Family ski holidays Austria

[TheRealGracePoole]

Would be keen to hear folks recommendation for family ski resorts in Austria

because of where we live it’s best to fly to Salzberg then we re happy to bus and or train to resort.

I think, we re looking for somewhere with lots of great intermediate skiing but we re not bothered bout it being a life and soul of the party type resort.

TIA

Small and gemütlich - Lofer, Rauris, Maria Alm

Small but with access to a bigger area - Leogang, Fieberbrunn (both linked to the Saalbach-Hinterglemm Ski Circus) or St. Johan in Tirol, Kirchberg (linked with Kitzbuhel).

Big and good for intermediates - Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Zell am See/Kaprun

All are within 90 minutes of Salzburg, either by train or bus (or a combination) or by shared transfer. The Salzburg Airport website has a page showing all of the transfer options.

I'd recommend St Johan in Tyrol as it's a pretty town with a market square and plenty of shops. I've been twice but years ago. Theres enough skiing for a week but you may be bored and prefer a larger ski area.
Ellmau and Scheffau are not far away and the skiing is amazing and vast. I stayed at the Alpin in Sheffau which was great but there is zero to do in the town. I think we went to Soll(?) one of the days which was a quick bus drive and that was very lively.

Hinterglemm I found wonderful,the skiing was far too advanced for me,I'm happy on blues but they had the best toboggan run I've ever been on. We spent two evenings going up in the gondola and coming down about two miles of runs all eve. It was wonderful.

We go to Skiwelt, the area @Barleymilk mentioned around Soll, Scheffau etc. we have stayed in Soll but now stay in Ellmau. I think this year will be our seventh year. It's a huge ski area and suits us as intermediate skiers and the dc (now 23, 19 and 17) who prefer something a bit more adventurous.

Should have added, I'm not sure of your dc ages but we first went when our youngest ds was 6, and it has always worked really well. Great ski schools who took them all over the ski area. Was always staggered by how far they got.

Having spent 2 trips in the Skiwelt and 2 in the Saalbach ski area, I would pick Saalbach every time, as would my kids. There is a huge variety of skiing, from easy blues to advanced blacks - enough to keep either beginner or experienced skier entertained. With the kids there are lots of little fun slopes - mini skier/boarder cross piste, bumps and trick pistes, speed trial pistes, etc. there are open mountain sides and enclosed tree lined slopes. Even the mountain restaurants are fun - there is one where the men’s loos look out onto the piste and another where the women’s loos are just bizarre (can’t even describe them here but if you’ve been to them, you’ll know! The tobogganing runs are awesome, the one from the Spiegel Haus reached by piste basher on an evening being my favourite. If you are fed up of skiing there is the alpine coaster at fieberbrunn which is fun, but if you don’t get fed up of skiing you will never run out of piste - the are about 300km in the Saalbach hinterglemm area, and another couple of hundred available to you at Zell am See and Kaprun, all on the same lift pass.

Skiwelt, by contrast, was ‘quite nice.’ I stayed in Ellmau with friends first time, Soll with family second time. Noticable pinch points in the lift system with huge queues (especially trying to get out of Soll over what my kids nicknamed Pimple Mountain,) far fewer little fun slopes up on the mountain, and I’ve been told about how lively Soll is on an evening but once you’ve trudged from the mountain to the village we did not feel very lively and neither did anyone else seem to be lively either! A very quiet place compared to expectation. We ran out of fun things to do after about 5 days so ended up
going over to Kitzbuhel for a change of scenery. Epic skiing there, but full of rich people in fancy ski gear and prices to match. My son ticked off the Hannenkam piste (mostly on his bum! 🤣) so gave it a thumbs up from him.

I agree Salbach is awesome, would be my go to for Austria. 90 mins from Salzburg. Lots of intermediate skiing and part of a vast area.

Ooh very excited to read about Saalbach, going there shortly! Any 'must visit' mountain huts?

The ones at the top of the Asitz lifts are the ones with the toilets, but all of them are good. My kids also liked a last hot chocolate at the end of the day at the Wildkogelkopf then it’s an epic continuous ski all the way back into Saalbach with the pistes to yourself, even in the holidays.

Thanks so much! Can't wait to try it out!