Feb half term 2025, your reviews!

[Peclet]

Have you just been skiing? Family of 5 here, 3 kids and 2 adults. Stayed in an AirBnB type apartment in Paradiski, French Alps

It was the perfect week by almost all accounts, but jeez this year was very very busy. One lift was a 45 min queue (annoyingly) and the one we needed to get back to our resort. Perfect storm of French and UK half terms falling at exactly the same time I think. Usually its a busy week, but this was something else!

Cannot really complain as the conditions were perfect.

Was everywhere the same?

We were in Austria and no queues really.

Pray tell the location?
l

wilder kaiser region so near Ellmau and not far from Kitzbuhel

Saalbach-Hinterglemm last week. There were queues at the main Saalbach and Hinterglemm village lifts between 09.30 and 10.30 but although these initially looked bad, nowhere did the queue take more than 15 minutes. Lifts there are second to none - all high-speed gondolas and 6- or 8-pers chairs. Once up in the terrain there were few queues of more than 5 minutes.

In Zell am See by contrast the queues were far longer - half an hour was not unusual so although it's on the same lift pass as Saalbach, we only went over once.

There are reports on Snowheads of 2-hour queues at Bansko in Bulgaria 😬

2 hours- that is intolerable!

Just back from saint Gervais. Good snow higher up but so so busy. Would love to experience it outside of school half term!

Also, we went to the Italian alps one half-term and it was not busy at all

@Bruisername we were also in the Wilder Kaiser area last week! In Scheffau. Agree, virtually no queues, I think the longest was 5-10 minutes and that was because the lift stopped for a bit.

We’ve also been to Champoluc at half term and again not many queues. Very quiet on the slopes in the afternoon.

Well, I’m going to limp in here as it was our intention to ski if we could. Went up to the Cairngorms and Glenshee in Scotland. Glenshee has 24k of runs, but only the nursery slopes and a tiny bit of one with manmade snow was open. They were so icy we decided it just wasn’t worth it. I realise it was a long shot and you can’t ever bank on skiing in Scotland, but it’s hard to keep your hopes in check when the photos with snow are stunning.

Southern French alps. Maybe 15/20 mins on a couple of occasions (Risoul, Les Orres) but mostly no queues at all (Puy St V and smaller places).

Really interesting reports! I think we will have to explore Austria next season then.

We are just back from Cervinia, wasn't too busy as Italian schools weren't on holiday, more adults and older teenagers. It's a lovely resort with a variety of pistes and nice restaurants.

We went to Austria as well (Leogang - part of the Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn area). We queued for one lift (the main gondola up the Asitz) on one day in the morning and it took about 5 minutes. One of the 8-seater chairlifts had a small queue too (less than 5 mins) but that was it. Otherwise, we walked onto everything else. No wait for a table anywhere at the top or bottom of the mountain and super quick service. Haven’t skied anywhere else in Europe and now I’m sensing it’s not the same! This area is also lovely because it’s huge and all connected by lifts and pistes. Definitely recommend.

Austria really sounds appealing! I am going to look into it .

@ISpyNoPlumPie wow. We basically gave up on buying lunch in France and took a sandwich in a spare pocket. The restaurants did not allow picnics on their outdoor seating but with no chance of actually buying any food nobody noticed or cared. Crazy busy.

Oh crikey. Ok! We have been spoilt in Austria and now we can’t go anywhere else!! My DH has been skiing in Europe before and he said it was much, much quieter in Austria but I have nothing to compare it to myself. That’s really not ideal not being able to eat anywhere. All the huts had spaces all day and you’d be eating in 5-10 minutes. The ski schools go into the huts at lunchtime as well. No bookings! Just walk in with the kids at 12.30-ish and get a big table. How different it seems.

@ISpyNoPlumPie I am looking at the resort you mentioned as I speak. I went to Rauris in Austria last Feb half term and I have to say that was also really busy (not as busy as France this year though). Big queues for lifts but we did get to eat at least.

Ah interesting. Is Rauris a smaller area? The area we went to is so big and I’m guessing Leogang is a quieter part of that whole area so perhaps that’s why it wasn’t so busy and we didn’t have any queues.

@ISpyNoPlumPie Yes Rauris is quite small and one gondala serves as the main route up the mountain so it was a pinch point. Leogang looks lovely and has lots of gondolas which is a definite plus for me. But looks fairly low. How was the snow?

The snow was good as it had snowed just before we arrived. It didn’t snow whilst we’re there - it was sunny everyday. The snowmakers were in use, and all pistes were open. It has snowed again since we left. I’m not sure how that compares to previous years although I sense there is usually a bit more snow. Happily the skiing was unaffected.

@Jonas25 Leogang is one of the better areas of the Ski Circus for snow conditions as the pistes are largely north-facing. The runs under the Asitz and Steinberg gondolas keep the snow and the high bowl area by Asitz on the way to Saalbach always has good snow. This area always opens early and will be open for two weeks longer than the main Saalbach and Hinterglemm areas of the Ski Circus. Leogang is also a great access point for the entire Ski Circus and is not as expensive or busy as Saalbach or Hinterglemm.

Leogang itself is in a low valley, but the two gondolas are high-speed lifts and the Steinbergbahn is only a few years old. There are 3 excellent restaurants at the top of Asitz/Steinberg (the two lifts serve the same summit) and 2 more at the mid-station of the Asitzbahn. The village is quiet but there have been lots of new developments (hotels, restaurants and apartment-hotels) just out of town around the base station of the Asitz lift, where there is also a dedicated area for kids.

@ISpyNoPlumPie Where did you stay in Leogang - and did you get to the stunning Handlfischeri restaurant (which those of us who used to ski the area years ago remember as a wooden shed only selling rotisserie chicken and beer, and which is still known locally as "The Chicken Man")?

Such a good description @Havanananana with really useful info! We stayed in a hotel near the bottom of the Steinbergbahn (right by the little L11 button lift). We also enjoyed the KrallerAlm which is right by here and has lovely food and a seating area outside and hut-jumping on Wednesday. We saw Handlfisheri but did not go in - we had kids with us and thought it might be too fancy 😆. We also liked that we could ride the gondolas up and down with the kids, there were some nice blues at the top for them to try but perhaps the bottom half of the mountain was a bit steep for their first time skiing. We went to the night tobogganing as well which terrified the grown ups (the kids enjoyed it…). We would certainly go again, we loved it.

We went to Flachau in Austria and queues were minimal. I wonder if Austrian/German/Dutch half terms were later due to shrove Tuesday/Easter being later this year and this helped it be quieter. Lots of UK school kids there this year which is unusual. Snow was a lot better this year than last year. Not sure what we will do next year as DD doesn’t make full use of the facilities of the hotel we’ve been to the last few years so considering a cheaper hotel or apartment but DH isn’t fully onboard!

@Skigal86 you’re right — Germans are apparently the biggest skiing nation and their winter holidays were at different times this year. Many Dutch holidays were also at another time (like sensible nations they spread them out). Next year will be busier again. Source: https://www.wintersport.nl/weblog/25/02/2025/drukke-en-rustige-weken-wintersportseizoen-20252026

Interesting to know about the difference in the school
holidays. I think France is a victim of its own success, it’s famous.

Austria is on the list!