Soll - eat, drink, party

In the town

Many of Söll’s bars begin their après-ski in mid-afternoon and the fun carries on until the early hours. It can be hard to tear yourself away to go back to your hotel for dinner.

It’s not quite as raucous, thankfully many will say, as it once was. But it has its moments, and so do we. We tend to spend quite a lot of time in the Salvenstadl (00 43 5333 6373), where we have embarrassed ourselves on occasion by dancing on the tables. Simply to enter into the spirit of things and not to appear standoffish, you understand.

Swiftly moving on, Hexenalm (00 43 5333 5544), by  the gondola station, starts its apres-ski early and is handy for an end-of-the-day celebration. Hexenalm also does great milk shakes by the way. Things can get pretty lively in Whisky Mühle (0043 5333 53 26), one of the legendary Alpine watering holes. Rossini (0043 5333 5139) has excellent cocktails and live music, while the Moonlightbar (0043 664 4036006) near the gondola station has a pub atmosphere and can be great fun. The Red Horse Sports Bar, British-owned, shows Premier League football, has live bands and draught Guinness. Schulhaus is a restaurant with a bar.

Restaurants in town

Many of the restaurants in Söll are in the hotels. But Giovanni, Venezia (0043 5333 6191) and Hexenalm are good pizzerias. Panorama Bad Café (0043 5333 544212) is a bit out of the way but worth the walk for its lovely coffee and cakes.

A very popular dining choice is Auf da Muhle in the Schindlhaus building. Also in the Schindlhaus is the Dorfstub'n, which has a good range of cuisine in a traditional atmosphere. The Postwirt keeps up its good name for Austrian and international dishes, with a fine wine cellar, and Soller Stube is a traditional Tirolean restaurant.

Bella Vita (00 43 05333 20360), in the centre of the village is always good and a popular meeting place. The restaurant of the Eggerwirt (00 43 5333 5236) has excellent home-cooking.

The Stanglwirt hotel (0043 5358 2000), at the nearby village of Going, also has a great restaurant.

Mountain restaurants

There is a mountain restaurant in the Ski Welt for about every three kilometres of piste, about 70 in all. You won’t go hungry on the slopes. Dotted about the slopes in the immediate vicinity of Söll there are at least ten, and most of them good.

The Gipfelrestaurant at the top of the Hohe Salve must be visited, preferably on a sunny day, if only to have a table on its open-air revolving terrace. At Hochsoll there is a choice of the Gasthof Hochsoll (00 43 5333 5260 4500), the Gasthof Grundlalm (00 43 5333 5060) and the Stocklalm, and we’ve had good lunches in all three. Interesting to think that you’d have to spend at least ten weeks in the Ski Welt to try out all the mountain restaurants!