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  5 of 5, "December 2007" 13/01/2008 @ 17:31 |
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| 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| £100 flight, ~£120 accom. |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Independently booked |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Visited Bad Gastein with two friends in the first week of the ski season this year (big risk considering the last season's falls!), but we were very lucky and had a great week.
The town of Bad Gastein is about 1.5 hours from Salzburg by train (about 20 euro single trip) and gives access to the slopes of Bad Gastein opposite the train station (but it was closed when we were there - nooo)!! Also close by are Sport Gastein (where we boarded most days), Bad Hofgastein and Dorfgastein, your lift pass covers these slopes for about 180 euro.
The slopes I went on were very challenging, to say the least. This was my first trip since I learnt to board in Andorra and even the blue runs were a lot harder than anything I was expecting!! I would recommend having a little bit of confidence in your boarding before trying these slopes out, but that said, by throwing myself in the deep end with more experienced boarders I really upped by skill level and was a new level of boarder by the end of the week!
Sport Gastein was mostly where we went, served by a shuttle bus (free on your skj pass) which departs from Bad Gastein every 30 mins between 8 and 11. A bit irregular, but it was just a case of learning the times. :)
We found queues to be non-existant, in fact there were moments where we had the whole mountain to ourselves!! There was also a lot of snowfall around our visit, so every day gave a lot of untracked powder just waiting to be carved (or stacked into - lol!) I really could type reams on the snow, it was that phenomenal.. I wonder whether I will ever get conditions like that again.
Off the slopes was even better!!! Food was hearty and well priced, but its worth learning a little bit of German before you go - if you try to learn the language a bit the locals tend to help you out a little more. The town of Bad Gastein is still quite traditional which makes it nice, and not too packed out. That said, it is still oh-so-sociable, perhaps made so by the large population of visiting Scandinavians. We found out that the Gastein valley is one of the major resorts for travel agents in Sweden and Norway, and these people are some of the friendliest you will ever meet. They are very keen to talk to you in English and make friends! The three of us made a ton of new friends in our week who we will likely link up with again when we visit in March for the second time!!
A little more on the Apres ski then, I would recommend the Silver Bullet for Apres Ski fun and games, this is the party bar. Try a desperados - 6.0% beer with a hint of tequila. Magic! Eden's pub is also quite a good starting point or for a more relaxed apres ski - you can have a good drink and chin-wag - and some flying hirsch!! yum! Gatz is the local nightclub - only went there twice but it was still good fun. This normally gets busy around 1:30 when everyone ventures there from silver bullet.
Away from snow, also worth a mention are the thermal spas, which cost us 18 euro. Just like a huge swimming pool complex with very warm water, I'd strongly recommend this to you. Bring some swimmers with you as well. These hot pools are the perfect cure to a long hard day on the slopes!
All in all, and i don't use this sentence very often, this was one of the best holidays I have been on. I very rarely give ANYTHING a 5 but I can't fault this. Even despite the strange timetable of the bus, it makes sense as it only runs 8-11 and 2-5. The rest of the time you should be boarding! Everything just added up in the right sense of snow, value, sociability, and fun. I keenly await our re-visit in March!! :D |
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| Strengths |
- Great snow
- Challenging runs - excellent for the intermediate and improver
- Good off-piste for powder addicts (like one of our party)
- Dancing-on-the-table-conga-line-esque apres ski - very lively!
- BUT somehow it doesn't compromise on the picturesque charm of this town.
- Good value for money
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| Hot Spots |
- Racing the gondola at SportGastein!!
- Silver Bullet
- Gatz |
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| Weaknesses |
- coming home. Really. That really is all
=D |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
Arinsal, Andorra (March 2007)
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 3 of 5 15/03/2004 @ 17:45 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| n/a |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| n/a |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Had never heard of Bad Gastein before I went to visit a friend who was working there. It was a long weekend in early March and there wasn't a whole lot of snow but definitely enough to play with if you pick your areas.
There are a number of different areas, the most popular being Stubnerkogle (I have forgotten how to spell the names but you get the idea) and Sportgastein. You get around the resort by taking the ski buses or driving. However, Stubnerkogle can be accessed from the middle of town.
We ended up spending the majority of our time at a place called Graukogle, which is just out of town (we generally took taxis when there were no buses, worked out the equivalent of a couple of quid) purely for the fact there was enough coverage (i.e. less stones than Sportgastein) and no people. It was bliss to literally have a mini resort all to yourself (and friends) all day long - a real bonus when you're learning/progressing.
The actual town has a couple of good bars (try the Witches Tavern and Blockhausen for late night antics) and restaurants - it's very Austrian, by which I mean it hasn't been taken over by hoards of English people - not sure we heard another English person the whole time we were there!
Not the best resort I've been to (I guess cause it's a town not a resort!) but enough terrain to keep intermediates (and beginners) happy for a week or so. |
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| Strengths |
| Empty slopes if you pick well. Reasonably priced ski pass. |
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| Weaknesses |
Not good cover in early March (2003) - not a good sign for later!
Buses didn't come too often either... |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Chamonix, Pas de la Casa, Mt Ruapehu, Sainte-foy, Champery, Sierra Nevada |
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