Alpbach or Inneralpbach?

Getting to slopes is a major priority and so it seems that staying in Inneralpbach would be the best choice, but does it have many good hotels,restaurants and is it pretty? Any advice would be helpful.

Hi Furthy, Definitely stay in Inneralpbach (the 2 main gondolas run from there), there is a good bus service up and down the valley but if you want to be close to the lifts stay up in Inner. From my experience it is a very pretty and friendly resort, relatively low altitude so I wouldn't choose an early or late holiday but some fun skiing. I even went for a run next to some of the cross country tracks (trail shoes needed!) and explored a beautiful part of the valley.

It's not the 3 valleys and there are quite a lot of red runs once you are up the mountain. This suited us but if you had anyone in the party who were more green/blue run standard the skiing might be more limited. Off piste looked quite good but conditions were warm in the day and cold at night so although the piste bashers made great corduroy the off piste was unpleasant!

Food up the mountain is good value (compared with France for instance!) and is tasty Tyrolean stuff....not really the place if you are vegetarian I would imagine. Some good restaurants in resort as well.

We have kids and stayed in the Galtenburg. Brilliant accommodation, lovely spa and pool and so much to do for the children in the evening after dinner which allowed my wife and I some time to just relax in the bar which was good! Ski school was also good but was 9:30 - 3pm (I think) so quite an effort for my youngest who was 5 at the time.

The only down side I could see was that there are no supermarkets and limited shops in resort and you are a little isolated up the end of the valley. If you needed anything it would mean a bus ride down to Alpbach which probably made it a 2 hour journey where you could do it in 20 min with a car. The hotel was great though and when my wife needed something they didn't stock in the little hotel shop they just picked it up the next time a member of staff was passing. If you are self driving this wouldn't be an issue.

In general a great place to go if you want some Austrian charm and don't need to get 100's of KM under your skis. The kids loved it and I would head back in a heartbeat if I found a deal when I knew the off piste was doable. Without that extra the map was a little limited but that says more about me than the resort!

Hudman - Thank you so much for a brilliant reply. Where do most people seem to stay, Alpbach or Inneralpbach?

Inneralpbach, definitely!