Does anyone recommend Neustift, Austria? (Sportspension Elizabeth)

Denalihighway

Howdy,

We're a group of skiers and snowboarders with varied experience from absolute beginner to intermediate.

Found a deal for Neustift in Austria at the Sportspension Elizabeth which seems reasonable and was wondering if any of you guys had any experience or opinions of the location etc and what you thought of the deal? It was recommended by an experienced skier based in Italy.

http://www.sportpension-elisabeth.at/en/pauschalen/index.html

Depending on the dates we choose, it's pretty well serviced by Ryanair so we'll worry about that if and when we get down to booking.

Assuming flights coming in around 150, thats 615 including breakfast and transfers to the glacier. Obviously it excludes transfers to and from airport and equipment rental etc. Doesn't seem too bad though? And from what I can tell it seems better than your average budget slopes...but I don't really know what I'm talking about...

Thanks a mill

loobylou

Skiied the glacier a few years ago, it's good but quite limited, especially for a whole week. Nearby Schlick also good but again very small area for anything more than a day or two, (and it does'nt appear to be included in that liftpass deal).
Where would you be flying to with Ryanair? Nearest city is Innsbruck but Ryanair don't fly there from Ireland AFAIK.
If you're travelling there from elsewhere, why not stay in Innsbruck. There are a large number of smaller resorts all within reach from the city, including those you mentioned. Some are even reachable by tram from the city centre.

Denalihighway

Thanks Loobylou.

Do you think we would be frustrated being beginners etc, its possible we might only do 5 nights, so about 4 days of skiing. It's all still new to most of us.

Were you experienced heading out there? If you were maybe you may have got bored quicker than we would - the reason I say it is cuz the area was recommended by an experienced skier so I was assuming it was OK skiing/snowboarding wise, I can talk to them again though.

Ryanair go to Bratislava (less than 100 miles away), Salzburg, Budapest (in order of proximity...I think) so depending on the day we go out it should be alright...varied distances but nothing we can't live with I'd say.

loobylou

According to google maps Bratislava is 562km from Innsbruck. The best access airports I find are Salzburg or Munich, although this year i will be trying Memmingen.
My advice would be to get a cheap flight first, then pick the resort. Theres plenty to choose from, suitable for all levels of skiier.
i find this site http://wtss.co.uk/ a good guide to helping choose.

Denalihighway

OK finally I've realised why I'm confused...and why I'm probably confusing you too...

When I google-mapped Neustift in Austria, I get Neustift which is about 50 miles east of Vienna and 100 east of Brat - I should have been googling Neustift im Stubaittal. Christ almighty...must have been the excess over the holliers. Now I see what you're saying about Innsbruck, Memmingen, Munich etc.

Thanks for screwing my head back on...

Seems like a Ryanair to Memmingen might be the job, then look at digs...what I'm trying to do is get a decent digs/ski-pass package...apart from the one I mentioned above they seem to be coming in around €600 pp - I guess that's not to bad seeing as though with flight you'd probably be talking less than €800?

Money is key for us unfortunately - would you have said €800 for flight/digs/skipass before rental costs is pretty good?

loobylou

When are you going and how many people?

Denalihighway

Sat 13th Feb - Sat 20th Feb. Give or take a days flexibility on each leg depending on air fares.

Should be 4-6 people. Unconfirmed at present..

reading up NiS, it seems more quiet than I was initially told...our contact is American...


We're not looking for a crazy week, but some decent apres ski would be good.

loobylou

Midterm break for schools, you'll be hard pushed to get anything cheap that week. How flexible are you? BTW I'm presuming Dublin is your departure airport, right?

Denalihighway

I hear ya, but the other half is a teacher so we're snookered on dates. Yeah flying from Dublin.

Found a couple of good deals that come in around 650 for digs plus ski-pass to local slopes and glaciers. That has me still interested in the place while a tad concerned about the apres ski - I've hearing very contradictory stuff about it...maybe it's just a case of making your own fun.

this is one of a couple of similar offers - 676 pp half board here, including ski-pass for Elfer and Glacier. Hotel facilities seem great too and are similar in other packages. I kind of like the idea of doing the local slopes some days and then making the trip to the glacier other days. Is that what you did?

Saying all this...I'm not afraid to go back to the drawing board, we have a feel of what we're looking for now.

zagmund

You've probably worked this out, but you can save a fair whack by moving your departure date to the Friday (could be tough for your teacher) and your return date to the Sunday.

We're flying to/from Memmingen on those dates and saving €700, as well as getting two extra days on the slopes. Woot. There will be the extra cost of rooms in Munich, but that's only about €200. Our aim was to get more slope time, and saving money is a bonus.

I've just noticed that it now costs the same to fly to Salzburg on the Saturday with Ryanair as it does to fly to Memmingen. I know which one I would chose if I *had* to fly on Saturday. The Salzburg one is a little late, but by the time you get from Memmingen to Munich and then head south there won't be much extra time in it.

z

p.s. I just rechecked the prices and they've gone up since we booked last week. Our base price to Memmingen was €25.99 on the Friday and €59.99 for the return on the Sunday. The prices are now €39.99 & €79.99. For our party of 4, that's an increase of €136. I have little pieces of paper all over the desk here with prices from a few weeks back. This is the first time the Memmingen prices moved from what I can tell. The Salzburg prices actually dropped from what they were back in October/November. Previously, they had been even higher.

Denalihighway

thanks zagmund - yeah we're toying with all kinds, flying Sunday wouldn't be a disaster either. We plan on either going Memmingen or Salzburg. Munich with Aerlingus might be a great option too cuz I'm lucky enough to have a free flight with them built up from other flights (I sound like a toff...but believe me, I'm not ...long story). so we could share the cost of one flight. Either way,we'll be doing it soon alright

what resort are you hitting?*

*response may encourage futher questionning...

zagmund

We're going to Westendorf. Ryanair bus to Munich should have us there by 1400 or so (or maybe 1500). Then there's a whole range of trains south into the resorts in Austria from there. I think we get to Westendorf about 1900 on Friday. Up early on Saturday, hire shops, lift station, slopes . . . woooot.

We could get the train from Memmingen on the one fare to Westendorf but it would get us to our destination later due to the sketchy service from Memmingen. We reckoned the bus to Munich was the better option. Unless of course the autobahn is chockers . . .

z

loobylou

Aerlingus also do Salzburg so if you've a free flight I'd go there.
Unless there is another reason for going to Neustift I would'nt consider it, it really is out of the way, small, requires a longish bus trip to the slopes, etc,etc. You would be passing many, many more suitable resorts on the way there.

Denalihighway

Ok cheers Loobylou. Thanks for the help.

The last thing you could do for me is maybe rattle off 3 or 4 of those resorts you're talking about - then I can read on them and check what packages are available.

Appreciate it

loobylou

If you're a mixed group including complete beginners perhaps a resort with a bigger town might suit best, that way you will have more "off snow" possibilities if people want a bit of a break from the piste.
Either Kitzbuhel or Zell am See would fit into that category, but don't limit yourself. Theres numerous top quality smaller (as in town/village size) resorts within an hour or two of Salzburg, many on the train line.
Enjoy the choice!!

Denalihighway

I intend to. My requirements aren't massive so I don't think I'll be dissapointed

cheers folks, enjoy your breaks...don't break a leg.