J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by munich_johnny

It sounds like a cop out but you cannot argue with tripadvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g608673-Niederau_Wildschonau_Tirol_Austrian_Alps-Hotels.html

Wastlhof probably the best in town, and Sonnschein has an English owner if that helps.

The difference is that Xmas and New Year is the same for the Germans, Dutch etc so always a struggle to get somewhere to stay which is where a TO will *probably* win. Half-term only sometimes clashes with German schools - but they ALWAYS screw you via a TO regardless.

Also complicated by the Saturday to Saturday system everyone sticks to. So next New Year is Saturday 31st December which means probably you need to book that exact week to the 7th January to get anything.....regardless of whether you are booking a room direct.

The original poster did say this was for a New Years Eve trip - not half term.

If discussing the 1 special week of half term then YES - the tour operators are out to screw you and it is cheaper to book your own flights and accomodation.

Monday I did Skiwelt from Hopfgarten- total rubbish
Tuesday I did Hochfügen/Kaltenbach - pretty good actually. Fresh snow on top of the hardpacked stuff, so very OK really. Almost normal stuff.
Wednesday I did Niederau - icy, part open and rubbish.

It's all rather sad and they needs LOTS to get it acceptable.

There will 100% be manufactured snow on the slopes and about 80% chance of snow at village level. This year was ZERO at village level and last year it snowed 11am on the 25th December, and the 4 years I remember before that were white on the 25th December to varying degrees.

How easy is it?
Simple really. Just book your flights and accommodation. Transfer depends where you are going - could be train, bus, hirecar, taxi or whatever from the airport.


Do you really save that much money?
Nope. I would say almost certainly you would NOT save money. But some people just prefer to handle things themselves and take more precise control. But I would be surprised if you save even a penny over a package deal.


The ski rental for some of our group, the lift passes and transfers.
Ski rental and lift pass is super easy everywhere. Just the transfer maybe more complicated depending on what you want.

It totally depends on your aims? Do you want a powder ski trip in Japan? Do you want to go cat-skiing in Eastern Europe? Are you heli-skiing in Canada?

If you are looking for a tailor made trip then book yourself. But if you just want a week in France or Austria - take the package trip - then you know everything is included and you have someone to moan at when stuff goes wrong.

p.s. You *could* save money.....but I think will be negligible/unlikely mainly due to the pretty fixed costs of flights and a week of staying someplace....that's gonna be £££££ at New Year however you try and hack it.

If worried about being cold it's cheaper just to buy some thermal leggings for under your jeans.

That's not an issue. But Minxter has 2 fairly polar opinions in the above thread and can make her decision based on these.

Had she said the magic words such as "first time skier" or "novice" or "with 2 small kids" or "cheap as possible ski trip" then I might have said dive in...the water is fine.

But when the post is peppered with things like "apres-ski scene" and "good skier" and even "spa day" then I see only disappointment in the tea leaves.

I use Niederau as a hopping off point for the other ski areas basically. If you don't have transport then your are stuffed. They don't even run a bus down to Hopfgarten which is criminal.

That said......you can get the bus to Auffach and with the new link to Alpbach you have a pretty good selection of runs. Alpbach not my favourite area as always seems icy to me, but maybe I have just been unlucky as we have only had access for 2 seasons and when the snow is nice I prefer Skiwelt.