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  4 of 5, "Great, HUGE resort" 03/02/2012 @ 22:39 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| £532 (inc passes) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Crystal Ski |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Visited: 14th Jan 2012
Duration: 1 week
Group: 7 people, 6 lads, 3 skiiers
Abilites: ranging from total newbies to park beginners/fast piste cruisers
After visiting Bulgaria for our first snowboarding holiday last year we wanted somewhere with better snow, a park or 2 and a lot more runs. Safe to say we found it in Soll. The SkiWelt area joins numerous towns together and gives over 200km of piste to go at. This gave us plenty to go at for the week. We thought it might being the largest ski resort in Austria!
Soll itself is a traditional Austrian town, very picturesque. We stayed in the Pension Erhart on the outskirts of town. This was a 15min walk (downhill) to the gondola each morning. There are numerous ski buses but only 1 mini bus goes as far as the Erhart and it was a bit unreliable time wise. The walk warmed us up though. Back to the hotel it was a bit tiring uphill though. The hotel was lovley, clean and well kept and very welcoming for the group of us. No complaints, only complements there.
The town is quite small, with only a handful of bars and clubs but they're great fun. I deffinetly recommend the Whiskey Muhle! Ask for Ange in the bar at the back, she's a really sound bar maid. Parties in here go on well into the night with various events on through the week.
If you're looking for food, the steakhouse above is excellent, or for a great burger and beer, visit the Red Horse!
The pistes etc were really well looked after. The park was always clear and well maintained. All the lifts are almost brand new, and there are VERY FEW drag lifts. I only used one all week :) Great for us snowboarders. There werent many flats either. A couple that the new guys in the group struggled with but if you can stright line a bit like me then you'll barely stop! :)
There are 3 parks on the whole piste map, one in Soll, one in Westendorf and another which I never found. The Soll park was basic with a couple of kickers, a small rainbow box, a butter box, C-Box, and a couple of pipes. The Westendorf park is meant to be the main park in the area, but we found the piste map got a bit confusing when we got over to the Brixen valley and also we didn't have enough time to get there and back within the day so if you wanted to try that park out you'd have to take a bus/taxi there or back I think.
We managed to cover quite a lot of the pistes but spent a couple of days in and around the Soll area, warming up and playing on the Park so probably could have covered more. I think we only hit 1 lift queue all week, and that was only a 5min queue! The lifts all ran so fast there weren't really any queues. The gondola out of Soll though is a bit out of town. Perhaps a 5min walk from the town centre. The ski buses from the town centre run every 10mins or so though whatever the weather so you don't have to take the walk if you don't want to.
There are numerous bars dotted around the mountains too at varying prices. Paid about 11euro for Weinershnitzel, and about 9euro for burger and chips. Frankfurters were cheap though! mmm prices can be cheaper if you find a small pub down a hidden piste somewhere.
We weren't really experienced enough to hit the off piste but there seemed to be a lot of people trying it. There looked to be some great off-piste runs to go out, although they did seem to get quicky chopped up. We saw a couple of barely touched lines though.
Overall it was a great holiday. If you're a big piste crusier or park newbie I deffinetly recommend it! Also if you're looking for more time on the slopes than the apres ski then it's ideal for you too. The apres ski did get a bit weak after a few heavy night out and couple probably benefit from a few more bars etc. Most of the staff were very friendly though and I wasn't after a big night out every night anyway. The nights out I did go on though were great fun. About 2-3euro for a lager. They all seem to sell the same lager though :(
I'd deffinetly go back here given the chance! I had a great week! |
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| Strengths |
Miles and miles of piste
Largest ski area in Austria
Numerous parks
Few drag lifts
Fast/up to date lift systems
Not too expensive |
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| Hot Spots |
Red Horse
Whiskey Muhle
Underground - Look out for Jamie ;)
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| Weaknesses |
Not many bars and clubs
Signs on the piste can be confusing. Deffinetly take a piste map with you!! |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Only visited Borovetz in Buigaria |
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| 4 of 5, "really good" 02/02/2011 @ 22:17 |
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| Price Paid |
| £280 b+b |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| 1st choice |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Spot on resort, 3 euro a pint in the best apres bars and the staff are payed on how many they serve so no waiting, the food is pretty good n cheap too.( beware theres no smoking ban)
Its all pretty boarder friendly with very few drag lifts or flat sections but its not that brilliant for complete beginers as a the home run is a narrow blue or busy red.
If you fancy loads of intermidiate level boarding on mainly wide runs with some good cheap apres then give it a go.
P.S everyone seems to go on about how far all the hotels are from the slopes but really most are only 10-15 mins flat walk away,( we stayed at the Edinger which was very basic but great location) |
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| Strengths |
cheap
unpretentious (you wont meet the "we did Meribel last year" folk)
big area
fast modern lifts with few drags
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| Hot Spots |
whiskey muhle bar (+food up stairs)
Salvastad bar
Red horse bar (non smoking) |
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| Weaknesses |
most places still allow smoking
the home red run can get busy
piste map not great
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Sauze doue italy |
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| Reviews: 3 |
| South Glamorgan |
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 3 of 5, "28/1 - 4/2 2006" 05/02/2006 @ 15:11 |
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| 0 of 3 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| 500 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| First Choice |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Just got back from Soll yesterday after a week there. Due to the worst possible start to a holiday I've ever known the holiday just seemed to get worse and worse.
Our hotel, hotel Tulpe was excellent, the rooms were nice and the food was wicked. Everyone was really friendly there.
Didn't get to experience any of the slopes in the mountains due to Swankey's condition but we did get a few hours on the nursery slopes. To be honest they weren't the best slopes to learn on as they were quite slow, not good for learning to turn. But atleast our boards had an outing.
The town was about a 10minute walk away from our hotel, which seemed a pain for us as going into the town was about all we could do.
The walk from the town to the gondola would have been a killer with boards to carry though.
Couldn't find anywhere in the day for food and shops closed between 12-2.30...which was great when your starving!!! |
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| Strengths |
Giovanni's - great pizzas (also takeaway)
Fairly cheap
Friendly people
Excellent food |
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| Hot Spots |
| Giovanni's |
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| Weaknesses |
| Nursery slopes not that great for beginner boarders in my opinion |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Saalbach - Austria |
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 5 of 5 17/02/2005 @ 14:04 |
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| Price Paid |
| £400 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| IGLU.COM |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
If the snow's here, which it was last week, then this is a cracking resort! After a weeks intensive research here's my own, personal guide to the best day possible!
Get up as early as the hangover allows, if it's after 10, then bite the bullet and walk to the gondala station as buses are irregular. Throw away piste map...worst ever! (possible to buy 3D map of area now I hear!) Go right to the top of Hohe Salve and take on the longest runs down to any town making use of miles of "edge of piste" jumps into powder (mind out for low barb wire fences and chimneys!!! Find a nice run for after lunch to tit around on then blast the steep runs while all skiers meander down the narrow paths back to resort.
Hit the Saven Stadl (sp) for 4 x Heinekens and pork burger from the bar-b-q. back home, s s snd s, restaurant (went to 4 different ones, all good!) back up the Stadl for a band,
then to Rossini's for a few cheeky ones then finally onto the Whiskey Muhle to make a tw*t of yourself with the women!!
Wish I was doing that tomorrow!!!!!!!!
Tip: The schnapps in the shops with the apple on the label isn't the stuff you get in the bars!! shop stuff - rank!!!!
Tip 2: bigger supermarket 50 yards into town on the right past the Stadl (life don't begin and end at Spars!)
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| Strengths |
Large area to explore
Town quite cheap - large beer €3 in the top bars!
Very friendly all over
Small town centre, very handy when you're gooned!
Quite a bit of "spare" for those who are looking! |
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| Hot Spots |
4-6 - Saven Stadl
9-11 Rossini's
11- ???? Whiskey Muhle |
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| Weaknesses |
Buses to gondala irregular
Not too many shops for the original bit of kit we all like to get!
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Pas de la Casa, Banff, Madessimo, Sauze, La Thuile, Canazei |
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| 4 of 5 30/01/2005 @ 22:56 |
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| Price Paid |
| £380 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| fasttrack.co.uk |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Having just come from back from Soll I thought I would write review of the area. I went with my girlfriend who has been a skier for 25+ years, so she kicks my butt big time on the speed front, myself being in the intermediate/advanced category. We were extremely lucky with the conditions having a big dump of snow just before we came and 4 days of good snow whilst we were there. We stayed at Gasthoff Tenne which although basic was clean and extremely well run. The staff (especially Rupert, we called him this as it seemed appropriate) were extremely friendly, the food was very good, although I have had enough of pork for a while!
The hotel was located about 15mins walk from the Gondola, shortened considerably by walking across the field and taking the bus from the ski hire shop. Get there early too avoid the queues on the Sunday. You are talking at least a 30min wait if you get there later than 9am.
The SkiWelt area is immense and we struggled to cover it in a week, although there were paticular runs that we enjoyed more than others. Mainly because my girlfriend enjoys leg burners; long runs that run from from top to bottom, without stopping...oooh my legs hurt now!
As for the runs. If you are beginner you will find the blue runs above Hoch Soll good but the blue runs below Soll a complete nightmare. They seem to be mainly long catwalks, great for faceplanting! Beginners will find a better selection at Brixen. Getting there may seem a nightmare ,i.e. a descent over a black, but you can get there down a fairly short red and then a blue rather a side slipping a black (look carefully at the map). Intermediates will find this area a heaven with plenty of reds to challenge and some blacks to give you the odd heart attack particularly the one that drops off Hohe Salve down to Hoch Soll. Unrelenting when its icy. The terrain park is in Westerndork(f) but it's not very good according to some (certainly not worth the 14 euro transfer fee. I didn't go and I will say there are some excellent opportunities for tricks in Soll. On the last couple of days there were couple of demon teenage snowboarders coming on to the slopes in the afternoon. These guys were proving that there was no need for a terrain park/ half pipe. Amazing to watch! Also on the Friday the Austrian ski team trains here and the piste bashers build huge jumps which I didn't even have the guts to go anywhere near. I will make some comments on the red which leads down into Soll. I think its good. Yes, its narrow but the bottom is steep and has remarkable spots for air, just don't catch it at the end of a day when its busy when with beginners.
The resort is incredibly well run and very picturesque. The mountain restraunts are excellent (Gasthoff Rigli being excellent and Brixen being excellently overcrowded). There is a predominance of skiers and I did have the wonderful opportunity of meeting one of those particular German idiots who thinks its a great idea to spray you with snow when your sitting down. Why do they do that??
Bars are not that lively but I was usually to knackered to care, Rossini's was our bar of choice but Tyrolean silliness was to be had in Dorf Stub'n opposite the Hotel Austria with Jaga Tee's that blew your head off! |
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| Strengths |
Huge area
Well organised
Good intermediate area
ski bus
Short transfer time |
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| Weaknesses |
Too many Cat Walks
Limited beginner area for Soll
Nightlife pretty tame |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Andorra Pas de la Casa x2 |
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