Skiing in Austria

[evaino]

I'm hoping to attend a "science and skiing" conference in Austria this December at St Christoph Arn Arlberg. The conference itself includes a few days on snow, but I'm contemplating adding a few extra days as it'll be a pricy trip so I want to be sure I get the most out of it.

Any suggestions on cheapest way to get there? Any idea which cities nearby tend to have better airfare from Canada? Or anyone know of charter airlines that go near there?

Thanks!

Elsbeth

 

[Jilly]

Geez, I thought you were heading to Interski, but it's in January. Probably better for you from Montreal to start. As to gateway city, the European Diva's should be able to help.

 

[altagirl]

St. Cristoph is awesome! That area was our very favorite place to ski in Europe with all the interconnected terrain. And we always found cute little gasthaus/B&B type places to stay.

I've only driven there when I was living in Germany, but it's quite close to Innsbruck and an easy drive to Munich (and I think Zurich too.)

Sorry I don't really know anything about Canadian flights, but I'm jealous! I'm sure you'll have a great time there.

 

[pinto]

https://www.ski-austria.com/st-anton/travel.php

I found this site fairly helpful when we traveled to the Arlberg. Don't know how it relates to travel from Canada, but there is still some good info.

I would not be surprised if flying into Zurich and then taking a train is the least complicated way to go. The Zurich airport is really really efficient (shocker, I know), and the trains are, too. Innsbruck is closer to the Arlberg, but not sure if getting there would take longer (more flights). And if you want to spend some extra days, Zurich is a beautiful city (depends on what you want to do with your extra days)

We flew into Munich because we always rent a car and travel around before and after the actual ski part. We spent some nights in Salzburg and a night in Innsbruck on the way to and from. But I'm not sure how much extra travel you want.

Oh yeah, I forgot this: ... LUCKY! Have fun!

 

[playoutside]

I'm not familiar with this specific resort, but both (Zell am See and St Anton) my trips to Austria were with flights into Munich from Boston. You may want to check that. The train system in Europe is great, so if you get to a gateway city it won't be too tough to get anywhere.

 

[pinto]

Oooh, just realized it was December. On that note, I might spend my extra days in Austria, since Christmas season is a big deal there. Check out flying into Vienna -- it's definitely farther from the Arlberg, but might be exceptionally cool in December.

 

[abc]

I would not be surprised if flying into Zurich and then taking a train is the least complicated way to go. The Zurich airport is really really efficient (shocker, I know), and the trains are, too. Innsbruck is closer to the Arlberg, but not sure if getting there would take longer (more flights). And if you want to spend some extra days, Zurich is a beautiful city (depends on what you want to do with your extra days)

Second that.

Zurich is an international gateway. So if you're flying from a major gateway, your chance of finding direct flight to Zurich is pretty good. And you're also quite likely to find a cheap fare as well.

From regional airports, it's less clear. Sometimes, you get simply get a 2-legged flight into Innsbruck with a change somewhere in Paris or Frankfort, whatever, which is no more complicated than changing in London or Montreal...

St. Anton is basically on the same line between Zurich and Innsbruck. So train service is equally freuquent from either one. You can safely let the flight choice dictate which airport to arrive at...

 

[SkiBam]

Wow. Lucky you. I'm pretty sure there's a direct flight Montreal/Zurich. From there I would probably train it.

 

[evaino]

Thanks for all of the great tips!

Amazingly it's cheaper (marginally) to fly from Ottawa to Zurich than from Montreal. But still not inexpensive. Best deal I've found so far is $850 for airfare, which isn't bad, but still makes for an expensive trip when all is added up. Thankfully the conference is only about 400 euros, although with the

It's by no means a certainty as I just found out about this conference and isn't really in my budget, but I really want to and I think it'll be great for business. And the added bonus of immense pleasure doesn't hurt.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it work.

Elsbeth