Niederau or St Johann in Tyrol at half-term - good for family of intermediates?

We are booking our half-term hols (late through no fault of our own) - 13-20 Feb. Left it too late to book and our "usual" holiday to Norway is no longer available so we are thinking about somewhere different. We are now thinking of Niederau or St Johann in Tyrol.

We are a family of four intermediates - mum and dad like blues and reds, girls like reds, blacks and a few bumps.

Niederau looks a nice village, but the ski area looks small. How long does is take to get to Auffach/Alpbach.

Also, is it a busy week in Austria, skiing wise? I note that one of Austria's regions is on Fasching holiday (I think).

Hi Dobby.
Not a great deal of difference, run-distance-wise between the two.

St Johann is quite a bit lower than Niederau, but being more easterly, has a slightly better snow record. Both villages have good February snow records. I have skied in Niederau for well over 100 years, but in St Johann only in 4 of the past 5 years. If you have a car, and you go for the Kitz Allstar pass, then you can access a lot of ski areas.

Considering blues and reds, this would favour St Johann. Niederau does not have a way down the mountain on blues. Two of the three main runs are classified as FIS Downhill runs, and generally, Niederau is a fair bit steeper than St Johann. St Johann does have on blue run down from the Harshbichl.

Niederau is an old village, full of character, and having worked for the ski school for four winters, it obviously means a lot to me. Not much in the way of shops.
St Johann is more of a small town, with a fair number of shops, also a pleasant large village, and has it's fair share of history.

I think that covers your points, but feel free to ask away.

Cheers, Dave. I thought you'd be the one to come up with the answers. We are still assessing our options.

You'd might be better off in somewhere like Kitzbuhel, Mayrhofen, Schladming, St Anton, Sölden, or even Bad Gastein if you like Austria with something going on and decent sized ski areas.

Mayrhofen and Schladming are townie places with some shopping and good attached ski areas, with lifts within easy reach of town, you may need to use ski buses though. Mayrhofen has a new lift in town which should clear the big queues in the mornings, but you can spread out and ski a wide area on the Zillertaller lift pass, including the massive glacier at Hintertux.

Kitz I haven't been to personally, but its not been voted best resort for 3 years running for nothing, the ski area is decent size and the village I know to be lively yet traditional. An ex colleague of mine goes every year and swears by the place.

Bad Gastein is an old town with some shopping, and an interesting ski area linking into other smaller areas on the same lift pass; I was there January a couple of years ago but the weather was poor so would like to go back when snow is good. Good amount to go at there though.

And St Anton is just epic, if you are all good intermediates its got the lot, but it does get hellishly busy especially getting off from the main drag at the end of the day.....you're best advised to come off a different run to finish into a different point, or stay up for a later drink and miss the main rush. But its somewhere you should ski at least once in your life time. Town is superb, lots of shops, bars and restaurants. Its not cheap like most of Austria. Lech is just around the corner and on the same lift pass as well.

And my current favourite place, Sölden, is another townie place. Its not at all like the reviews say i.e. seedy or raucous, bit its got some lively apres ski venues tucked away. Theres a good selection of shops, the restaurants and bars are all good, and the skiing is superb with a free day in Obergurgl on the weekly pass. Highly recommended. And we found it cheap for food and drink.

I just think if you're all decent intermediates, you may find St Johann or Niederfu too restrictive and repetitive.
This is where Dave comes in and says "theres a million different ways to ski the same run" but you probably know what I am getting at.

The OP addresses two resorts, both of which I have skied and commented on. Much as Niederau is in my heart. it has no blue runs down the mountain. I confess that when advising people, I prefer to be both accurate and precise. Advising people to go to resorts that are beyond their capabilities is a tad irresponsible.

There are certainly other resorts that might better meet the OP's specification.

One of the recent posters suggestions would not meet the OP's requirements. Indeed, some of them would be seriously disadvantageous/dangerous for skiers restricted to blue runs. Being voted " best resort for 3 years running", means nothing for a group that seeks a resort with top to bottom blue ski runs.

Dave Mac and Tony_H, thanks very much for your replies. All very useful. Dave's comments on Niederau were particularly helpful because one or our party, while perfectly competent on steep reds, gets tired easily, doesn't like pushing herself and would rather cruise on the blues. For cost reasons we'll be going to Are in Sweden - sounds a bit perverse saying Sweden is "cheap", but the package we have got through Ski Safari is far cheaper than anything we could find for Austria which is a shame because I really want ski in Austria. Next year we'll be booking flights early for a trip to Austria.

Dave Mac wrote:Advising people to go to resorts that are beyond their capabilities is a tad irresponsible.

The OP stated this:

"We are a family of four intermediates - mum and dad like blues and reds, girls like reds, blacks and a few bumps."

Tell me precisely where any suggestion I made was irresponsible, or how you know precisely what their capabilities are :roll:

Well done, Dobby, good shout. Glad you have a good deal. Let us know how you went on.