Zell am See - Kaprun, Austria

As mentioned in my last post, after leaving Munich we found ourselves caught in a large heavy snow storm. Having never driven through one before, it was an anxious time with low visibility, ice and snow covering the windscreen and freezing the wipers.  A trip that should have taken 2 hours became a 4 1/2 hour journey through snow, nightfall and dark mountain roads to our destination.
I'm glad that I don't have to live in an area that deals with this on a daily basis; I do enjoy living in a warmer climate and able to visit the colder ones when inclined.

Knew we were headed for trouble.

As beautiful as all the mountains we have visited so far, my favourite for the most picturesque town and ski area has to be Zell am See. This Winter and Summer tourist destination is breathtakingly beautiful. It's nearly picture perfect with the lake surrounded by the snow capped mountains. You just want to sit and reflect while you look out over the water.

We stayed at Romantikhotel Zell am See, Sebastian-Horl-Strasse 11, Zell am See, a traditionally Austrian 4-star hotel that dates back to 1493. This centrally located hotel is a short distance from Lake Zell. All the Austrian hotels we stayed at featured fabulous spa areas, some with adult only nude sauna and spa area or the family sauna and pool area.  Half-board was offered here, and as it was economical and let us relax in the excellent spa facilities before we ventured to our three-course dinner at the hotel's Metzgerwirt restaurant.

There are two main ski areas here, Kitzsteinhorn Glacier near Kaprun and Schmittenhohe in Zell am See. Kitzsteinhorn has 41 kms and Schmittenhohe has 77kms of ski slopes. Between the two you have varying degrees of difficulty that will have something for everyone.

Kitzsteinhorn Glacier

Schmittenhohe overlooking Zell am See

We enjoyed the Apres in the town's centre, you must try the Gluhwein or a schnapps will outside and chatting about your ski day. We loved the chocolate filled crepes sold at a vendor's cart, yum!  The local delicatessen had an excellent selection of local produce which we did partake in. The cafes on the slopes had a good choice of food on their menus for your ski break. Beer is always flowing morning, noon and night. The lifts are fast and comfortable, I especially liked the ski bubbles on the chair lifts on a windy day and even scored some heated seats! The cable cars or gondolas were very efficient, the one drawback in my opinion about these ski areas are other skiers. Courtesy is not foremost in the mind of a lot of the skiers. Between being cut off on the runs by experienced skiers (Beginners; it understandable due to lack of control), to being pushed aside by impatient skiers when trying to get on the lifts.  It left an impression of rudeness and arrogance of the skiers, especially the ones on vacation from other countries.

In the next post, we leave the mountains and head for the city of Salzburg.

Austrian Ski Trip

This trip is mainly in Austria and centred on Skiing the Spectacular mountains as well as visiting some of the beautiful cities from one end of Austria to the other.

The trip begins in London as the flight with Qantas in a A380 Business Class was well priced and we needed to be in the UK to pick up another package deal for skiing.

As we were going to ski at many different resorts and didn't want to continually find and hire equipment, the decision to bring all our gear including skis was made. The first step was to work out the luggage. The ski bag we decided on has wheels so that we were able to drag it along without having to carry them. Due to restrictions on internal flights we had limits on what we could pack.
Ski gear and winter clothes do take up a lot of room in your luggage. Boots & helmets, ski equipment and your everyday winter clothes quickly add weight and take up room.

My tip if you're packing for winter regardless of whether it's a sightseeing trip or a ski trip is that you pack everything and I mean everything, that is interchangeable, so that it can be layered and worn whether skiing or just sightseeing. Also, as outer ski gear takes up space, it's easier if you put then in space saver bags to get all the puffiness out of them to allow room for other essentials.  Pack items like socks, or thermals in bags inside your shoes or ski-boots to save room, do this for your helmets too.

Advise the airline that you will have your skis with you, this can be done online under sports equipment with the airline you have booked. You will need to take any oversized baggage to different bag drop then your luggage but it will be at the carousel when you arrive.  Depending on the airline the skis can be part of your 23 Kg weight and with others, it's another piece of luggage and charged extra. It's best to determine this before booking so you know what to expect. With British Airways, even though we were well underweight and the skis combined with our suitcases were within weight range, we were charged 70Euro for the skis as an extra bag.

The map below shows the road trip that we took. This trip took 4 1/2 weeks or a calendar month.

Road Trip

Next post is on arriving in London.