DIY ski trip: Car rental

glanman

Hi,

I am looking into organising ski trip for start of feb for four guys. We want to go to Ischgl but flights to Innsbruck are only through tour operators so are expensive. Have looked at airports like Memmingheim and Salzburg and they are roughly 2 and a half to 3 hours drive according to google maps...

Transfers are also looking very expensive from these airports, about 150 return pp. I am considering renting a car. What is driving like in Austria? Roads look well serviced and cars obviously are equipped for it....

What do ye think of this idea or am I mad in trying to do this as it won't save much money when matched with the hassle and extra time it will take. Also is google maps right in the time to travel between airports to Ischgl...

Finally, if Ischgl is not a realistic option what other resorts would ye reccomend, even outside austria for intermediate skiiers with good apres ski... been to westendorf and Soll already.

thanks!!

olaola

We flew to Zurich airport when we went to Ischgl the last time. We rented a bus to take us there, as there were a good few of us. Check their website, they might have scheduled transfers. Or you could just rent a car - it's about a 2 & 1/2 hour drive. Driving in Austria is VERY civilised, I wouldn't worry about it.

Overflow

Fly to Salzburg with Ryanair, there are a ton of ski resorts within 2/3 hours drive. That is not a bad transfer time at all! I think you can get to Saalbach from Salzburg airport in less than 2 hours, well our bus driver did anyway

davmol

If you can leave at short notice then Crystal ski,gohop.ie etc all have very good deals and if theres 4 of you you can avail of great bargains having 4 people,most places/travel agents charge for under occupancy but if u fill a room you should get some good deals.In that way your flight ,accom and transfers are all sorted

glanman

jes on the face of it gohop have some good offers, you must call them though for specifics. might get onto them this evening, never really considered them before.

Anybody have experience with them??

davmol

Booked andorra with them 2 years ago,had no problems at all,ended up having a great holiday with no complaints whatsoever.Book online and you can get nice discounts from listed prices

flikflak

Driving in Austria in the winter is fine. They are set up to deal with the weather conditions and most of the roads will be clear.

If you hire from Germany make sure your rental car has winter tyres as these are mandatory in Austria. They may also charge you extra for this - which always annoys me as 90% of the cars hired in the south of Germany have the winter tyres on but they will still charge you extra for them.

Its a piece of cake driving in Austria with winter tyres on.

Have you considered the train? Great service from Munich down to Austria.

Also private transfer buses operate from Munich airport down into Austria - 4 seasons was one we used to use. You can google them.

MadsL

Have you considered the train? Great service from Munich down to Austria.
+1 (and you cut your carbon footprint!)

Bad Gastein & Bad Hofgastein for example are fine by train from Salzburg

Taxi or shuttle bus to Salzburg; onto train; get your hotel to pre-book a taxi to hotel from rail station. Bad Gastien hotels will be even easier train to skibus.

Some great ideas here, UK based but useful:
http://www.seat61.com/ski-by-train.htm

€54 transfer by coach (roundtrip) Salzburg > Gastein
http://www.rainer-reisen.at/

MadsL

http://www.raileurope.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=490

Skitrain from London to French Alps

Heinrich

Geneva Airport. Pick up a rental car at the arrivals. There's loads of resorts approx 1 hour's drive.

Chamonix, Les Gets, Morzine, Avoriaz, La Clusaz, Flaine, Les Carroz, Lelex.