Ski holidays have got to be one of the most picturesque of all, especially when the sun is shining! This year myself and Trevor were lucky enough to hit the slopes in Zell am See. I’m a big fan of skiing in Austria. Mainly because the skiing and aprés are great, but also because it can be much better value than skiing in places like France or Italy. The town of Zell am See is so pretty – beautiful buildings, hanging fairy lights everywhere and it’s situated on the edge of a large lake. We love the place so much, we’re thinking about coming back again in the summer to see what it’s like and mountain bike instead of ski! (I’m sounding so active and sporty right now, but the truth is, you can bring the bike up on the gondolas and then just cycle down!!)
Getting There
There are three companies we check every year for prices – Topflight, Direct Ski and Cyrstal Ski. Over the years we have used them all for ski trips and they’re all basically the same. This time Direct Ski was the cheapest for us. We flew into Salzburg and the bus transfer time was less than 2hrs, which was great!. We stayed at the Hotel Heitzmann and it was the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in while skiing!! Well, actually the only hotel we have ever stayed at while skiing! 🙂 Usually, we choose the cheapest pension available as there’s normally a gang of us going. This year, as there was only the two of us we decided to treat ourselves to a hotel! Anyway, the location couldn’t have been better and we highly recommend it.
Food and Aprés Ski
We are big fans of aprés and Zell am See didn’t disappoint! The place in the above pic was the best we saw on the mountain – good atmosphere, amazing views and a DJ,(if you don’t mind the classic Austrian oompa tunes!). It was in the hotel right at the top of the Schmittenhohebahn gondola. Down in the village, East Orange (a small little bar) had live music earliest – around 5pm. Crazy Daisies was one of the best bars we found. It had excellent live music from 6.30pm-10pm and we ate dinner there a few times – the food was really good! We also popped into Murray’s Irish bar, Ginhouse (unreal gin selection), Insider Bar (also known as Dienes) and Tom’s (tiny bar, full of character that has karoke in the evenings). The Off-Piste is bar is apparently great craic, but unfortunately it had a huge fire a few days before we arrived. Hopefully it gets back up and running soon. But probably our favourite bar was Bernstein’s. If you’re going to Zell am See, you have to go and have one of their cocktails! The bar is just fab – wood panelling, cosy navy walls and the most random selection of objects everywhere. The music was brilliant as was the barman, who was basically the Austrian version of Tony Stark! Loved it!
Austria always has great food and we had two amazing meals in particular! The first in ‘Deins and Meins’ (truffle chicken burger was amazing!) and Seebar restaurant was a little more upscale, but the prices were so reasonable! For something more casual, The Burger Factory was yum!!! Lastly, you can’t leave Austria without having some apple strudel and if you’re looking for a good one, head to Cafe Seegasse!
The Skiing
Ok, so the skiing is the only slight problem we found to Zell am See. Technically, it’s a huge ski area that connects many different mountains. However, while the rest of the ski area is very well connected and interlaced together, there is only one gondola connecting the mountain at Zell am See to the rest. After one day we had skied all the Zell am See mountain, which meant that for most of the week we had to start each morning with a 40mins bus journey to Saalbach (bus 680). This brought us into the main huge ski area. Worth it, but a little annoying – especially when we had to wait for an hour to get the bus back!! (The next time, we skied the whole way back to Zell am See instead of grabbing a bus!)
Now don’t get me wrong, we still had a ball skiing – the conditions were excellent and the slopes, views, pit-stops were all fab! I just wish we could have avoided the bus!
The Glacier
On one of the days, we got the 660 Kaprun bus and went to ski on a glacier! (If you are getting the bus, skip Kaprun town and stay on it until the very last stop – about 40mins). This was amazing and well worth doing – it’s 3,029m above sea level and you were able to ski from the very top, all the way to Kaprun town!! There is a special viewing platform that’s worth going to and taking a few pics from. You also have to stop at the igloo, grab and drink and chill out on one of the deckchairs. There’s nothing better when the sun is shining!! We had a ball!
The Kaprun Spa
On our last day we weren’t leaving until 4pm so we had plenty of time to visit the Kaprun Spa. We took the same bus as the glacier and 20mins into our journey, it dropped us off at the door to the spa. Handy! The spa was a little confusing to book as there is a WaterWorld and a Spa. Two separate areas within the building. The spa area (which you pay a little extra for) has a sauna and steam room. There is another larger area within the spa too but is was nude only. Not our cup of tea to be honest! 🙂
The Waterworld area is where the outdoor thermal pools were, which was our main reason for going. I mean, look at that picture above….the view, the steam rising from the water, the whole thing was just stunning!!! There were loads of other pools and a slide etc for kids, but we basically spent the entire time outside in this pool! We were able to get an early bird ticket, which was cheaper but meant we had to leave by 1pm. As we were heading to the airport, that suited us just fine!
Have you been to Zell am See? Or if you have any questions about skiing, just pop them below and I’ll do my best to help you out! 2022 is going to be a busy year – lots of plans for the house and a few more trips booked that I can’t wait to share with you! We’ve got two years to make up for!!! 😉
