|
|
  2 of 5, "Nice but too small!" 27/01/2006 @ 22:25 |
|
|
| Price Paid |
| £240 |
|
| Booked Trip Through |
| Crystal |
|
| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
|
| Review Detail |
Alpbach is a small resort with approximately 45 km of piste aimed at beginners to intermediates. The village Alpbach itself lies approximately 2 km from the gondola station, and is serviced by a reliable free bus service that operates every 20 minutes or so. The nursery slopes where you learn to ski/snowboard are situated at each end of the village and not connected to the mountain where the rest of the pistes are. Therefore if you are learning to ski/snowboard you might not get on the mountain for the first few days.
When on the mountain you notice an abundance of red runs, if you are not confident riding reds then you soon will be as to get around the mountain you need to use these Unfortunately the blue runs are very short and disjointed so if you do like blue runs this place is not for you. From memory there are only 4 black runs of reasonable length although not particularly challenging these are quite good for getting a bit of speed and having a blast.
Off piste potential is quite good because of two reasons:
1) Alpbach seems to be a beginners/intermediate resort where most of the punters don’t look at the off piste.
2) It did seem very quiet and I could still find fresh lines 2 weeks after the last snowfall (although short lines of maybe 200m).
I would like to add that if you are after challenging off piste this is not the place, most of the terrain is quite easy, pitch around 30 degrees and mellow lines, Of course I saw a few hits that were more difficult, but only a few. For me, I found it perfect.
I stayed at the Pension Achensee which is a 2* property. Overall it was clean and friendly with a mixture of Austrian Guests and British Crystal holidaymakers. Food was simple but nice enough and was typically Austrian.
The only problem with this property is that it’s slightly out of town, and its about a 20 minute walk uphill to get to the bars, and after a hard day on the hill that’s all you need!!
Needless to say nightlife is quiet but there are still bars that stay open until 3am, which was good enough for me. Top spot was a place called the Jakober, which has a restaurant and a bar. Food is excellent if a little pricey and the bar starts to get going at about 10pm and from what I remember actually plays some reasonable music.
The other place that I found good to unwind was a place called the Postalm, which serves the best Jagertee I have ever tasted (Its not everyone’s cup of tea but certainly does the trick ;)
Overall Alpbach is well worth a visit for its picturesque setting alone and can offer something to almost everyone. I would certainly come back for another visit but perhaps only for a day. I feel slightly bad about giving it a harsh mark, it was a good holiday but ultimately Alpbach is just too small to keep the average rider amused for a week.
|
|
| Strengths |
1) Small village and picturesque setting
2) Crowd free (seriously the longest I queued for a lift was about 30 seconds)
3) Cheap lift pass, 132 Euros for 6 days
|
|
| Hot Spots |
for riding: The wiedersberger horn peak still had fresh lines to be had 2 weks after it had snowed last. but you had to hike for it.
bars: the Jakober is the only place worth drinking and good steak too!! |
|
| Weaknesses |
1) Simply needs more km’s of piste to keep the average rider amused for a week
2) No snowpark
3) No nightclubs (I think)
4) Went to the sauna one night and everyone was naked. It wasn’t pretty and shouldn’t be allowed
|
|
| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Les Deux Alpes, 3 Valleys, Tignes, Flaine, Sierra Nevada, |
|
|
|