Family Ski trip near Munich (Oberstdorf)

Hi,

This is my first post to this site and I'm hoping someone out there can give me some information on skiing in Germany/Austria with easy train commute from Munich.

We are a family of 2 adults & 2 boys (ages 5 & 6). I am the only one in the group that has skiied before so english speaking ski schools required. My research so far has yeilded Oberstdorf as a likely possibility due to direct train link (2.5 hrs) from Munich. Has anyone skiied there before, I would be interested to here what is it like and how well set up it would be for young children.

Also if there are any resorts in Austria either with easy train commute from Munich I would also be interested to hear. Thinking of traveling first week in March.

Many Thanks

Group of six of us have just come back from St Johann in Austria. 2 hrs transfer from Munich, we booked a taxi to collect us and bring us back to the airport at the end of the holiday. The resort is brilliant, we stayed in a lovely hotel 5 mins from the slopes, so not too far to drag the skis and boots! There are two ski schools, we went to the Blue school, all english speaking, very friendly, and noticed that they were very good with the kids. St. Johann is a lovely town, plenty to do if you don't want to ski (I didn't for 2 days), and you can do trips in Kitzbuhl and Salzburg. All in all a great trip and will be going back next year. Would definately recommend it. The skiing was very good, with all levels catered for.

Have you already booked flights to Munich ? Salzburg has train links to St Johann, Kitbuhel, Zell am See and a whole load of other resorts. You would still need to get a taxi to the train station or you could pick up a taxi from the airport direct to the resort for about €100-€150 . Munich airport is about 1h by metro from the main railway station so you have to factor that time into your overall travel time.

We flew to Munich and got the train to Mayrhofen twice - between the metro and changing to the local train in Jenbach the whole thing took a fair while but it was comfortable.

We flew to Salzburg and took a taxi to St Johann - this was the best transfer so far, but the scrum in Salzburg was not fun. The queues to check in for the return were pretty savage. The taxi fare wasn't a whole lot more than we would have paid for 2 adults on the train anyway. I think the kids would have been free on the train at the time due to their ages.

Our most recent trip was a little more complicated - flew to Amsterdam, train to Rotterdam and then a sleeper with these guys - - direct to Zell am See. We got an extra day on the slope because the train doesn't leave till late evening on the Saturday. It was cheaper than the EI & FR prices to Salzburg and it got us direct to our resort.

If you do get a train, make sure you get seat reservations - you don't want to try squeezing on these trains when they are loaded up with people with suitcases, skis, boards, etc . . . it's much better to have your own compartment reserved. I think it only costs something like €3 or €4 per person.

Most places (and all the big/good ones) will have English speaking ski schools. If you stick to resorts covered by the brochures you can be sure that they will all have English speaking guides.

z

Re: Family Ski trip near Munich

Hi Curragh1,
have you booked your flights yet? Aer Lingus has a sale on till Jan 21st. Several resorts are very do-able from Munich and the German/Austrian rail system is a dream and has schedules available online, but you might consider flying into Salzburg directly.
For example at current Aer Lingus prices you could get return flights Dublin to Salzburg for E99 p p. and E420 all in for the four of you incl taxes. (dates 28.2 to 4.3.08). Pretty good.
Ryanair also fly to Salzburg.
There are trains from Salzburg to several resorts, and taxis/transfers to lots also. Be warned though, Salzburg airport is one of the worst I've ever encountered. It is very small and totally overwhelmed with the numbers going through it, and as another poster has remarked departures are hellish. But once you're out of it you're fine.

Heres some other things to consider:
You might look at not going for the whole week, perhaps just for 4-5 days. It might seem a lot of hassle for 5 days but with kids that young, a taster of what skiing is about might be fine. Also if you get bad weather you won't have to endure a whole week there.
A shorter duration could give you more flexibility on the flights, also it means you can avoid the very busy Saturdays when all the ski operators are moving people ( and lots of traffic jams and local weekenders to consider).
Most hotels will take bookings for less tha seven days when out of the high season (high season is early to mid-Feb).

If flying into Salzburg, the previous resorts mentioned are very good and most of them are well used to English-speaking visitors. This would include hotel, ski hire and ski schools. Other good smallish resorts for beginners in the area are St Johann, Going, Poing, Soell.

You might want to look for a larger-type resort which, apart from a variety of pistes for different levels, would has more than skiing activities to offer, e.g a number of shops, restaurants, bars, a municipal swimmimng pool, cinema, ice rink etc. That way there are other things to do if one of your group doesn't want to ski or if the skiiing conditions are poor.
In this respect you could also consider Zell am See and Kaprun which are considered excellent family resorts about 1.5 hours from Salzburg (by train also from Munich).

There are a number of family-friendly hotels in Zell am See.
If you see 'family friendly as offering a good-quality hotel with decent food, family rooms and a pool, there are several in the area.
If however you are also looking for extensive childcare, be aware that firstly most hotels offering daily childcare wil be seriously expensive, and secondly their carers may speak very little if no English. This could be very difficult with small kids if they do not speak German. Having said that, there are one or two hotels which reportedly cater for the English-speaking market in their childcare departments (I know soneone going to one on 27th Feb for 4 days so I can report back then if it is not too late for you).


If you are intent on Oberstdorf in the Allgau region, it is also do-able from Munich but would be a longer train connection. It lies down in the Southwest corner of Germany and is in surrounded on three sides by Austria. In this case have you thought of Friedrichshafen airport? Ryanair flies there direct from Dublin, usually the flights are pretty reasonable and there is a very inexpensive coach connection from the airport to Oberstdorf.

Here's a few other ideas: the 4 Star Family Resort Werfenweng in the small village of Werfenweng as one 4 star all-inclusive hotel. It includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for the frankly amazing price of E99-129 per adult per day. Kids under 6 go free. The food is good. They have a pool and a kids playroom. They are very family-friendly. Apparently they speak English as Thomson visitors from the UK go there (google it and see their satisfaction rates). The hotel will pick you up from Salzburg airport for E15 pp return. ..
The pistes in Werfenweng are not extensive by any means but they would get the family up and skiing for a total bargain price for a week.
(apart from the hotel there is little in Werfenweng itself, it is pretty much a hole in the wall sort of place, but if you're only there for the skiing and see it as an intro for the family to skiiing, and there is good snow then why not?).

Another idea: Here's a resort frequented by the Munich ski crowd. Lenggries / Brauneck. Its in the Bavaria Alps just close to the border. Airport is Munich. Its easy as pie to get there by train. It has a fast S-Bahn (Dart) connection from Munich to the village of Lenggries and a ski bus meets every train to take you the 5 mins to the slopes. Nursery slopes and higher slopes also. Friendly English- speaking people in the ski school. Ski hire no problem. They have a very impressive colourful area for the small kids called 'Villa Lustig (Lustig means funny in German) in the neighbouring slopes of of Wegscheid 5 mins away, ski bus to there also: moving escalators on snow, snow tubes, snow carousel for the kids etc etc. You pay for this by the hour.

Lenggries is a tourist village so there are lots of B&B and hotels and a few hotels. However you could go one better and stay in the larger town of Bad Toelz nearby and take the S-Bahn train daily, it's fun. And Bad Toelz has lots of hotels, shopping etc, and - a big plus- a FANTASTIC 'experience' swimmimg pool called "Alpamare" the like of which I have never experienced. All sorts of huge long slides, flumes, a 'surf' pool, heated outdoor pools, spas, sauna, even a pool with a cinema! It's worth spending a whole day there. There is even a hotel beside it which offers you free entry to the pool as part of their rate: Hotel Jodquellenhof Alpamare.
You could also spend a day in Munich- apart from the extensive shopping architecture and and museums, they have an amazing kids section in the huge Deutsches Museum, (it rivals the Nat Museum in London) and the new BMW World is worth a visit too where they have 'car design' workshops' for the kids..
And your holiday will cost a whole lot less than a ski week in Austria.

So there! Food for thought!
If you want more details I'd be happy to oblige.
Best of luck

To all who have replied especially MaryKate thank you sincerely for your detailed replies to my post. I was able to book flights yesterday to Munich but my father took ill and by the time I got back to booking the prices have moved upwards .. so with a ill parent were not sure wheather to book now or not.

Just to respond to you all, upon further investigation I was considering St Johann (leaning towards this one), Alphach, Skiwelt regions. Although MaryKate you have given me great ideas of building a more flexible break.

I do have one further question - Ryanair have mid week flights (tuesday) to Salzburg for 0.01 and I was thinking that A. it would be difficult to get midweek accom in first week of march and B. more importantly would it be difficult to start young children in ski schools mid week i.e. will schools even take them ! Any thoughts would be appreciate it.
Regards
Curragh1

Re: Family Ski trip near Munich

In the old days you could only get accommodation from Saturday to Saturday in most resorts, but this has changed recently so you should have no major problem getting somewhere to stay mid week.

Your best bet is to contact the tourism office for the towns you are interested in and tell them the dates you are interested in. They will circulate the dates and the various hotels will contact you. We spent a lot of time in previous years contacting hotels directly but most of that time was wasted. It's easier to let those with availabilty contact you and then just check out the reviews online.

Ski school may be a bit of a problem, but again your best bet might be to email them directly and see what they suggest. Check here for contact details - http://www.ferienregion.at/en/skischools.html

For St Johann in Tirol a good place to start would be here - http://www.ferienregion.at/en/default.asp - and an email to here - info@ferienregion.at - would also be good.

Note that there are many St Johanns in Austria so you need to make sure that you refer to 'St Johann in Tirol' or else you may end up in 'St Johann im Pongau' which is an entirely different place.

z

Re: Family Ski trip St Johann in Tirol

Hi
as Zag has said your best bet is to contact the regional tourist office on the web and see what's available from their web page. Most of the sites will be in English as well as German. St Johann in Tirol according to the tourist office blurb has 4,500 beds so you should have no trouble finding accommodation.
Also the beginning of March is the shoulder season and most hotels should be able to make you a good offer. Availability will decrease the closer you get to the Easter break, say from 12th March onwards.

Generally at this time the ski- school will provide tuition by the day or half day, starting on any day.

With your two boys you will likely be looking for family-friendly accommodation, possibly with a pool and stuff for the kids to do besides skiing. I've had a quick look around for you and spotted the following family friendly 3-4 star hotels which might fit the bill: You could give them a call to check prices and availability.

The "Sporthotel Austria" appears to be a very good option there. It got great marks as a family hotel. Great food, English spoken. however its a bit on the pricey side.

The St Johanner Hof. (3 stars).
A - 6380 St. Johann in Tirol
[broken link removed] +43 (0)5352 62207 0
info@st.johannerhof.at
http://www.st.johannerhof.at


"The family hotel for everyone"
"The St. Johanner Hof is in a central location and makes an ideal base for all kinds of activities. In the restaurant we serve wonderful buffets. The cosy bar is a popular meeting place for a relaxing drink before or after dinner. We also offer a sauna complex, a playroom, and a covered courtyard for playing."

this one is part of a family- friendly marketing group. It has gained lots of positive reviews from previous guests. e.g "location/food/rooms/staff: Top". "fantastic family hotel".
Others were not so complimentary. They said: slightly worn, old fashioned, furniture out of the '80s- this mostly in the building 'Hotel Central'. The furnishings in 'St Johanner Hof 'are more modern. (hotel has 2 or 3 buildings, some of them older and less smart than the other).
But friendly staff. The hotel does not have its own pool but the municipal swimming complex (the Panorama Badewelt, slides, sauna, whirlpools etc www.badewelt.at. Adults for 4 hours E9.80, kids 4 hours E3.90 ) is 500m away , to which hotel guests have free entry. Half board included (breakfast and dinner). Food and service apparently good.
apparently the 4 of you booked half board (Halb pension) for a week from March 1st would cost a total of E910 (Neckermann travel)

Sporthotel Crystal somewhat outside of town beside the ski-lifts also got excellent marks as a great value and friendly place, no major infrastructure like pools etc but homely...


Below is a link to listing partly in English, of available hotels in St Johann in Tirol for March 1-5 2008.
[broken link removed]

I've been to none of these hotels by the way so I'm only going on what I read about them.

Best of luck, go for it.
Marykate

PS.
not to send you off on a tangent, but the Ryanair flight Dublin to Friedrichshafen for dates 4-11 March costs E80 for the 4 of you including taxes.....