Bad Gastein, plus a Salzburg day trip

A snowHead

Hello all,

A report on our latest trip: two adults , one junior (but sometimes an adult for pricing purposes now), and one young junior.

Resort – Bad Gastein and surrounding areas
Dates: 30/3/24 - 6/4/24 Self booked
Travel: Lufthansa flights from Heathrow to Salzburg, train to Bad Gastein
Accommodation: Hotel ALPENBLICK in Bad Gastein – half board (https://www.alpenblick-gastein.at/)

I liked the sound of Bad Gastein, it sounded an interesting place and was close to Salzburg, a city destination we had long wanted to visit thus incorporated a visit in the trip. Being an old spa town with local springs and impressive waterfall, it’s an old haunt of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial family. Also, it appeared to be easy to get to by train (more anon). Indeed, it had many plaques and streets named after several Franz Josephs and is dotted with old hotel buildings that might not have looked out of place in Vienna, along with others built more recently including a tower block with a pool on top. Of the seven distinct ski areas in the valley those connected are Bad Gastein/Angertal/Bad Hofgastein (none of which we ended up skiing for various reasons), and Dorfgastein/Grossarl, however the others Graukogel and Sportgastein, are not. Ski buses were the order of the day. Confusingly the Ski Amade app does not list Dorfgastein/Grossarl as part of Bad Gastein valley and was not the best at predicting lifts/runs that would open.

We booked half board in a spa type family-owned hotel a little way out of town. It had a heated boot room, ski storage room, bar, a small heated pool, games room, and other spa areas (including the obligatory nude sauna), in fact all you could want/need. The closest ski area (a short walk) was Graukogel, but the lift operator had already closed the lifts there for the season much to the chagrin of the hotel owner who said it still had snow. The ski bus stop was directly outside the hotel.

We left London with some snow forecast for the week so were hopeful of good skiing for this time of year, but all did not run smoothly on that front. Despite only two check-in desks at Heathrow (and later at Salzburg) check-in was quick, the flight uneventful if a little bumpy (a harbinger of things to come). I decided not to rent a car as we usually would, this proved perhaps a mistake. Bad Gastein served by its own train station with the hotel saying they would collect us from there as they are about 1km out of town. The shuttle bus from the airport to the central train station was busy but on time for us to catch a 1545 train, but arriving on a Saturday when the railways decided to do some works was not the best. The train we wanted to catch was cancelled, the next one supposedly in an hour was then delayed by 1 hr 45 mins which the Austrians announced several times was the fault of the Germans. Then we found that the train only went to Bad Hofgastein where we had to catch a connecting bus up to Bad Gastein. We arrived much later than hoped but, along with another guest, were lucky enough the hotel could still organise a pickup and provide dinner.

We woke the next day to high winds which usually shut all the lifts in the valley. If we had a car we might have been able to drive to the another Ski Amade resort but no chance of that. So a day pottering about the hotel and town it was. Two of us did make it to the Bad Gastein baths (apparently smaller than the complex in Bad Hofgastein), it was pretty busy due to the poor weather, but it was a good set up as the Austrians know how to run these things and, as it was Easter Sunday, kids get in free. The café was pretty good too. A slight accident at the baths on the stairs to the slide caused a cut toe (goodness knows how as they all seemed covered by rubberised paint). We thought our afternoon at the pool over, but a passing pool attendant pointed us in the direction of the first aider where we found a fully equipped sick bay and trained staff. A spray of Liquid skin was rapidly applied, and swimming could continue. Try that in the UK, you’d be lucky to get an ancient curled up band aid from a tin box at reception if you could find anyone who knew where the tin box was!

The next day was worse, there was a bit of hope with some lifts pending, we were just about to board the ski bus at the hotel when the driver announced all lifts were again closed. Worse it then rained heavily in the day making a wander around town a rather miserable trek and it also proceed to wash out the snow in Bad Gastein, permanently closing that area for the season. Not great so far with two out of our potential five days skiing gone (one of the other days we had scheduled a day trip into Salzburg). The only upside was getting my boots on for a little while with the realisation that my new orthopaedic insoles were too long for my boots (as they were made for other shoes) so rather than cut down my hospital made ones I went into town to buy some off the shelf insoles. I went to First Decent as I had noticed they had cork insoles in their window only to find they were not open, but a guy already outside was looking to return some rental gear and had rung them up and he said they would be there in a few minutes. A chap turned up who turned out to be Swedish as apparently was everyone else who worked in the shop as all their customers were Swedes, Bad Gastein apparently very popular with Swedes (more of these to come).

So up on Tuesday, the skies were a bit cloudy but there was no wind, skiing was on! The lifts were opening. I had organised a private ski lesson for the kids and had hoped to do it on Monday at Sportgastein (the highest area with the best snow) after we had the first day on the slopes to find our bearings. The ski school actually had said a few days prior that Tuesday would likely be the first day of skiing given the weather and so it proved. We headed off on the bus to Sportgastein, this entailed a change of bus in Bad Gastein, but a few others had the same idea that day after the bad weather. The connecting ski bus was already packed with many left on the pavement, we thought we’d need to wait another half an hour for the next one, but no, the authorities seemed to realise this might happen after two days closed and put on three buses at once, so off we trundled. We hadn’t bought lift tickets as we got a voucher at a lower rate from the hotel that needed to be presented to the kasse, thankfully there was no queue. Sportgastein has really only one lift of note, a two stage bubble so you could stay highish with the runs on either side of that, and a rather pointless very long t-bar that goes the same way as the bubble mid to top station (not open this day and never used it). We got to the top but visibility was not good with the fog, and now no wind to blow it away so we had to tentatively make our way down, not being able to see more than 50 yards. But after the first run the sun burned it off and all was good. There are some good reds there and a pretty decent if hard blue. We had to get to the bottom to meet for the lesson at 1300 which was with FAMILY SKISCHOOL GO! The boy and I skied down the only run open to the bottom, a black but it was slushy, worn and not pleasant so we unloaded via the bubble after that. We had a decent lunch at the self-serve at the bottom which had friendly staff and the usual choices for Austria. There was a good looking restaurant across the other side of the car park, and judging from the cars and the clientele, people went there specially to eat rather than as skiers. A young Swede chap turned up as the instructor and the kids set off. The wife and I skied a few leisurely runs on the blue until the lesson finished at 1500. We asked for them to be dropped off at the mid station after the lesson rather than the bottom in case we wanted to do a few more runs. I was heading over to tip the lad but he skied off down to the bottom for his next lesson before I could get over. It was getting slushy and we were tired after the first day of skiing, so it was down and back on a rather quieter bus.

Wednesday was our day trip to Salzburg, so no lie in allowed as we wanted to catch the 0819 train to get us into Salzburg just before ten to make a day of it. The morning would entail wandering to the town with no real set agenda then in the afternoon, the highlight of the trip for some, the Original Sound of Music Tour. We got into Salzburg and my wife strode purposefully off to the old town, with us following, unfortunately in the wrong direction. Once this was rectified, we found our way to the Mirabelle gardens, the Mozart Museum and thereafter to Café Bazar, an old style café (well half of it was) near the river. We must have hit the tail end of the morning coffee crowd as it was busy so had to sit in the modern part much to the disappointment of the eldest, he was not happy about this. But a quick word to one of the waitresses soon had us in the old part of the building, so nice to have wait staff for whom this is a profession in which they take pride and are good at it, rather than amateur hour as it seems most are in the UK. We proceeded to have a good (but not cheap) lunch as we also had to sample the various cakes on display. Once we had luxuriated in the old-world ambiance, and forced a tip on the kindly waitress who got us the prime table we headed over the river to the real old town. We wandered around the main square, shopped for a few souvenirs (Christmas decorations as is our norm) but sadly no time to visit the impressive fortress before we had to head back to meet for the aforementioned tour back on the other side of the river, popping into St. Sebastian’s cemetery which held the tomb of some of the Mozart family but not the prodigy himself. The tour was on a packed coach, quite a few Americans present and guided by an English émigré. He explained that the Austrians really don’t know what the fuss is all about as they are not really fans of the Sound of Music film, they have their own more factual movie. An example of the historical inaccuracy of the film being the family actually flee on a train rather than in the film when they climb the mountain nearest Salzburg to end up in Switzerland, he pointed out that the mountain they climbed in the film would have taken them to Berchtesgaden, not the best way to escape the Nazi’s, with Switzerland being 300 mile away but who can fight Hollywood. The tour was a bit of a contrived affair as all the locations were able to be visited for free, it really provided a bus and a tour guide but was enjoyable, nevertheless. Once done we had to scoot for a 6pm train back to Bad Gastein as it wouldn’t have done to be late for dinner at the hotel again. As it was, by the time we were expected back we would only be getting two courses. The tour bus driver was good enough to drop us at rail station so kudos to the tour’s customer service!

Day two back on skis, with blue skies from the start and things were warming up. We (meaning I) decided to head for Dorfgastein, the furthest uplift from us as that seems to have the most slopes open. It needed an unexpected change of bus at Bad Hofgastein but we made it thanks to a helpful local. Dorfgastein, unlike Sportgastein, has plenty of tree lined runs and on-slope restaurants. Again, it was slushy lower down but even if it wasn’t as high as Sportgastein you could stay high. We ate at the Harbachhütte restaurant just below Kreuzkogel where we mainly skied that day, it had excellent Gulaschsuppe and does a massive Bolognese, certainly justifying the extra price for table service. After lunch a wrong run by some of the part whizzing on ahead cause a hiatus in skiing to re-group, a reminder to make sure everyone is clear on the planned route and that the kids are now able to ski too fast. A few more runs on a couple of wide reds romantically called D3a, then skied back down to the mid-station on the Dorfgastein side and the bubble down to the bus.

On our last skiing day, it was again blue skies and warmer still. Rather than visit the Bad Hofgastein area, we decided to go back to Sportgastein as it had the best snow and were not disappointed. The snow held up really well and it wasn’t nearly as busy as on day one. We did about five runs from top to mid before lunch but during the morning the youngest was not feeling well so she headed back with her mother. It was only another four runs after lunch before my legs gave out in the lower slush so we ended it there, but a decent day’s skiing.

Thus, now to return home. We opted for an early morning train back to Salzburg which allowed us to get to the airport with time for any delays and had the benefit of a direct train from Bad Gastein rather than the later trains which required the bus replacement service from Bad Gastein to connect with the train at Bad Hofgastein. Kindly the hotel dropped us in their mini-bus, as well as the same women who came up with us from the station when we first arrived. We got to Salzburg without issue (the train was very busy, quite a few ski bags on it), but then nearly caught the shuttle bus to the airport going in the wrong direction until the eagle-eyed boy spotted the issue, other than that there were no dramas. But now we had the downside of hanging around an airport for a few hours, and it was hot, t-shirt weather rather than ski jackets. Sat in a coffee shop until the check-in opened (2 ½ hours before the flight), got reasonably high in the queue. Only two desks were open but they got through the queue very efficiently, so we had plenty of time for lunch in the landside self-service restaurant on the first floor, it was like having a final ski slope meal. Nice to find an old style airport building with a view of the apron and runway and even an open deck. We got seats in two pairs in row 16 & 18, but found there was no row 17 on the plane so were not split by another row, I’ve seen no row 13 before but not one missing row 17, is that a Lufthansa thing? The plane ride was uneventful, if a bit late, as was the trek home from Heathrow on the tube, except that it was colder in London than Salzburg and the main wheels on one suitcase falling apart on the last leg over Barnes Bridge and got dragged home on its uppers.

All in all, a good time was had despite the weather and closures. The food at the hotel was pretty good, could not complain about the quantity and I was very happy with the quality. The hotel did put on some special dishes for the younger guests when they weren’t coping well with the less than simple options on offer for dinner. Breakfast was mainly continental type, excellent fresh breads of all types, scrambled and boiled eggs as hot. Bacon was on offer once in the week but you could have bacon every day for a supplement. Dinner was a four-course affair, they did offer a choice of a standard Austrian dish (Pork Knuckle, goulash etc.), a healthy option and a kids type option (but no fish fingers did not go down well at our table). Honestly, I’d have been very happy with Schnitzel every night! You paid on top for drinks but these weren’t pricy for a hotel. Claudia and Elisabeth (the current owner with the business being in the family since 1935, the 5th generation is working there ready to take over) were more than helpful. One of them was always on hand (I hate to think of the hours they work) and Elisabeth always saw us to the door of the ski bus in the mornings. Again, a pleasure to be where hoteliers are proper professionals. In better snow conditions, you can ski to the door. The guests were a mixed bag from all over, German, extended Belgium-Polish and Anglo-Irish families meeting up and quite a few Dutch in evidence. The rooms were a decent size, one slightly bigger than the other as it had two singles and a bath. It was quiet as it was out of town and had a good view of the town and mountain side.

As I mentioned a car would have been useful, the ski bus from where we were did not allow getting anywhere for first lift if we had wanted (if Graukogel had been open it would have been a different story) and it did take changes to get to two of the three open areas. The car would have also allowed flexibility when getting there and less lugging of bags, but the trains were not expensive, spacious and good when on time. I didn’t miss the stress and hassle of having a rental car.

Would we go again? Yes, we would be happy to, and to be able to explore the area more. We were very happy with the Hotel Alpenblick and the good service we received. Salzburg is an unfeasibly attractive looking medieval town, as an Austrian friend said you would think it was built specially for tourists, and being relatively undamaged by the war much is original. Well worth a visit, even if you aren’t a fan of the Sound of Music!

That’s my three thousand word essay done.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@ster, really enjoyed reading your report, thank you.

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Fantastic write up

Many thanks

Able to share rough costs please?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Mike Pow, you (and probably I) don’t want to know!

But I’ll do a quick tot up and let you know.

It will be a bit skewed per head as we only skiied three days but you can easily look at lift prices for the days you would need of course.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Mike Pow, sorry for the delay, all costs are for the party made up as above:

Flights £870

Accommodation - 7 nights (half board - one twin one double) Eur3.4k

Lunch on slope between Eur60-80

Lunch in Salzburg plus coffee & cake Eur100

Transport by train one way to/from Salzburg approx Eur35-55 depending on day/time

As I said the lift pass costs won’t be useful as we bought a 6 day adult to get one kid free then 1 day adult & junior pass, then 2 day adult & junior for the 3 days we skied.

Anything else let me know.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks

After all it is free

We visited the Gastein valley a couple of years ago during February half term & stayed in Hofgastein. Had a decent enough time but I don't think we would go back.

One of the reasons we chose Gastein was the accessibility by train and it is indeed a simple matter to get there - however once you ARE there, the transport infrastructure isn't particularly great. Buses are not frequent (one per hour) compared with other valley linked kind of places and as a result are absolutely rammed at the times when you most want to take them. So - taxis are required more often than one would hope.

On a similar note the buses stop running in the evening so if you are staying in one town and wanting to experience the nightlife of another (as we were) you're looking at a 70 euro return in a cab.

There is plenty of mileage to be done across the 4 ski areas but I found the runs pretty steep for their grading. First day & I dropped my son at ski school and asked for a decent run to loosen up the old legs. The blonde behind the counter almost choked on the apple she was eating. 'Ha Ha! It's not zat kind of mountain!'

And it really isn't that kind of mountain. There's the flat bit for beginners and there's the steep bit for intermediates and over and not much in between. Unlike every other resort I've visited, the ski school offers absolute beginner adult lessons but nothing above that (other than private). I suspect the reason is that there are not enough progression type runs to build confidence. There are a few blues but not enough to make a week of it if that is where you are at.

Help!!

Bad Gastein, plus a Salzburg day trip

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