Skiing with a beginner in Austria

Skiing in Austria with young kids…

The key is not setting unrealistic expectations. Know that even after a couple of days of ski school

It will be slower

It’s going to be the biggest leg workout of your life

Falls will be constant

You may only get a couple runs in a day

Naps and long breaks will be required to prevent burnout

But then, it clicks and they get the hang of it, and the rewards are priceless!

You get to ski with your kids in a beautiful place and you relieve even the down time didn’t feel like a waste at all!

The key is not trying to cram a trip like this in to just 3 or 4 ski days. It takes time for them to learn! Don’t try to go too many places and pack too many things in. It won’t feel like a wasted trip just being together, being present and watching your little one do extraordinary things they are so so proud of at the end of the day.

I lay a great ski itinerary out for you in the Austrian Alps that allows time for everything you need to make this a successful trip for your whole family.

Yes, we take our kids out of school to travel…here’s why!

Valuable lessons in travel my friends✈️⛷️🚗🧳⛰️

I understand it can be a struggle to justify it, but the real questions we started asking ourselves is…

…can we justify NOT doing it.

Let’s face it, if you want to travel but are working within a budget, flying, lodging and just about everything else is more expensive in high season. Booking a ski trip in December or over spring break? You may as well plan on spending double on everything.

When we take our kids out of school to travel or ski, that typically means it’s low travel season which also means travel DEALS! We travel for nearly half what we’d pay in the high season and since traveling in high season means, we aren’t traveling at all, it’s so worth it.

I know it means slotting time for school work and they may miss their sports activities, but can I tell you it’s worth it.❤️

Things are pretty inexpensive….

Will flights cost is a wee bit more than if we were heading to Colorado? A tad. But what you lose there you make up for and then some everywhere else!

Lodging 🛏️-We pay a third to a quarter what it costs us to rent a two bedroom house in a resort town out west.

$125-$150 a night

Ski rental 🎿- it’s crazy cheap to rent kids skis at the intersport I lost in my Austria travel guide. My husband and I bring our own skis

€13-€15 daily

Lift tickets-Well you know😆. The Ski City Pass is AH-MAZING. Prices are comparable to what you pay in small NC resorts, and this one covers 12 different resorts!!!!

Food 🥘- Eating at the resorts costs a third of the price if you know where to go. Slopeside huts are usually really inexpensive because they are typically family owned and operated.

€40-€50 for a family of 5

Groceries shopping 🛒- same deal. Grocery stores are really reasonably priced with farm fresh eggs costing under €3, milk for €2, even prosecco for under €4.

Gas ⛽️- While you’ll spend more at the pump than here, we get SO much more mileage out of our vehicle than we do here. In fact, this last time, we were there for 2 full weeks and drove ALL OVER the place and only filled up once!

Not to mention it’s an entirely amazing experience!  The benefit for our kids has been greater than we’d ever expected❤️

Lets Rank Resorts on the Ski Plus City Stubai Innsbruck Pass Austria

There are 12 resorts on the ski plus city pass Stubai Innsbruck and while all are phenomenal, some are great for some things and others shine in different ways. Here are my picks for best resorts for beginners, Intermediate, Advanced, Ski school, night skiing, and apres ski.

For Beginners:

Stubai Gletscher: with three magic carpets, and a giant wooly mammoth to climb around on, kids never get bored here.

Muttereralm: great for beginners and a lot of fun for intermediate and advanced levels as well.

Rangger Kopfl: fantastic for a leisurely day on the slopes

Intermediate and Advanced:

Stubai Gletscher

Kühtai

Nordkette

Axamer Lizum

Patscherkofel

Schlick 2000

All offer fantastic runs and off piste thrills for the advanced level skier.

Night Sking:

Kühtai

Après Ski:

Kühtai

Schlick 2000

Axamer Lizum

all do Après ski super well but in my opinion, Kühtai takes the cake!

Ski School:

Stubai and Muttereralm have it down when it come to ski school! Private lessons are available too for children younger than 4 just be sure to call ahead!

For more information check out my Instagram page or visit our shopable itinerary here!

Why we keep going back to Austria

We love Austria for more reasons than one.

The culture. The atmosphere. The food. The people.

It’s charming and lovely. Its affordable and familiar. It feels kind of like home.

We continue to come back because we know this place now and sometimes travel isn’t about notches on a belt. It shouldnt be about quantity over quality. It should be about immersion and familiarity. Forming relationships with the same faces year after year is a good thing isnt it? So this is why we come back to Innsbruck Austria to ski year after year. Familiarity, which to me, is priceless!

Can I also mention, its insane how awesome the lift ticket prices are on this pass.

12 resorts

22 attractions

Its truly unbeatable.

we bought lift tickets last season for 11 days and paid €1500 for 2 adults and 2 children and barely scratched the surface of what the ski resorts had to offer. We covered 8 of the 12 resorts and only 4 of the 22 attractions covered under the pass. It never gets old and we never get bored.

My favorite resorts on the Ski Plus City Pass Stubai Innsbruck

Stubai Glacier

Stubai offers extraordinary runs that keep you busy for days. It also has 3 magic carpets for little learners and some killer views. All ski levels will feel welcome and comfortable here

Axamer Lizum

Its our favorite resort of the 12. While its not as large as some of the others, boy is it fun to ski. The views are breathtaking and the best in my opinion and the slopeside huts are our favorite. We’ve even made some friends here, owners of one of the huts here that we enjoy getting to see each year while we partake in drinking his homemade schnaups. Just go to the top of the mountain and ski down to your right, you’ll hit Gerharts hut and enjoy some wonderful local eats and (if your lucky) drink.

Keuhtai

Keuhtai is lovely, because there is a small town quaintly set in between all the runs. While I dont recommend Keuhtai for beginners, its a heck of a lot of fun. Oh, and the night skiing here is Ah-Mazing!

Muttereralm

ITs fantastic for beginners and for leisure intermediate skiers. Truly enjoyable and full of really nice relaxing runs, If you are looking for a laid ack day without a lot of fuss but just enough challenge to keep it interesting, this is your place.

Schlick 2000

Ahhh Schlick! Probably a close second favorite resort to ski on the ski plus city pass! Its gorgeous and the food at the top of the mountain is superb!!! you get to ski in a giant bowl and pop out near the bottom in some relaxing tree lined runs. Its magical!!! Order the dumplings in beef broth….its delicious!