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My personal experience of skiing in Saalbach Hinterglemm, Austria
An abundance of piste spread across a wide area, great food and drink and lively apres ski. Those are the main ingredients to me that make for a memorable ski holiday. Saalbach Hinterglemm does all of the above and some.
One of Austria’s premier ski resorts, Saalbach Hinterglemm offers 270 km of piste, plus lots of opportunity to go off piste too.
I first visited the resort almost 20 years ago. Memories of great skiing and the legendary Felsen steak remained with me. I was looking forward to spending some time back amongst the Ski Circus to see how much it had changed over the years. More on the Felsen steak experience later.
Ski Circus
The Ski Circus offers skiing on both north facing and south facing slopes within the Saalbach valley. In the afternoon skiers tend to spend time on the northern slopes facing the sunshine.
If you have a look at the piste information card on the right of the article, you’ll see there’s plenty of skiing for all levels. On the north facing slope you’ll find most of the off piste ski opportunities as the snow tends to be better.
The video below shows one of the longest ski runs in the Ski Circus. It takes you from the top of the Bernkogel mountain 1740 metres down into the centre of Saalbach Hinterglemm. The ski slope is an intermediate skiers dream as it winds gently down the mountain past many of the huts and restaurants.
Alpin Card Liftpass, Saalbach Hinterglemm
The area is so vast if you include the new ski bus connection to Zell am See, it would be a challenge for any skier to ski everything thats available to you with the Alpin card liftpass. This pass also includes the ski resort of Kaprun as well.
Saalbach Hinterglemm Apres Ski
The town itself still retains much of it’s traditional Austrian charm. Over the years it has become more commercial and built up, but that can be said for almost all of the premier Austrian ski resorts.
Hotels and restaurants
You’ll have plenty to choose from with bars and restaurants. One particular restaurant that has a reputation with offering something a bit different is Hotel Peter.
The restaurants speciality is the famous Felsen Steak. A cut of Pinzgau beef cooked with Peter’s secret ingredient of herbs and spices. It truly is one of the best steaks I’ve eaten.
Peter serves the steak personally and in doing so sings the Vienna Waltz while covering the steak with homemade garlic herb butter. It’s a great laugh, and I highly recommend you try and book a table if your planning a trip.
Afterwards you’ll be entertained with the Peter magic show. It’s a great evening, fantastic food and lighthearted entertainment.
Watch the video below to see some of the skiing on the southern side of the Saalbach Valley, part of the Ski Circus ski region.
Final thoughts on skiing in Saalbach Hinterglemm
This was my second time skiing Saalbach. Have to be honest, I didn’t remember too much about the skiing from my first trip.
There has been a great deal of investment in new lift systems over the last 10 years compared to my first ski holiday. This of course is a good thing and brings the Ski Circus area up to date as one of the best connected ski areas in Austria.
Personally, I found the town and the mountain huts to be too commercial for my personal taste. If I was a bit younger, this is not something I would even consider, so I’ll put that down to my age, I’m now in my 40s.
For a skier looking for an inexhaustible range of skiing across Saalbach, Zell am See and Kaprun and all under the one Alpin Card lift pass then Saalbach Hinterglemm makes for a great base to explore this premier Austrian ski region.
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Table of Contents
Ski Circus
Piste Information-
Easy - 140 km
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Medium - 112 km
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Difficult - 18 km
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Number of lifts - 70
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Height - 840 - 2096 m
