For those of us who like to ski or snowboard, choosing a resort can be a daunting task when the time comes to select a destination of your next winter trip. Let us introduce you SalzburgerLand in Austria, it has everything you need, modern spa resorts and traditional huts to 550 state-of-the-art lifts. SalzburgerLand has 22 ski resorts, which as a combined offer cover 2,000km of pistes for all levels of difficulty.
With the Salzburg Super Ski Card, is it possible to ski all 22 resorts on one card. The card is available as a three to 14-day ski pass, as a season ticket or as a practical, ten-day 'you pick the days' ticket.
This means anyone with time to spare or who wants to tour the area can mix their days between skiing wherever they choose and exploring everything else SalzburgerLand has to offer. A visit to Salzburg city, the home of Mozart, traditional Christmas markets and world-class apas, is an activity to add to the list. The area's incredible cuisine can be explored in Via Culinaria - eight food trails themed around local delicacies, such as meat, beer, fish, cheese and schnaps.
ZELL AM SEE-KAPRUN
Zell AM See-Kaprun is a great all-rounder ski town. The town itself is an attractive medieval settlement on the shore of the beautiful Lake Zell in SalzburgLand, just one hour from Salzburg Airport, making it extremely convenient and accessible. The pistes are mostly tree lined and ideally suited to the intermediate skier and snowboarder, with picturesque views over the lake and surrounding mountains.
The resort has access to 130km of pistes and 8km up the road is the village of Kaprun, with the 3,000m slopes of Kitzsteinhorn glacier (Salzburg Super Ski Card is accepted her too). Nursery slopes fill the base of both areas and Zell am See-Kaprun is home to an impressive 16 ski schools.
Freestylers will find three excellent parks as well as Austria's biggest super-pipe for advanced riders. Enjoy the world's longest funslope at the Schmitten, with 1,300m full of obstacles.
Importantly, Zell am See-Kaprun has snow-making facilities on all of its slopes, so plenty of the white stuff is assured.
Zell am See itself has a selection of chic shops lining its cobblestoned high street, whereas Kaprun is a more down-to-earth, albeit quite large village. Overall, Zell am See-Kaprun is best for families, couples and anyone who likes their ski trip to be hassle free.
SKICIRCUS
As the name suggest, this resort is all about fun as good times. Set in the heart of SalzburgerLand, it combines the area of Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Leogang, which were link by the high tech Tirol-S ten-seater gondola to Tirolean resort of Fieberbrunn. This addition added some much-needed steeper, off-piste skiing to the area. The result is a whopping 270km of piste, hoisting Skicircus on to the list of the top ten biggest ski resorts in the world.
Easy-going, wide, intermediate runs abound, with an enjoyable circuit that can be skied in either direction. The freeriding is easily accessible and the area is infinitely picturesque. What really makes this area so welcoming is how spread out it is, giving plenty of room to pick your own lines and get creative. You should always be able to find an area away from the crowds.
Off the pistes, this area also excels. It is known for its mountain restaurants, with an astonishing 60 eateries, all of them reasonably priced.
There is also a wide range of accommodation to suit all budgets and an infamous apres-ski both on the mountain and off that gets pretty crazy. Add in two excellent freestyle snow parks and you have a recipe for non-stop enjoyment. Best for adventurous skiers and snowboarders who like a lot of space and plenty of room to party.