# Europe 2014



## mtw (Nov 5, 2012)

I'm heading to Europe early next year with my girlfriend, and hoping to go snowboarding for at least a week of it... Where would you go in my position?

I'm a decent rider, my girlfriend is relatively new however - so nothing too advanced!


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## koi (May 16, 2013)

I really liked Zermatt. Nice train ride in, you can board from Switzerland to Italy and back, Matterhorn, fun nightlife (but not crazy), and no cars in the town (everything is within walking). 

Biggest drawback is that Switzerland can be expensive.


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## mtw (Nov 5, 2012)

koi said:


> Biggest drawback is that Switzerland can be expensive.


Sounds good! How expensive are we talking...?


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## boofit (Aug 21, 2013)

I currently live in Germany, and have hit many of the Alps resorts. While I haven't made it to Zermatt yet, several of my German friends have said it's not the best for snowboarders (at least off-piste), as there are long traverses, and run outs. I'd highly recommend Austria. Lower cost, good party scene, and many, many resorts to choose from. Off my head I can think of St. Anton, Kitzbühel, Ischgl, and the Innsbruck area, as good choices. If you'd like some more off the beaten track kind of places, let me know.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Innsbruck looks like all sorts of rad. An old European city surrounded by mountains you can ride? Yeah you can sign me up?


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

mtw said:


> I'm heading to Europe early next year with my girlfriend, and hoping to go snowboarding for at least a week of it... Where would you go in my position?
> 
> I'm a decent rider, my girlfriend is relatively new however - so nothing too advanced!


What do you expect? Priorities (high alpine? Big resort? Party town? Laid back? Sightseeing opportunities close by?) When will you come? Planning to stay in certain countries anyway?


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## Daveed (Aug 18, 2013)

I live in Germany and i love to ride in Davos, a small town in the Alps. Its got great snow every winter and a pretty fun nightlive nothing too crazy. Some Fridays there is night riding on one of their mountains. 

Down side is that hotels are expensive, but there are some places where you can stay for a reasonable price. 

They have a huge snowboard comunity there so you definatly wont be alone! Most of the store, hotel employees speak english since its an international tourist town. 

If you want more info on that one google it or hit me up since most of the websites regarding Davos will be in german.


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## koi (May 16, 2013)

mtw said:


> Sounds good! How expensive are we talking...?


Don't remember fully how much it is, but do remember that it was the most expensive of the places I went (Ireland, Germany, & Netherlands also). 

There are some spots in runs that aren't ideal for boarders, but overall I thought it was okay for snowboarding. 

Innsbruck is nice also, but I didn't get to ride it because I was there in the summer.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Daveed said:


> If you want more info on that one google it or hit me up since most of the websites regarding Davos will be in german.


Davos website is in english: Ski & snowboard Davos Klostersas well as the one of Zermatt: Piste map - Zermatt Matterhorn - Zermatt Tourism
even my "small" home resort has one in english 

Prices are around 55Fr. for a day pass in the "smaller" resorts, and 75Fr. at Zermatt. You get reduction for several day passes. 

If you want to ride very long runs, in high alpine, looking at some of the highest mountains in Europe, I'd recommend Zermatt a lot. You're surrounded by >15'000ft peaks and glaciers in Zermatt, where the longest run is +15miles with +7400ft verticals, starting at 12'700ft. It's expensive, but worth it. Don't know what you expect by off-piste, but I've been riding my last week in April in Zermatt exclusively off-piste and had a lot of fun. 

I posted this recently and just copy it here: The highest mountains in Europe (leaving out Kaukasus) are located in the three-border corner of Switzerland/France/Italy (List of Alpine four-thousanders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), most of them located in the Wallis (a canton of Switzerland). 

Theres also Verbier, or in France the Mont Blanc region with e.g. Chamonix. IF you're into cheep and party towns, I guess, Austria wins.


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## Some Guy (Mar 13, 2013)

Innsbruck and Ischgl are nice. I'd say most anybody could do something on the mountain in those two areas.


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## boofit (Aug 21, 2013)

neni said:


> IF you're into cheep and party towns, I guess, Austria wins.


Gotta say there is waayyyy more to Austria than this. I don't drink, so the party scene isn't important to me. I still choose to go mostly to Austria. I love Chamonix, too, but probably not the best choice for the OP as he said his girlfriend is a relative newbie.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

boofit said:


> Gotta say there is waayyyy more to Austria than this. I don't drink, so the party scene isn't important to me. I still choose to go mostly to Austria. I love Chamonix, too, but probably not the best choice for the OP as he said his girlfriend is a relative newbie.


Sorry, my bad. Didn't want to say that this is the only thing they're good for  More the other way around, especially considering prices. Nothing is cheep in CH... Got some relatives heading to Austria regularly cos it's so cheep compared to here. BTW: Also Germany, France and Italy are on a low price level. BTW2: Austria has very rich delicious desserts


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## mtw (Nov 5, 2012)

neni said:


> What do you expect? Priorities (high alpine? Big resort? Party town? Laid back? Sightseeing opportunities close by?) When will you come? Planning to stay in certain countries anyway?


I'd say more laid back being the biggest priority, followed by decent things to do at night (not so much partying though), and then sightseeing. 

Doubt we will be doing too much off-piste as the girlfriend is relatively new.

Innsbruck (Austria) is looking pretty good to me  What would be considered good accommodation at Innsbruck, location-wise?


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## koi (May 16, 2013)

neni said:


> If you want to ride very long runs, in high alpine, looking at some of the highest mountains in Europe, I'd recommend Zermatt a lot.


Yeah going from Switzerland to Italy was a nice long stretch, it was awesome. Your girlfriend should be able to handle it, it isn't a crazy run. I did it with a girl who was on her first season.

And Zermatt can handle "English Only," peps with no problem.


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## boofit (Aug 21, 2013)

mtw said:


> I'd say more laid back being the biggest priority, followed by decent things to do at night (not so much partying though), and then sightseeing.
> 
> Doubt we will be doing too much off-piste as the girlfriend is relatively new.
> 
> Innsbruck (Austria) is looking pretty good to me  What would be considered good accommodation at Innsbruck, location-wise?



So, here's the deal with Innsbruck. There are several ski areas surrounding the city. All of them are accessible via a good bus network. I've stayed at this hotel in the past, and highly recommend it. It's located in the Altstadt (old town), so centrally located to all the Innsbruck sites. It's also a short walk to the bus.

BEST WESTERN PLUS Hotel Goldener Adler (Innsbruck, Austria) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor


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## Amplid::: (Jul 10, 2013)

Zillertal is worth visiting, you won't be able to cover all of the 600km of groomers in a week. Konigsleiten is a good place to base yourself if you want to have access to the learner slopes from your front door. Mayrhofen is pretty ideally positioned to drive up and down the valley accessing resorts but stay in Hippach or Ramsau if you want to save some money. Hochzillertal and in particular Hochfuegen is a great place to access some heavy lines. Alternatively if you want to visit the pow famous Arlberg, base yourself around Montafon, it's cheaper than St.Anton and gets nearly as much snow... plus if you want to ride St.Anton it's only a short drive. Innsbruck is rad city but it's a bit of a drive up to the resort in the morning unless you're happy just shredding Igls which is kind of small. Tiscover.com is a great site to find cheap B&B style accomodation.


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## Beeb (Mar 13, 2012)

I'd love to visit a few more places in Europe before the move to CO. I reckon Austria somewhere - Zell, Tyrol, Innsbruck. I'd also like to get to Zermatt, but it's pricy as people have mentioned. Plus we don't have much time before we move  Nice problem to have! 

We're going back to Courchevel this year. One of the 3 Valleys, the biggest interconnected ski area in the world so it'd be hard not to find something great. Lots of easy wide terrain to warm up on and some great long reds to blast. As well as the easy stuff there's plenty to keep nutters happy and descent off piste. Not going near this though:
World's Scariest Ski Slopes- Page 9 - Articles | Travel + Leisure


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## mtw (Nov 5, 2012)

boofit said:


> So, here's the deal with Innsbruck.


Thanks! That place looks decent, and not overly expensive. I'll see what the partner thinks 

Also looking into Courchevel as per above, I've heard good things about it from extended family before iirc.


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## trez17 (Jan 2, 2013)

Courchevel was quite expensive I thought!

Stayed in Val Thorens (3Vallees) late March this year & was pretty nice, great area although no real reference because first time in resort... 
No idea of nightlife (mates said it was ok), I only went out 1 time. 
Waiting time @ lifts also not that long, only downside a lot of skiiers, overtaking you & then suddenly stop in front :icon_scratch:

In 1 week we did ValThorens, Meribel, Les Menuires & Orelle, Couchevel also not that far away, but didn't had time left for it. 
If you want to be in the center, maybe Meribel would be better.


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## snowbadger (Feb 4, 2013)

Where in Europe are you heading/passing through


I would recommend anywhere in the three valleys and it you don't need to stay in Courcheval. I get a fully catered chalet for £290 for the week. Meribel is a good shout as its not as far over as Val and Val being a higher resort doesn't have any tree runs whereas at other resorts your misses can be coming down the piste while u muck around in the trees off to the side

If u want something even cheaper then Andorra or Bulgaria could work.


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## hardasacatshead (Aug 21, 2013)

The Chamonix area has heaps of varied terrain and is suitable to all levels of riders. I was there in for a few weeks in March after doing Niseko in Japan and Whistler/Blackcomb in Canada beforehand (big trip). 

We stayed in Argentiere which is still in the same area but not in the guts of the chamonix/mont blanc village so it's a little cheaper. Hired a chalet for bugger all. It's literally a 5min bus ride from Mont Blanc and it's free. 

We were really lucky, got heaps of nice snow as France had a cold snap late in March. We had about a metre of snow in two days and it was epic after that. There's another mountain very close by called La Tour and it's about 5 mins on the bus from Argentiere. It has milder slopes most of the time but some excellent slack country stuff and isn't very busy at all. 

I'd highly recommend it, we had a ball. 

Went to Tignes last year and it was equally as fun as has lots of varied terrain. We had a group of 20 and hired an entire fully catered chalet for the whole group and it was loose as fuck. 

Here's a vid from March in Argentiere/La Tour if you want to see what it at least looks like. I'm in the blue jacket/green pant combo. Don't mind the shitty editing nor the shitty riding.


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## EvilWilberforce (May 31, 2012)

I've been all over Europe - France, Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland...

...I'd recommend Saalbach-Hinterglem in Austria. Fantastic place, great for both beginner and intermediate and plenty to do at night (slightly more to do in Saalbach)


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## mattbee (Nov 3, 2011)

I took my girlfriend on her first board trip last year to Chamonix - good slopes/nighlife but hit the wallet pretty hard. Didn't put her off boarding though :thumbsup: we're heading for the Morzine area this season. same vibe but better value for money I think.


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