I’m just back from Zell am See; the lakeside resort that sits not far from Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossklockner. It’s a cute, welcoming, and well-organised place – and about as different from your average, purpose-built resort as a ski town can be; without actually waltzing off the pages of the ski brochures and settling into a book of the prettiest towns in Austria instead. As a result, it makes a great target for skiing families who want more from their holiday than a non-stop diet of pistes. That’s not say there isn’t some great skiing here: there is (see below). But if you, or your wife/husband/children, fancy a wider taste of winter, put it high on your hit list.
Here are seven reasons why it works well for families.
1. The transfer takes about an hour and 15 minutes
Well, that’s how long it took the other day, when I was coming back on the Saturday afternoon transfer bus with Mark Warner. Okay, so it was January, not February half-term, but even so I was surprised how clear the roads were, and how quickly we covered the 50-odd miles to Salzburg airport. There were no sick-making switchback roads either (I should know: I was facing backwards most of the time, chatting to other skiers). Now, my own son Sam would have regarded all of that as a disappointment. Inexplicably, he loves coach journeys. But most kids think otherwise; and such a short transfer time is, by the reckoning of almost every family I know, a huge relief.
2. The Tauern Spa is BRILLIANT
Oh yes, and there’s another swimming pool (with slide) in the middle of Zell am See if all you want is an hour or two of swimming (family tickets are €31.20).
3. There’s a cool, Brit-friendly chalet hotel close to the lifts
Of course, not every family wants to pitch in to such an English-speaking cocoon. But the vast majority will love it, thanks to the childcare on offer during the school holidays, and the presence of other British parents to swap stories, congratulate/commiserate where appropriate, and generally replicate the warm fug of empathy that swirls around the school gates back home.
4. The skiing will stretch Mum and Dad – if they want it to
But that’s not the whole story. On the north side of Schmitten the slopes take a more vertiginous turn, plunging straight down the side of the mountain to create some classic blacks. The Standard (number 14) is the best of them, and drops through nearly 1000 vertical metres to create one of the most underrated steep pistes in the Alps. Meanwhile, on the Kitzsteinhorn, a fresh dump brings off-piste opportunities aplenty. You’ll need to hire a guide to discover its full potential, but there’s everything here from wide-open, no-fear powder pitches to tight, steep, and challenging chutes.
5. There’s lots of easy skiing for young legs to explore
6. Lunch won’t bankrupt you
7. There’s plenty to do after the lifts shut
Here come the caveats
Zell am See isn’t perfect. If you’re tempted, you need to know a couple of caveats.
First, the skiing above Zell am See itself, on the Schmittenhöhe, isn’t very high by modern Alpine standards. It starts at 750m and tops out at 2000m. There are snow cannons all over the place to make up the shortfall if Mother Nature doesn’t provide natural snow. But whenever there’s a thaw, the quality of the cover on the lower half of mountain suffers – getting slushy during the afternoon and then refreezing overnight. Yes, the pistes on the Kitzsteinhorn are much more consistent than that – in fact, it offers some of the most snowsure skiing in the Alps. But to get the best chance of good snow on both mountains, aim for a mid-winter trip, in January or February.
Second of all, you need to be prepared to shuttle about a bit. To get to the Tauern Spa, or the Alpine Coaster, or the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, you’ll need to catch one of the free shuttle buses or jump in one of the many local taxis. It’s not as convenient as a purpose-built, ski-in, ski-out resort like Tignes-le-Lac. But then resorts like that offer a much more single-minded focus on skiing. Zell am See’s lower altitude and more diffuse layout may have their drawbacks, but they’re also the reason why it offers a more varied holiday experience.
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