Söll, Saalbach, Mayrhofen or Ischgl in Feb 2010???

crossor

I'm planning my first Austrian ski-trip for the midterm break in February 2010. I'm trying to decide between these 4 resorts- Söll, Saalbach, Mayrhofen or Ischgl. There are 7 of us and the key criteria (in order of importance) are:

1. Suitable for Beginners and Intermediates
2. Affordable- food, drink, accommodation, passes and rental
3. Lively Apres Ski
4. Shortest airport commute from Munich or Memmingen (would consider car rental if necessary)
5. Everything close together in the resort
6. Shortest upload and download times and shortest queues.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Fattes

1. Suitable for Beginners and Intermediates - All of the resorts will tick the box on this one

2. Affordable- food, drink, accommodation, passes and rental - Ischgel is going to be very expensive in comparison to the 3 other resorts but the other 3 will be fairly similar on price Soll will be the cheapest of all 3
3. Lively Apres Ski - All of them have this
4. Shortest airport commute from Munich or Memmingen (would consider car rental if necessary) - Really not much of a diffrence between the 4
5. Everything close together in the resort - Again not much of a diffrence
6. Shortest upload and download times and shortest queues.- If you are going at mid term they will all be busy Mayrhofen only has one Gondola up and it can be manic between 10 and 11. Saalbach has the most ways out of the village and might be the best option if this is a big issue.

petethedrummer

I've been to Soll and Sallbach

crossor wrote: »

1. Suitable for Beginners and Intermediates
Both. But Soll is quite low down and may be less guaranteed for snow. We went in 2007(IIRC) and there was NO snow, but I think every resort except the very highest was affected that year. It snowed on the second last day and we toured the resort on the last day and it looked great.
2. Affordable- food, drink, accommodation, passes and rental
Soll was cheaper. We were pleasantly surprised how cheap it was.
3. Lively Apres Ski
Soll is better. There was a good apres ski bar as you came back in to the village. and a night club or two for later on. Lots of Irish in this resort, if that bugs you.
I thought Saalbach rubbish. There were 7 lads on our trip and we couldn't knock any craic out of the place. Crappy bars and strips clubs were the only options late at night. And the Apres ski bars were crap.
4. Shortest airport commute from Munich or Memmingen (would consider car rental if necessary)
Can't remember
5. Everything close together in the resort
Soll probably better
6. Shortest upload and download times and shortest queues.
Can't remember, both were grand.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I was considering organising a holiday to either Ischgl or Mayorhofen for 2010 as I've heard good things about both, but I opted to go back to St. Anton.

crossor

Thanks for the info lads...

Petethedrummer- I was interested to hear your comments on Saalbach's nightlife coz I've heard only good things about this so far. When were you there? Is it possible that you were just unlucky with the time of year you were there? I had considered St. Anton but I heard it's not great for complete beginners, that it's a lot more expensive than some of the other options I've listed and that it will be mad busy at mid-term. Fair comments?

Fattes- have you heard of or noticed a major difference between nightlife in Soll and Saalbach?

Cheers again

Overflow

crossor wrote: »

I'm planning my first Austrian ski-trip for the midterm break in February 2010. I'm trying to decide between these 4 resorts- Söll, Saalbach, Mayrhofen or Ischgl. There are 7 of us and the key criteria (in order of importance) are:

1. Suitable for Beginners and Intermediates
2. Affordable- food, drink, accommodation, passes and rental
3. Lively Apres Ski
4. Shortest airport commute from Munich or Memmingen (would consider car rental if necessary)
5. Everything close together in the resort
6. Shortest upload and download times and shortest queues.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Hi

Unfortunately i have not been to Soll, Mayrhofen or Ischgl yet, but i can comment on Saalbach, i have been there several times.

1. It is an excellent place for beginners and intermediates. There is a huge range of green and blue slopes, some of them stretch many kilometers which can be great for just crusing down at your own pace and maybe stopping off at one of the many restaurants/bars on the way down.

Everywhere(Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Leogang) is interconnected by a vast array of chairlifts and gondolas. You can start at one of the many lifts around the town, go up one side of the valley, ski all over, down into Hinterglemm, then up the other side of the valley and back down to Saalbach town again in time for Apre-Ski

2. I find that Saalbach is not that expensive for food or drink, its pretty much on par with eating out and drinking back home. There are plenty of restaurants around the town and mountains, all varying in prices.

3. Im not sure what petethedrummer was talking about when he said the nightlife was rubbish, of course i havent been to soll so i cant compare to there, but when ever i have been in Saalbach (late Feb) the Apre-ski has been great fun, lots of packed bars, music and a great atmosphere. Theres a couple of great bars on the mountain aswell that start hopping in the afternoon, the drunkin ski back down can be great crack albeit a bit dangerous The bars do quiet down around 7 -7:30pm when Apre-ski is over, but then the places gets going again around 11pm till the wee hours.

4. Ryanair fly direct to Salzburg, from there is a 2 hour drive. There is a regular bus service from the airport, you can find the details on the Saalbach website.

5. In Saalbach everything is centered around the town, which is something i love and always look for in a resort. If there is enough snow you can ski from the from the slopes right into the town. There are 2 Gondolas in Saalbach (1 for each side of the valley) and 3 Chairlifts, from these you can get anywhere in the whole resort, be it Hinterglemm, Leogang or Saalfelden. Hinterglemm which is at the far end of the valley has 3 or 4 Gondolas and many more chairlifts from the town.

6. The Gondolas in the village can get busy around 9-12, they get quiet again when everyone goes to lunch. But when i say busy, they are pretty efficient and i never queued longer than 5-10 mins. When tend to get the Gondola up and stay around the top half of the mountain most of the day.


All in all i highly recommend Saalbach, i think its a fantastic resort, sure im going back again this season at the end of Feb and i cant wait!

Hope this was helpful!

crossor

Thanks for all your help everyone. Thought you might be interested in hearing what I'm thinking now...

I've decided against Soll because of its altitude. I know the middle of February should be a good time for snow but I'm not willing to risk it. Also sounds like package holiday paradise which mightn’t be much fun during mid-term.

Mayrhofen sounds fantastic but the fact that the village isn't on the slopes and there's only one gondola up in the mornings is a real turn-off- especially during mid-term.

Ischgl and Saalbach both sound ideal for what I'm looking for but I think Saalbach wins based on affordability (or so I’ve been lead to believe!). Although accommodation doesn't look cheap in Saalbach for that week.

Anyone disagree with my conclusions?
Any suggestions for cheap accommodation in Saalbach?

olaola

crossor wrote: »

Any suggestions for cheap accommodation in Saalbach?

You looking for hotel or apartment?

crossor

olaola wrote: »

You looking for hotel or apartment?

An apartment would probably suit best seeing as there are 7 of us but to be honest I'm not that fussy. Just looking for somewhere central to lay my head at a reasonable price. Any suggestions?

olaola

crossor wrote: »

An apartment would probably suit best seeing as there are 7 of us but to be honest I'm not that fussy. Just looking for somewhere central to lay my head at a reasonable price. Any suggestions?

Sent you a PM last night!

bdoo

I was in Mayrhoffen about two years ago at mid term. It was super, as for the queues at the gondola - when i'm skiing im skiing so i was on that baby nas soon as it opened and i got the last one back down in the evening.

Was reasonably priced enough and the skiing was brilliant such a variety of slopes to suit everyone, Austria is the business in fairness, i'm sure wherever you go you'll have a great time

crossor

Mayrhofen sounds great and I'd have no problems with early starts but with a group of 7 of us (most complete beginners) I'm worried the gondola queues would be a real problem.

I've started a new thread about accommodation in Saalbach or Ischgl and I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055768123

Cheers.

trev44

3 of us have flights booked to Munich for a long weekend and it will be a toss up between saalbach and mayrhofen. Accomodation could swing it in the end. We're 3 lads so can be very flexible. Interesting reading your post. Let me know where you end up.

G

crossor, here's my feedback (I've never been to Ischgl)

Soll - good spot, good town - been a couple of times and we had great fun here

Mayrhofen - again great skiing (steepest black in austria) and a must for boarders (the Vans park / competitions are here). Don't fool yourself about the gondolas - they are massive and fast. You will queue at any resort with good weather mid season if you don't get up early! Night life is kicking but the guy/girl ratio is particularly low.

Saalbach is a good spot, good lift heights. It's a bigger town and the night life is good but for me, not as good as Soll, St Anton or Mayrhofen. Also it's by far the furthest of the 3 from Munich.

If you are not getting a package with bus transfers, make sure you hire cars. You could save money and you'll get to and from airport faster.

G

trev44 wrote: »

3 of us have flights booked to Munich for a long weekend and it will be a toss up between saalbach and mayrhofen. Accomodation could swing it in the end. We're 3 lads so can be very flexible. Interesting reading your post. Let me know where you end up.

Has to be Mayrhofen. You can drive there in 1-1.5hrs from Munich.

I'm sure this is in the stickies but: http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Munich.html

petethedrummer

crossor wrote: »

Petethedrummer- I was interested to hear your comments on Saalbach's nightlife coz I've heard only good things about this so far. When were you there? Is it possible that you were just unlucky with the time of year you were there?

Sorry for not getting back sooner. I dunno what it was. Maybe just a bad week when we were there. If everyone else says its good, then it probably is.