Skiing in Austria -Innsbruck need help with planning

Hi everybody

I am planning a skiing trip to Austria and I need some opinion about
this. Any help will be much appreciated.

My plan is to fly to Munich or Vienna from Toronto. From there I want
to rent a car and to drive to the place where I will be staying.

Period 16 Dec-23 Dec 2006, one person.
I am intermediate (I had no problems at Whistler on the blue rated
trails)
I would like to drive around every day and to try a different trail
each day(or area with trails).

I had a short look at Innsbruk and the slopes around and it seems to be
OK. I need some advice from those of you who went there before. I need
to know if the trails are OK for my skills, I would like to know if it
is worth renting a car (I heard that there is a shuttle that takes you
to the slopes) I need some recommendations regarding a place to stay (
I do not need much confort, shower, one bed and a table to take a meal
are enough- internet and TV will be considered luxury :-) ). I still
need privacy so a dormitory is out of question.
I don't know Innsbruk at all of course, I guess I am not wrong if I
assume that a city of that size would have a big store where you can
buy all your groceries and food so you can not depend on food provided
by hotels and restaurnats. I am planning a budget vacation so this
really counts.

I also heard that the skiing pass covers the area not a specific trail
? How much does it cost ?
Any recommendations or links to sites that I can use to plan this
vacation are usefull. please don't hesitate to post them. (renting a
car, booking my acommodation..this are things that I am working on)

One more question: I believe that the snow will not be a problem for
that time of the year. Am I wrong ?


Thanks to everybody
NP

PS I decided to go to Innsbruck because of the scennery. Any other
suggestions regarding this ?

In article .com,
wrote:
fly to Munich
to rent a car and to drive to the place where I will be staying.

A car really isn't needed.

Period 16 Dec-23 Dec 2006, one person.
Early season.
I am intermediate (I had no problems at Whistler on the blue rated
I would like to drive around every day and to try a different trail
each day(or area with trails).

The one resort to the N of town would like be a waste of your money.
It's black runs.

There are buses from the Hilton which make dealing with a car less of a
problem.

I had a short look at Innsbruk and the slopes around and it seems to be
OK. I need some advice from those of you who went there before. I need
to know if the trails are OK for my skills, I would like to know if it
Oh yes, many areas.
is worth renting a car (I heard that there is a shuttle that takes you
to the slopes) I need some recommendations regarding a place to stay (

Rick Steves used to recommend the * (1) Pension Stoi. It's OK.
It's a short walk from the train station (hauptbahnhof).

I do not need much confort, shower, one bed and a table to take a meal
are enough- internet and TV will be considered luxury :-) ). I still
need privacy so a dormitory is out of question.

Reserve in advance.

I don't know Innsbruk at all of course, I guess I am not wrong if I
assume that a city of that size would have a big store where you can
buy all your groceries and food so you can not depend on food provided
by hotels and restaurnats. I am planning a budget vacation so this
really counts.

Oh yes, it's a large city.

I also heard that the skiing pass covers the area not a specific trail
? How much does it cost ?

How many days?
You can ask the Austrian embassy or consulate near you.

Any recommendations or links to sites that I can use to plan this
vacation are usefull. please don't hesitate to post them. (renting a
car, booking my acommodation..this are things that I am working on)

One more question: I believe that the snow will not be a problem for
that time of the year. Am I wrong ?

It's early season.
There might not be enough snow to ski.
You have to be prepared for that.

PS I decided to go to Innsbruck because of the scennery. Any other
suggestions regarding this ?

Not a bad choice.


The next time I go back, I plan to get out to the hot springs WSW of town.

--

Hi,

The drive form Vienna to Innsbruck is about 6 hours!! So flying to Munich
would be better. If you come to our area which is 2 hours drive form Munich
you get a Ski -amade lift pass which is just a normal weeks pass for ?164
(113) put it covers 5 Ski region- 865 KM of Piste and 270 lifts. So with a
car they are all within about 1 hour drive from schladming area to
Hockenings area.Have a look he-

http://en.skiamade.com/skiamade/ski/

The snow that early in December should not be a problem up on the mountain
but might be a bit thin in the resort although last year we had about 50cm
of snow in the village but it had snowed since the middle of November. That
can't be guaranteed this year.

Any more information please ask me or send me an e-mail through my web site.

Nigel

--

Winter and Summer holidays in the alps!!!
www.austrianfamilyholidays.co.uk

Why Innsbruck? A big city rather than a ski resort and there are so
many better possibilities for you to consider. Fly to Munich and rent a
car for relative ease to get to different ski areas depending which has
the best snow - unless there are specific reasons why you must base
yourself in Innsbruck I'd suggest you investigate Saalbach, Soll or
Kitzbuhl all three of which have good intermediate skiing but good snow
at that time of years not guaranteed. To maximise the chance of good
snow in Austria mid-December you should consider higher resorts such as
Obergurgl, Solden or St Anton. Check out www.ultimate-ski.com if
looking for a website to help research your trip. Good luck.

wrote:
Hi everybody

I am planning a skiing trip to Austria and I need some opinion about
this. Any help will be much appreciated.

My plan is to fly to Munich or Vienna from Toronto. From there I want
to rent a car and to drive to the place where I will be staying.

Period 16 Dec-23 Dec 2006, one person.
I am intermediate (I had no problems at Whistler on the blue rated
trails)
I would like to drive around every day and to try a different trail
each day(or area with trails).

I had a short look at Innsbruk and the slopes around and it seems to be
OK. I need some advice from those of you who went there before. I need
to know if the trails are OK for my skills, I would like to know if it
is worth renting a car (I heard that there is a shuttle that takes you
to the slopes) I need some recommendations regarding a place to stay (
I do not need much confort, shower, one bed and a table to take a meal
are enough- internet and TV will be considered luxury :-) ). I still
need privacy so a dormitory is out of question.
I don't know Innsbruk at all of course, I guess I am not wrong if I
assume that a city of that size would have a big store where you can
buy all your groceries and food so you can not depend on food provided
by hotels and restaurnats. I am planning a budget vacation so this
really counts.

I also heard that the skiing pass covers the area not a specific trail
? How much does it cost ?
Any recommendations or links to sites that I can use to plan this
vacation are usefull. please don't hesitate to post them. (renting a
car, booking my acommodation..this are things that I am working on)

One more question: I believe that the snow will not be a problem for
that time of the year. Am I wrong ?


Thanks to everybody
NP

PS I decided to go to Innsbruck because of the scennery. Any other
suggestions regarding this ?

Hi NP

I had a short look at Innsbruk and the slopes around and it seems to be
OK.
1.) Innsbruck is a very nice town, but its more a normal town than a
winter sports place. There are three midrange resorts (more red than
blue) quite close to Insbruck: Patscherkofel, Axamer Lizum and Glungezer
(plus the black one of Nordkettenbahn). Lot of nice (up to perfect)
resorts are not that far away: Stubai (great glacier resort), Kuehtai,
Oetztal, Seefeld.
If there is only a little snow, you always can get to the hi region
resorts on the glaciers in Stubai or Oetztal or to Kuehtai.

2.) As far as I know there is no combined skiing pass for all these
resorts together. Combined skiing passes are available for Zillertal
(little east of Innsbruck) Region Wilderkaiser (close to the border
Austria/Germany), and as Nigel wrote Skiwelt Amadee (closer to Salzburg
than to Innsbruck).

3.) As Eugene said: Fly to Munich. Airport Muc to Innsbruck will take
three hours (not two as Eugene wrote), because the Airpot is north of
Munich.
You can reach Innsbruck by car (rent at airport) or by train (local
transport to central railwaystation, 45minutes, running each 10 minutes;
then express train to Innsbruck 2 hours, running each hour)

4.) other than in the states or canada in Europe the combination "town"
and "car" is often a problem: no parking space. Perhaps it is easier to
stay in an village outside, e.g Fulpmes or Igls.

5.) each village has an supermarket where you can by everything you need
for your own meal.


There is a great online map with all skiing areas of Tyrol provided by
the Tyrolean government:
http://tiris.tirol.gv.at/scripts/esr...=ski&Cmd=Start
After zooming in the map you have to select "Schigebiet" (=pistes) and
"Aufstiegshilfe" (=lifts)


Regards Florian

wrote:
Hi everybody

I am planning a skiing trip to Austria and I need some opinion about
this. Any help will be much appreciated.

PS I decided to go to Innsbruck because of the scennery. Any other
suggestions regarding this ?

We stayed at the Grauer Baer Hotel in town. There were shuttle buses
that took us to the slopes from the heart of town. The buses left at
9am, and took about an hour to get to the ski areas. By the time we
got our boots on, it was around 10:00 to 10:30. Buses ran
infrequently, so there was no convenient way to return to town if we
wanted to quit early.

We found that Patscherkofel and Axamer Lizum were relatively small
areas. On one of those days, we decided to quit early (so we could
play tourist in town) and bombed to the bottom to catch the 12:30 bus
(the next bust would have been around 4pm). We also skied at Stubai,
but it was storming so badly that we did not get to see much of the
area.

We liked the skiing at St. Anton, but that was about two hours away by
bus.

Two of the non-skiing days were spent on trips to Oberammergau and
Neuschwanstein and to Salzburg.

My conclusion is that Innsbruck is a fine base for being a tourist in
that part of Austria, with the opportunity to include some skiing. It
is not a good place to go if you want a trip focussed on skiing. If
you want to concentrate on the skiing, I would go to someplace like Val
d'Isere or Zermatt.

In article ,
Florian Anwander wrote:
I had a short look at Innsbruk and the slopes around and it seems to be
OK.
1.) Innsbruck is a very nice town, but its more a normal town than a
winter sports place.

resorts are not that far away: Stubai (great glacier resort), Kuehtai,
It's good. It's not Zermatt or Chamonix.
If there is only a little snow, you always can get to the hi region
resorts on the glaciers in Stubai or Oetztal or to Kuehtai.

This is true. I had a good time.

2.) As far as I know there is no combined skiing pass for all these
....

3.) As Eugene said: Fly to Munich. Airport Muc to Innsbruck will take
three hours (not two as Eugene wrote), because the Airpot is north of
Did I say 2? I think I left Inns for Mun. about 6 or 7 and got
there during some rush hour or something. It was dark. Even
the pigeons were cold.
Munich.
You can reach Innsbruck by car (rent at airport) or by train (local
transport to central railwaystation, 45minutes, running each 10 minutes;
then express train to Innsbruck 2 hours, running each hour)

Innsbruck is a rail cross roads. I passed thru for the first time to
spend just over a week in the Dolomite (Cortina and Val Gardena).
This is a major advantage for any transportation
I had the tough decision to spend extra time in Italy.
And I work with and know really cute Austrians.

I will go back but not certain when.

4.) other than in the states or canada in Europe the combination "town"
and "car" is often a problem: no parking space. Perhaps it is easier to
stay in an village outside, e.g Fulpmes or Igls.


I ate at an Indian place (wanted Indian food, also in Munich).
And trying to remember some of the other places I ate.


There is a great online map with all skiing areas of Tyrol provided by
the Tyrolean government:

The Austrian Alpine has major offices there.
One box I didn't get back to the USA had stuff from there I really wish
I had.

--

Hi everybody

Thank you for your suggestions.
One more question: how are the parking lots located in the close
proximity of the chairs. I believe that a good plan would be to have
the base camp in Igls and from there to drive every day to an other
resort.

I would like to know about the parking lots located at the bottom end
of the chairs in the following resorts

Patscherkofel
Stubaier
Axamer Lizum
Kuthai
St Anton

My plan is to drive to St Anton for one or two days. I may also drive
to Innsbruck and take the train from there to St Anton. In the
eventuality I decide to drive I would like to know if there is enough
room for parking or I have to be there early so I can catch a spot.

I believe that this this plan may cover the situation when Innsbruck
doesn't have snow at that time of the year. Is there a parking fee ?
How much ?

How long it will take me to drive to St Anton from Innsbruck ? How is
the road at at that time of the year ? (December 16 - december 23 ?)


Thank you
NP

Hi NP

I would like to know about the parking lots located at the bottom end
of the chairs in the following resorts

Patscherkofel
Stubaier
Axamer Lizum
Kuthai
St Anton

My plan is to drive to St Anton for one or two days. I may also drive
to Innsbruck and take the train from there to St Anton. In the
eventuality I decide to drive I would like to know if there is enough
room for parking or I have to be there early so I can catch a spot.

I believe that this this plan may cover the situation when Innsbruck
doesn't have snow at that time of the year. Is there a parking fee ?
How much ?
There is no parking fee at the lift stations.

If you want to stay in Igls and go by train to St. Anton: there is a
tramway connection from Igls to the main railwaystation (may be one
change is required at St.Barthelmae) . So there is no need to drive by
car to the trainstation.

Line map of the tram and bus of Innsbruck public transport:
http://www.ivb.at/downloads/ivb_lini...ographisch.pdf (6MB,
very extensive pdf)
http://www.ivb.at/downloads/ivb_lini...chematisch.pdf (1MB
schematic line map)


How long it will take me to drive to St Anton from Innsbruck ? How is
the road at at that time of the year ? (December 16 - december 23 ?)
Its a freeway; a vignette is required (fee of 7.60 Euros for ten days).
It takes around one to one and a half hour. The freeway usually is
always in perfect state.

Florian