2020-01 Mayrhofen, Austria

We've only been skiing in Austria twice but it is quickly becoming one of our favourite countries to head to in search of good snow, epic parties and warm hospitality. With two other ski holidays already booked this year, we couldn't quite squeeze in a third week so had to settle for a long weekend, travelling Thursday lunchtime to Monday night. 

We chose the resort of Mayrhofen as it is close to Innsbruck airport (just under an hour by car), has a good sized ski area with plenty of intermediate runs and, a well known après-ski scene. Nothing beats a cold beer and some 'singalong' Austrian ski hits to finish a good day's skiing!

The holiday was booked through SunWeb, an online travel company specialising in ski holidays. Our holiday included the flights, transfer, ski passes and 4 nights half board in the Hotel Zillertalerhof. We found SunWeb to be professional and responsive online, providing us with everything we needed to make the whole trip go very smoothly plus it was a lot cheaper than either booking everything ourselves or through another provider. 

The hotel was amazing. It was one of those places with lots of little touches that really stand out, especially when you spend a lot of time in hotels. We enjoyed fizzy wine at check in, a sweet bar in the lobby, tea and cakes in the afternoon, a fantastic buffet breakfast with lots of choice and a 4 course meal every night. Alcohol was not included (apart from fizz at breakfast one day) but there was a supermarket around the corner with a good selection which kept us going. The food at the hotel was stunning. Every night I made the same mistake. I filled up on the fantastic salads, soups and starters on offer, squeezed in the main course, struggled with the desert and then felt too full to do anything else other than sleep! We didn't really eat out on the slopes because there was so much good food on offer at the hotel. 

Although alcohol wasn't included, there was a cocktail bar in the hotel - one of the few cocktail bars in Mayrhofen. Ana was the bar manager and one of the best employees at the hotel. We often sat at the bar talking to her and sipping on one of her amazing cocktails. We ventured out a couple of times both before diner and after but we struggled to find the legendary nightlife we'd heard about in the town. Most of the bars had a relaxed feel to them with a lot of people watching and chilled out vibes. It was January and the latest we were out was only around 10pm so maybe we just missed the late night parties by going to bed too early. 

After a day of skiing, nothing beat the hotel spa for relaxing those aching muscles. The pool was heated and half inside and half outside and although children were allowed in this area, it was mostly quiet. The sauna area contained 4 different sauna's with varied temperatures, 1 steam room and 2 relaxation areas with fruit, nuts and herbal tea. This area was strictly no children so offered a nice area to relax. But...... this is an Austrian sauna so no swimwear allowed! The small print did say that you can cover yourself with a towel, which I did, but most people let it swing free. 

The most important question is "how was the skiing". The simple answer AMAZING! The snow hasn't been great this year but the high altitude and the huge number of snow making machines made sure there was plenty of coverage. Whilst there were icy patches on the dark sides and it got slushy towards the end of the day at the bottom of the main runs, the majority of the time the snow was pretty good. 

There are two lifts up from the town to the slopes, Ahornbahn which takes you up to the smaller Ahorn ski area and the Penkenbahn which goes up to the Penken ski area where you can ski to Horberg, Rastogel and Eggalm. There is also a ski bus to the Hintertux glacier which has a much longer season. We only managed to explore the Penken side of the mountain in the 4 days, there was just too much to do. There are 142km of runs and 58 lifts, the majority of them are new high speed lifts, some even with heated seats. Queues were minimal, most of the time we just skied right onto the next chair or bubble going up. Most of the runs were intermediate. The blues felt more like reds, the red more like blues and the blacks like reds. One of our group was a beginner and it wasn't the best resort to progress from the baby slopes to the main slopes. 

There were some fantastic bars and restaurants on the slopes with great music, breath taking views and classic Austrian dishes. At the end of the day, the music in these bars increases and the party begin. The closer you get to the final run, the louder the music the in bars! One thing we did find odd about Mayrhofen was that there was no run down to the village on the Penken side. It's such a good feeling doing the last run of the day down into the village before having a beer and looking back up the mountain. In Mayrhofen, you have to get the Penkenbahn back down into town so the last beers are in the bars next to the list station. This means that most of the après-ski finishes at 5pm so that people can get the last bubble back down the mountain. 

We had a fantastic 4 days skiing with our friends Andy and Nada in Mayrhofen and it feels like that in 4 days, we only managed to scratch the surface of this resort.

Top Tip

• Lee and I have our own ski boots but we always hire skis. The hotel recommended a local ski hire company in the town but we found a company at the top of the Penkenbahn lift called Skicenter Hubert Kröll who offered us high spec'ed skis (I actually fell in love with mine!) and storage each day for all our equipment (skis, boots, helmets and googles). We just walked in and rented, no pre-booking required. It was lovely to be able to take our boots off immediately after the final run and not have to worry about getting the equipment down the mountain at the end of the day. The only downside is if you are planning to take a trip to the Ahorn ski area and Hintertux glacier you need to either collect your equipment first which eats into valuable ski time, or plan ahead and take it down the mountain the day before.