Zell am see

dubgirl15

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel here? Also is it better to go half board or B and B? Also looking for ski school/ski hire suggestions! Thanks

Fattes

Grand Hotel! On the lake is the best one in the village!! Half board in Austria is always worth it for the price, but eating and drinking out are cheap so either way you will be ok

lbj666

+1 on the grand hotel, go in for a drink at least.

I can't remember about schools, but Zell is a big dutch resort with a dutch instructor. Which is fine cause they all have good english but if you are looking to get more out of your time prehaps look for ones is native english speakers.

I you are not a beginner along with kaprun which is covered in the pass , consider a day or two in saalbach. The hill in zell am see isn't huge.

dubgirl15

hi I am a beginner, last year was my first time skiing and I went to Zell am See. How does Saalbach compare? I really enjoyed zell am see. had a couple of drinks in the grand hotel last year and it was lovely unfortunately out of my price range to stay in !!

cormee

I stayed in the Waldhof, which was quite expensive but very nice. I'd say the Grand Hotel would cost an arm and a leg!

zagmund

Yeah, be wary of the Grand. The original hotel building is pretty nice alright, but they have a giant block out the side/back and from the look of things it would be no different than any other giant block type hotel. If you want the full-on "Grand" experience you are going to be paying a *lot* of money to stay in the old part of the hotel. Many resorts have a 5* hotel where the really rich stay, and this would be the Grand in Zell.

What I'm getting to is that if you have tonnes of money and go to the Grand you will probably have a nice experience, but if you have normal (for ski holidays) amount of money and go to the Grand then you will likely be disappointed and get poor value for money compared to other hotels in the town.

z

Fattes

I got really lucky many moons ago on a last min deal to the Grand Half board over new years!!! Paid less than 650 a head!!! for 7 nights flights transfers and half board!

Fattes

dubgirl15; I love Sallbach, even though the terrain and resort is not really what I normally look for and want, it is a huge linked area predominantly red and blue runs, easy to get around, great lift infrastructure, some lovely little and interesting runs and a lively and fun town with loads of bar options!

There are even a few Bars/restaurants around the hill with animals inside them (Horses, goats) its a great place.

juke

cormee wrote: »

I stayed in the Waldhof, which was quite expensive but very nice. I'd say the Grand Hotel would cost an arm and a leg!

I've stayed in both. Grand cost about the same - but the Waldhof was streets ahead in terms of quality of service and location. IMO the Grand is a bit of a treck to the Gondala

cormee

juke wrote: »

I've stayed in both. Grand cost about the same - but the Waldhof was streets ahead in terms of quality of service and location. IMO the Grand is a bit of a treck to the Gondala

I didn't realise the prices were about the same, I suppose the impressive location of the Grand, and the look of the building itself, would give the impression it was posh. The year I was there, Nokia had block-booked the whole place, changed times since!

The Grand is a bit of a trek to the lifts, yea, and depending on the snow conditions the Waldhof can be ski in/out (down that little lane that runs behind it).