.

rossie1977

Imposter wrote:

I'd have to recommend Saalbach/Hinterglemm. I can safely say there is not one single thing that I think is better in Zell am See.

Well i have three things:
1.direct public transport from Salzburg to Zell am See
2.Zell has a magnificent lake that is totally frozen in winter offering ice-skating etc
3.Zell is a much bigger town, Saalbach/Hinterglemm are small villages (together they barely make a town). The nightlife is so much better in Zell (its not all about sking you know )

Saalbach/Hinterglemm are only 12 miles from Zell anyway so you can easily do both if you wanted.

Imposter

rossie1977 wrote:

Well i have three things:
1.direct public transport from Salzburg to Zell am See
2.Zell has a magnificent lake that is totally frozen in winter offering ice-skating etc
3.Zell is a much bigger town, Saalbach/Hinterglemm are small villages (together they barely make a town). The nightlife is so much better in Zell (its not all about sking you know )

Saalbach/Hinterglemm are only 12 miles from Zell anyway so you can easily do both if you wanted.

You've obviously never been to Saalbach. The nightlife and the skiing was what I was talking about. And by nightlife I mean: apres ski, bars, restaurants, tobogganing etc...

Regarding the transport yes there is a direct train from Salzburg. Now tell me how often it goes and when most flights arrive and land (especially ryanair from Dublin if it's anything like last year)? There's also a fair chance that any accommodation is not within walkable distance from the train station - so what does a taxi cost?

watna

My family own a place in Saalbach and we go over regulalry so I've skiied in a few resorts around there. The nightlife and skiing are far better in Saalbach than Zell. Plus when you buy a lift pass for Saalbach you can ski in Hinterglemm and leogang too. There's so much skiing that you can do a different run each time. I went out last January with a few friends and we had a great time at night. Plus you can drink loads when you're skiing and you don't get a hangover! Saalbach has a reputation for being a very lively resort and when we were there it was mostly people in their twenties. it's won a few awards for having the liveliest nightlife. We rented a car to drive to the apartment but the ski bus from the airport is meant to be failrly reliable, though i've never got it myself, we always rent cars! Check out this link for information
http://www.saalbach.com/621.0.html?L=1&id=621

juke

I would reccommend Obertauern - small resort c. 1-11/2 hours by taxi from the airport (taxi is €40.00 per person return if you book on-line). You can ski virtually to the door of most hotels, and most are near lifts - unlike in Zell am See. Snow is pretty much guaranteed, and tho' small there's plenty of restaurants and night life is good.

Imposter

juke wrote:

I would reccommend Obertauern - small resort c. 1-11/2 hours by taxi from the airport (taxi is €40.00 per person return if you book on-line). You can ski virtually to the door of most hotels, and most are near lifts - unlike in Zell am See. Snow is pretty much guaranteed, and tho' small there's plenty of restaurants and night life is good.

Yep this place is good too. I found it a tad expensive though!

And as has been said, pretty much guaranteed snow. Last year we were driving down and we knew we were close but all we could see were green fields and virtually snowless mountains. Then we rounded one bend and everything was white! Less than 5km later we were in Obertauern. Was one of the most surreal journeys i've done in Austria.

watna

Imposter wrote:

Yep this place is good too. I found it a tad expensive though!

And as has been said, pretty much guaranteed snow. Last year we were driving down and we knew we were close but all we could see were green fields and virtually snowless mountains. Then we rounded one bend and everything was white! Less than 5km later we were in Obertauern. Was one of the most surreal journeys i've done in Austria.

ooh, I've skied here too and it is nice, very high up so good snow. It's a fair bit further from Salzburg then the other resorts mentioned though.