Does anyone just head of to a resort and find accomdation then?

abcjonesy

Hi decided a couple of days ago to head of for 1 week from 26th Dec to 2 Jan. Cheapest flights from Dublin seem to be to Memmingen. (havn't booked them yet) Just myself and the girlfriend heading. We were looking on-line and its hard to find somewhere in some of the resorts in Austria we were looking at like Soll, Saalbach, Mayrhofen etc... Does anybody just head of and find accomadation when they arrive or is that risky business.

Where would be the best place from Memmingen to just arrive with no accomodation booked.

olaola

Depends on what time of the day you're arriving!
I'd say if you went and got to the tourist office (when it was open) you might have a chance of getting something. But then, personally - I wouldn't do it. Why won't you book in advance?

zagmund

Memmingen is not particularly near anywhere and you will have a few hours before you get to any resorts. We are flying there in February and getting a train from the town (via Munich) to Westendorf. It's easy enough. Most of the major resorts (Zell am Zee, Kitzbuhel, etc . . ) in that area are on the train line.

However you may have connectivity problems given the day that's in it. Check http://www.db.de for train connections on that day.

I would pick a resort or two and just mail the tourist office there asking for availablilty. We did that for Westendorf and got our accommodation sorted. I certainly wouldn't turn up in a resort on possibly their busiest day of the year and hope to find somewhere. What would the backup plan be ? Get a train to Vienna and hope to find a hotel there . . .

z

donnchadhc

zagmund wrote: »

Memmingen is not particularly near anywhere and you will have a few hours before you get to any resorts.

Oberstdorf is only a short hours tain journey from Memmingen (roughly €13 each way). And if you hire a car the resorts of western Austria are very close (St Anton in under two hours)

davmol

I would NEVER do this,diferent reosrts obviously have different capacities and even at low season some resorts can be full.Last thing you want after a couple hours flight and X hours of a transfer is to trudge around in snow and ice with luggage trying to find accomodation.....throw in sub zero temps and thats a NASTY situation to be in

a147pro

I'd prob be willing to do it any time other than the week you're going. having said that you usually fall on your feet when you do something like this...

olaola

Just tried the Saalbach website, and there are 8 options available for those dates.

zagmund

donnchadhc wrote: »

Oberstdorf is only a short hours tain journey from Memmingen (roughly €13 each way). And if you hire a car the resorts of western Austria are very close (St Anton in under two hours)

You're correct, it's not too far to Oberstdorf, but I was going on the assumption that the OP was heading for Austria.

Given the day that's in it I would be wary of doing anything without pre-booking it. What if the car rental places are closed, or empty ? We were going to head to Scotland in the New Year for a quick ski trip but found that none of the public transport options we could have used were going to be running *at all* on 01JAN. If we had booked the flight and left it to chance we would be sitting pretty in Aberdeen (or Inverness or one of those cold places) airport with nowhere to go to and no way to get there.

I just checked http://db.de and it looks like the train coverage in Germany is pretty good on the 26th, so there should be no problem there, but I would still think it's mad to head to a resort in peak time with no accommodation sorted.

z

olaola

Just looking at accomodation for other places - VERY few rooms left. I'd defo book before you go. Most of the free rooms are going to be out of town at this stage.

abcjonesy

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Would prefer to have something arranged now alright after your replies, I was just curiuos as if people do this as you would normally land on your feet (get to pick perfect location and nice price) but given the week in it im sure it would be risky now.

I'll keep googling accamodation and send of a few mails to the tourist offices as advised. Some of the packages have dropped 100+ p/person since yesterday so some of them are not looking too bad. They are just in places I need to do a bit of research on.

Endless search wish we planned this earlier

abcjonesy

olaola wrote: »

Just looking at accomodation for other places - VERY few rooms left. I'd defo book before you go. Most of the free rooms are going to be out of town at this stage.

Yeh I was getting the same vibe myself. Thats sort of why I was considering just landing in a resort and there's always somewhere.

I'm going to ring some tour operators as well as tomorrow will be there last day to fill there chartered planes/hotels for people heading of on the 26th. (is that how it works?) The flights are 200 now anyway cause we havn't booked as it was a last minute idea.

olaola

I'd say you'll get a great deal package last minute.

rio1

Hey, how did you get on with this? I would have done it and headed to Innsbruck...big enough city that you would be sure of somewhere to stay, its gorgeous there at that time of year, and you could try out different resorts on different days. Igls is just nearby, Axamer lizum is also worth a visit and if you are up to it the Nordkette is right by the city, but you would need to be an advanced intermediate to consider the Nordkette.