Anyone know Austria?

[SarahBeenysBumblingApprentice]

Next summer is out final summer when we won't be constrained by school holidays and we want to make the most of it! The DC will be 4 and 3.

I had loads of great holidays in Austria as a child - my parents were really into walking and by default, so were we. I've only been once as an adult and that was to Alpbach - lovely; but very little uplift in the summer and we ended up walking from valley to summit most days, which will be too much for the four year old and the Dad carrying the three year old .

So, I'm looking for somewhere with a good ski lift network, ideally within 10hrs from Calais and hopefully a good local outdoor pool complex or bathing lake. And to be honest, so much of Austria is so lovely that I don't feel the need to go somewhere expensive - Mayrhofen seems much cheaper than Zell am See, for example, and Mayrhofen's great.

We would be looking for a hotel with family suites and this is one of the reasons for going to Austria - they seem to do this very well.

In the past I've been to Kaprun, Westendorf (twice), Mayrhofen, Solden, Ischgl and Alpbach. They're all wonderful... but any new ideas? I was wondering about Serfaus.

For a slightly shorter drive try the Arlberg - St Anton/Lech - the Montafon valley or Seefeld. Kinderhotels offer good packages especially if you go outside of school holidays, say 2nd half June. Any earlier and you risk mountain lifts only opening at weekends.

Thanks for that LIZS, that's really useful. I'd thought about remaining snow high up but hadn't realised the lifts might be shut midweek. I will look at those.

We really liked Saalbach. We stayed in a Chalet hotel, with a summer pass for all the lifts and buses. Have a look at Captain Hooks splash park, Games at the end of the valley. You can catch the bus into Zell.

I will look at that too, thanks Dingit

Seefeld ticks all your boxes and has the added bonus of being reachable by train if you don't want to drive with 4 and 3 yr old. We got there by going sleeper to Munich and then day train over the mountains. Highly recommend.
Alternatively to shorten the drive a bit you could stay Bavarian side of the alps. Some kinder hotels, also look at familotel.
I love the Alps and am currently swithering over where to go....

I don't know what your budget is, but we went for 2 weeks in August for £3,700 4 adults ( my dc are teens). We had interconnecting rooms/ suite full board with summer pass. ( we flew from gatwick, a 10 hour drive is hideous with little ones)
Hotel Bauer ( it's tiny and family run, but lovely, right in the village)

Zell am See is just lovely- on a lake where you can swim- lots of opportunities for walking both on the flat and in the mountains. Trips up to the glacier. Lovely for cycling. Fab weather in the summer.

We stayed in Serfaus twice. It's a lovely resort with a great network of ski-lifts and is in really easy reach of the summer park in Fiss.

I'm off to work in 5 minutes, but if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.

Budget is around £3k, which looks to be really doable unless we go somewhere like this! At a lot of places we don't have to pay for the DC or it's a minimal fee for the eldest and we'll only need 11 nights as we'll break the journey each way.

Love the idea of a sleeper to Munich and that's a lovely hotel, Dingit. We will probably drive though - the DC just watch DVDs in the and do travel well.

Can I ask you where you stayed in Serfaus Arya?

in the car

Brixental and Solltal are brilliant for kids (I see you've been in Westendorf before, but it has changed massively): many of the ski centres have play centres on top with treasure trails, barefoot walks, play parks, trampolines etc. There's a combined pass for the Wilder Kaiser which will give access to all.. best place in Austria to start out with kids

Both times we stayed at the Muirenhof apartments:

www.muirenhof.com/apartments-zimmer-preise/preise-sommer-herbst/

They were (last time we stayed was 2005) lovely family-run apartments in the centre of the village. They included the ski pass (for use in Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis) in the cost of the accommodation.

We had no DCs at the time, and we went mainly for the mountain biking (which is fantastic). The sommerbahn (Fisser Flitzer) in Fiss is fantastic, and there's loads to do with kids including mini-golf and outdoor public pools.

You're within really easy reach of Landeck for white water rafting at all levels of difficulty and trains to Innsbruck.

We travelled by car and stayed overnight in Germany for one night on the way down and three on the way back (filling up with wine in the Rheingau). Oh the joys of a DC-free life!

There were loads of great eateries in Serfaus, although take a German phrase book as there are few English visitors there. The best English speaker we came across was the owner of the Turkish kebab shop in the village.

We're going to take the kids there (9 and 6) next year!