Alpbach - village

The charming main village is the place to stay foratmosphere and après-ski, but the ancient hamlet of Inneralpbach, now a key part of the network, also has accommodation and is wonderful to maximise skiing time. If you stay here you have gondolas on the doorstep and you’ll be first up on the slopes in the morning.

Alpbach is small, compact, intimate and gorgeous. There is a uniformity to it – in that all buildings are chalet-style, timbered and balconied and centred on the attractive village church. It is the picture postcard epitome of a Tirolean village – and it simply reeks of history and tradition. You will soon get to know a lot of local people and everyone will greet you in the street. It is still a working farming village, and the runs are all on what is grazing land in the summer.

The connection between Alpbach and Britain goes back way before skiing. St Oswald, former King of Northumbria, gave his name to the village church in the 8th century, when Scottish and Irish monks converted the area to Christianity. And Alpbach has kept its traditional beauty, without being marred by any ugly modern developments, because of the efforts of former mayor Alfons Moser, who held office from 1945 to 1979, in insisting that all new building was in traditional chalet style.

And Alpbach does have a claim to fame beyond skiing and its beauty – since 1945 it has hosted the renowned annual Alpbach European Forum, a two-week conference of leading figures from the worlds of science, the arts and politics. The participation of so many people who have helped shape modern thinking on these subjects has given Alpbach the nickname ‘the village of thinkers’.

Accommodation in Alpbach

There is a good choice of three and four-star hotels – and as this is Austria you can expect hospitality and spotless rooms wherever you stay. The most atmospheric is the historic four-star superior Boglerhof, in the town centre, with the Alpbacherhof (four-star superior) and the Alphof (four-star)both highly-rated. The Muehlbachhof and Berghof are good choices among the three-stars, and the three-star Post is praised as punching above its weight. The four-star Wiedersbergerhorn is highly regarded and wonderfully located in Inneralpbach.

But many of the simpler gasthauses, B&Bs and pensions are also excellent here – contact the Tourist Office Alpbach, where the staff will be happy to help sort accommodation for you.

Ski/snowboard equipment hire

Conny’s Sport (00 43 5336 5420), next to the Hotel Post in Alpbach and with a branch at Inneralpbach, offers a 15 per cent discount if you book equipment online ahead of arrival. Iggy’s Sportshop in the centre of the village offers a good choice of equipment. The Ski and Sport Shop Alpbachtal is next to the gondola at Wiedersbergerhorn.  On the top of the Wiedersbergerhorn gondola station is Sport H&N with a depot and good possibilities to change equipment. New in the village of Alpbach is Alpbach Sports with a one-stop-shop (Ski equipment, ski school and ski tickets).

Non-ski activities

First, a top tip! The Alpbachtal Seenland card, free to all guests, gives a huge range of benefits, including free local bus travel and transfer from the railway station. If you don't already have your card, showing confirmation of your hotel booking is sufficient for free transfer. The card also gives free admission to WAVE waterworld at nearby Worgl, use of tennis courts at the tennis centre in Kramsach, free ice curling, free guided snowshoeing at Reith, guided torchlight walks in Alpbach, Reith, Kramsach and Munster, and free use of the cross country trails. There is also free toboggan hire in Munster and when booking a child's lesson, up to age 12, at Alpbachtal ski school, free ski hire, including helmet. Plus, at Cafe Genuss in Alpbach,  one free glass of sparkling wine or elderflower juice with each Genuss breakfast!

Non-ski options include winter walking on cleared paths and an open-air ice rink down at Reith. Both Innsbruck and Salzburg are within easy striking distance for a day out. But for an extra thrill up on the slopes, the Alpbachtaler Lauser-Sauser Alpine coaster, a toboggan on tracks thrill ride, has been created. It runs from the Wiedersbergerhornbahn top station for a kilometre towards the Kohlgruben lift. At the end of the ride, you stay put and get pulled back to the starting point - so skiers and boarders can experience the ride and then return to their day on the mountain. It's open both summer and winter.
An attraction rarely available is the chance to sign on in Reith as a piste basher co-pilot - a brilliant chance to get a driver's eye view from the cab of those fabulous grooming machines.

The village is also noted for its prestigious Congress Centre, which has cutting edge conference technology and is where movers and shakers from science, business and politics convene every year for the European Forum Alpbach.

Less cerebral but much celebrated is Alpbach's one-man brewery - Jos Moser's Kristall-Brauerei. As well as a range of hand-crafted beers, Jos produces specially for the winter months a brewer's punch, a beer version of gluhwein with cloves and cinnamon that is drunk hot.
 

Childcare

The ski schools are both very child-friendly, with well-organised kindergarten arrangements. And the tourist office is happy to help arrange babysitters.