Oberau/Niederau

Hi, Just read your posting. We were in Oberau over Christmas and New Year, The snow was excellent as was most of Austria at that time. It is a low resort but I have been twice at this time of year and it has never been a problem. The Hotel Kellerwirt in Oberau is highly reommended. The ski buses are frequent between the villages and no hassle unless you want to use in the evening. Oberau quieter and less options for skiing. However being in the middle of the two other villages you have plenty of ski options. Niederau better if you have teenage children as more to do. Hope this helps. Enjoy.

Thank you kind people, I was looking at Kellerwirt. We don't tend to go out at night, usually mix with other guests, kids always find friends or go on d.s. and PSP. Should be what we need.

Sorry, Sah, I have been a bit ott.
Flights ~ you say that is a problem, what is the problem? What is your nearest airport?
Skiing ~ for a recovering injury, for some rehab skiing, there are five gentle slopes at the foot of the mountain, in Niederau. Then there are two slightly steeper slopes at the top of the mountain ~ come down by Gondela. Lifts are 50m from most of the main hotels.
Hotels~ In Oberau, the Kellerwirt is a 1000 years old. Some of the greatest names in skiing, royalty, blah di blah have stayed there.
~ In Niederau, Austria is in the village centre, and has a pool. The Harfenwirt has a pool, it is half a mile walk up the road, with direct access to a nursery slope, and a T-bar to the village. The Hotel Sonnschein has a pool, but is an extra 150 yd walk, and not connected to the ski bus. The first two have bus stops beside them.
There is a rather pricey shop in Oberau, Sandbichlers, good stuff, though. You can catch the Post Bus into Worgl, 20 minutes, that has loads of shops, some good places, quality and pricewise. You can also do a day trip to Innsbruck.
If you can stretch into New Year, you will be rewarded by the most magical firework display, 360 degrees of mountain horizon fireworks.

Thanks Dave, I really like the sound of the Kellerwirt, sounds great on tripadvisor.
The flight prob was that we want to arrive on 23rd, get straight, enjoy xmas eve at leisure and look forward to xmas. Flying in on 24th means unpacking, ski hire etc and rushing about, that's if we get to resort around early aft as planned. Some of the Niederau packages I've found don't fly out to 24th, I have visions of hubby and I with a glass of something bubbly, having witty conversation,plus 2 beaming kids around a xmas tree rather than our usual arrival day of tired kids, hubby moaning at me because there aren't any boots in the shop that fit me and saying, " I told you last year you should buy your own boots."
Basically, if the snow is reasonable, I think O should be ok, it would only be the bus twice a day after all.

Have had copious wine and still have not booked the holiday. We are definately booking O, but can't decide on Kellerwirt or Tirolehof, anyone else with experience of either?

We stayed at The Hotel Austria (Niederau) at New Year and had a fab time. We took the bus to Oberau on one day and felt that there wasn't much there. The Austria on the other hand was right opposite the nursery slopes, the cable car, ski school and kinder school for the kids. It also had a good pool and was non smoking.

One word of warning, changeover date this year is 24/12 so do not assume you can get hotel bookings on the 23/12.

Pete

I agree Pete that skiing-wise, Oberau is limited. It is an old village, and is the gemeindantburo for the Wildschönau. Also agree that the Austria has a great location for lifts and the village centre.

However, although the 24th is a changeover day, the week prior is still on the edge of low season, so there should be rooms available on the days prior to Christmas. This presumes that you are DIY.
A word of warning. On the 24th December, all of the main autobahn approaches to the SkiWelt, Kitzbühel , Wildschönau, and the through route to Innsbruck will be at a standstill/traffic crawl.
That is an extra reason for going a day or two earlier.
The Simmelwirt is also close, but no swimming pool.
All good, if you like the sound of church bells!

We are going for xmas break first, skiing 2nd, Kellerwirt has great xmas package. O looks good for us as it is central. I know that as soon as xmas is done we will go down to N, if hubby's knee holds up, he will take our son up to A on the reds the next day.
Have found a package holiday that lands on 23rd around midday so thanks for advice on traffic, even with hold ups we should be there by nightfall, leaving a stressless xmas eve(she hopes).