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Aiming to take OH on long ski weekend in Europe either at some point between Jan and March.
Would like to synch this up with one of Amex’s offers for Marriott, Hilton or IHG?
Grateful for any of the above hotel recommendations suitable for ski weekend.
Forgot to include Hyatt
Someone may know better than me, but I’m a regular skier in the European Alps and have never seen a hotel that’s part of one of the main chains that offers both good value and good location / convenience for skiing. Davos is a resort that has many chain hotels, because it’s a large town that also hosts the WEF and other events. But I’d choose many other places before Davos for a ski weekend.
Thanks Gavin…have you skied around Innsbruck or Vienna? Any thoughts if so
As a big fan of skiing in Austria, my research showed Vienna being too far west and whilst you can I believe get a ski lift from the centre of INN, it’s only a small area and you’re going to be limiting your choices somewhat.
I’d have thought if going just for a weekend, you’d want to be right on the slopes to maximise flexibility. As Gavin notes, I’ve also never found that combo of big chain & decent value in a good location. Even the Best Western marketed property in Kitzbuhel threw the towel in a few years back.
My feeling is that trying to work this round an AMEX offer won’t actually save you any money at all.
Appreciate your feedback. Given that, where would you recommend for a long weekend? Flying from London, ideally. And relatively easy to get to the resort from destination airport.
What’s good close to Geneva?
I really prefer Austria to France. BA has a good schedule to Salzburg, including a flight back at 9pm on a Monday night so you can get a full day’s skiing in. I would however suggest flying out on a Friday, as Saturdays are insane at the airport for non-Schengen arrivals.
From there you can be in places like Obertauern, Zauchensee, Wagrain or Zell am See by taxi in an hour. The former are higher up and designed in such a way that they should offer skiing back to your hotel. Zell also has a public bus straight to the airport several times a day and a train station so you do have more choices there. It’s quite a sizeable town however so not really your chocolate box ski resort.
Innsbruck also has the Ziller valley nearby but it’s low so you’ll probably need to take a lift back down at the end of the day. And there’s a resort called Serfaus, again about an hour from INN that is quite high and in my book has a very good set up in terms of the resort layout.
If you do go for Geneva, i’d avoid Chamonix (skiing areas are small & spread out) but look to somewhere like Morzine or Les Gets. Flaine is also close but French school holidays mean you’ll probably need to avoid February altogether (for the whole of France). Again, transfers around 1hr by taxi.
Thanks Gavin…have you skied around Innsbruck or Vienna? Any thoughts if so
I’ve skied near Innsbruck but as Swiss Tony said, you really want to be staying in a ski resort rather than in Innsbruck.
My recommendation for a place that’s easy to get to for a short trip is Engelberg in Switzerland. Fly to Zurich, and take the train from the airport. You have to change at Lucerne (I think), total journey takes about 2 hours. I’ve done it with luggage and skis a couple of times, no problem. There’s good value hotels near the train station in Engelberg, it’s a small and very pretty town. Skiing goes up to about 3000m so should hold good snow.
I also agree with Swiss Tony’s recommendations above, and definitely Les Gets + Morzine etc (Portes du Soleil ski area) rather than Chamonix if going to Geneva.
Verbier is possible by train from Geneva airport, very easy but journey might be a bit long for a weekend, around 2.5 or 3 hours.
Innsbruck is my go to skiing airport. You are right in the mix of so many beautiful albeit slightly smaller resorts. The approach for landing is spectacular too. There is a Hilton chain hotel in Innsbruck (unsure on brand).
Innsbruck now do a “ski plus city pass” that works at 13 resorts including Kühtai and Stubai. If you haven’t skied at the Stubai I would 100% recommend it. Beautiful snow sure slopes. I’m fairly certain you can ski bus from Innsbruck to Stubai.
I do normally hire a car because I have kids in tow and all the associated detritus.
There is meant to be a Doubletree opening in the Arlberg but I haven’t seen any updates on that in a while.
Just adding another option for a quick weekend trip. Munich to Garmisch is pretty easy.
@Ash if I were you I’d based your decision purely on the likelihood of there being decent snow coverage, so opt for one of the higher resorts (particularly if you end up going later on in March!) The drive from Chambery to La Plagne or Val Thorens is approx 1.5 hours.
Might be stating the obvious but don’t underestimate how expensive Switzerland is. Went there for a couple of days just as covid restrictions were easing and wow. It’s made more expensive because I have a family of five, but it felt expensive and the quality was lower than you’d get in Austria for a lot less.
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