St Johann in Tirol - Information Required

My sister in law and husband are going to St Johann in Tirol at the beginning of March. I found during my recent trip to Mayrhofen that there is an abandance of knowledge on this forum which greatly assisted my groups first few days when we got there, and I thank those who contributed greatly for that especially Tony H.

So does anyone have any knowledge of St Johann in Tirol and recommend pistes to start off with for the pair of them who have 2 weeks skiing experience each and were not 'naturals'. They are booked in to a ski school for the week so they should get looked after on the mountain.

Any suggestions or recommendations about mountain and town bar/restaurants would be greatly appreciated or anything else for that matter. I will find out where they are staying and again request peoples views. :?:

In anticipation, many thanks. SF

Oops thought the resort was quite well known. Might have to do some internet research for them then. You cannot beat the knowledge of those that have actually been there and can talk from their level of ability.
Patience is a virtue, wait and someone will respond!!

My next door neighbour went last year. She is a non skier so did'nt comment on slopes etc. but said she had a fabulous time.

Hi there - i went to St Johann three years ago and it was my third time skiing. I would describe myself as a fairly competent but nervous beginner and i found the resort to be excellent.

I cant say i skied the whole resort so cant comment on the entire area but i too was in ski school and i felt the instructors took us on pistes which matched our abilities (we were all 2nd or 3rd time skiers) and concentrated on building confidence on those slopes rather than getting us to cover the miles.

After ski school in the morning we often went and tried the same slopes on our own in the afternoon and with the instructors "top tips" from the morning sessions we did very well.

There are a couple of lovely long undulating blue runs which we loved and they run from the top the 1st cable car (Harbischel 1) back down to the base - one either side of the cable car. They both have branches off of them so you can make 4 or 5 slightly different runs out of the 2 and we found this brilliant for beginners like us. The other thig i liked is that several of the pistes interlink - so if your friends get confident enough they can start a red from the top the cable car car but then halfway down re-join a blue back down to the bottom. Again i found this a real help as i knew i didnt have to dread the whole way down but at the same time pushed myself a little more!

They are several mountain restaurants so its easy to stop off or take a break on your way down.

The village itself is small but very pretty with a few shops and restaurants but as can often be typical for Austria you really need to go into the hotels to find the bars.

On the whole we had a great time and i would thoroughly recommend it for 1st-3rd time skiers.

I hope this has been of some help

Whoops!!

Hi! Maybe I can also add something else useful. Three years ago i stayed in Kirchdorf which is an ideal beginner's resort only 10 mins away by ski bus, I visited St Johann a couple of times and really liked it. I can remember in the restaurant at the summit the man was wearing his leiderhausen (not too sure of spelling) as you would expect, except it was about -20 outside!! Brave man!!

However also included in the ski pass was Steinplatte which was absolutely super. Very wide, long cruisy blues and an 8 seater chair lift. This was only my first ski holiday and I found the skiing just perfect. I am not too sure which resorts the Schneewinkel liftpass covers now but as Steinplatte is approx 30 mins from St Johann I would certainly try there if you can. I hope you enjoy it!

Sue

Thankyou all for your comments, which will be very useful to them as this will be there 3rd ski trip and it will be rude to say that they are not 'fliers'. It seems that this will be an excellent place for them to develop their skills and build their confidence.
Any tips on bars for your typical 40+ plus couple who like to enjoy themselves.
I apologise for not replying earlier but have been away myself recently. Thanks again.

Scarlet Fez wrote:
Any tips on bars for your typical 40+ plus couple

Yes, make sure its got seats )