Ski Amadé: There's more to these hills than the Sound of Music
Ski Amadé has a massive 356 ski runs available across five different regions.
The story goes that after multiple unsuccessful pregnancies, Mozart’s mother visited the healing waters of Gastein and miraculously gave birth to the musical prodigy the following year.
Mozart’s music has never been for me, but he lends his name to Ski Amadé, a network of five ski areas that’s much more in tune with my tastes.
Packing up my bags, I fly to Salzburg in search of mountain adventures and rejuvenating waters.
Ski Amadé is one of the largest ski networks in Europe. With one ticket, you can ski 760km of slopes over five regions in the Austrian Alps, including the two that I plan to visit, Gastein and Hochkönig.
The regions of Ski Amadé are not interconnected by gondola, but they’re less than an hour’s drive from each other and regularly serviced by trains.
I won’t get to see the entire ski network but with over 350 runs and 270 lifts in the two regions I’m visiting, I’m sure there’s more than enough to keep me entertained for a week of skiing.
Driving through the mountains, night falls like a lullaby in the valley and I arrive in Maria Alm, a traditional farming village that translates to “Maria’s Mountain Pasture” where the farmers swap working the land for working the ski lifts during winter.
A crowd has gathered in the small town square for the Christmas market, warming themselves with mugs of mulled wine. It doesn’t feel like a ski resort at all.
The market is happening right outside Hotel Eder where I’m staying for a few nights. This four-star boutique hotel captivates as soon as I step through the doors.
The Alpine chalet architecture, floor-to-ceiling wood and blazing fires make it feel like a traditional ski hotel, but owner Sepp has brought it into modern times with contemporary elements.
Neon lights emblazon phrases on the walls, stracciatella di Bufala and Dubai chocolate bring international cuisine to the slopes, and there are plenty of hidden spaces to relax and unwind in the lobby.
There’s a contrast here between the old and new, but it undeniably strikes the right chord.
After a restful night, I’m stirred away by the faint ringing of church bells. It’s time to go skiing. Clumsily gathering my gear for my first few runs of the season, I make my way to the chairlift less than 200m from the hotel.
Maria Alm is a gentle way to kick off my ski season, the hills easily rise and fade away over a series of wide blue runs that help me find my feet again.
Maria Alm is part of the Hochkonig region where there are 120km of ski runs and the vast majority of them fall in the easy or intermediate category.
Even though I’m here in the quiet period just before Christmas, I’m surprised at just how quiet it is. The whirring of a chairlift and the distant sound of skis slicing the snow are all I can hear.
Everything else is muted by the snowfall. The slopes are dotted with a few other small groups of people and I never have to queue for any ski lift or gondola: it strikes me as an ideal place for a relaxing holiday for beginners.
Knowing that I’ve got a busy few days of skiing ahead of me, I buy a ticket for the Culinary Konigstour so that I stay well fed and warm.
This foodie tour links mountain huts where you have a starter at one, ski to another for a main, and another for dessert.
Besides keeping me full, it orchestrates my plan for the day, rather than just lapping the same runs over and over.
Over the two days here, the highlights are Tom’s Alpenhütte, a chic modern hut owned by Sepp and Wastlalm, a traditional hut blanketed in snow where I wolf down a pretzel soup and my gloves dry out by the fire.
Reviving my tired muscles in the heated outdoor pool at Hotel Eder, I’m glad to have spent a few days here for a soft reentry to the sport, but now I’m ready for something more action packed. Off to Bad Gastein I go.
Bad Gastein is a thermal spa town, 90 minutes from Salzburg, that people have been coming to for “the cure” for generations, including Mozart’s mother, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Einstein.
The caves and water here contain radon which can help with inflammatory and musculoskeletal issues — this wellness aspect is central to the town.
I’m struck by the multi-storey, Belle Époque-style buildings clinging to the side of the mountains creating a multitude of levels and layers as I explore.
Stepping through the door of the Hotel Salzburger Hof, I’m flanked on either side by A-list celeb after A-list celeb.
This traditional hotel has hosted some of the most well known names in the world and their pictures cover every inch of the walls in the lobby.
With Jude Law, Nicholas Cage, and Shirley Bassey watching over me as I check in, I notice all the staff wearing traditional dress reminiscent of and writing everything down by hand.
Although it’s part of the same network as Maria Alm, skiing in Bad Gastein is completely different. I feel the tempo immediately rise as I tuck around a left hand turn and onto a wide open plain of rolling and rhythmical terrain.
As I find creative and fast lines down the slopes where enormous mounds of the Alps sweep across the groomed runs, I can’t help but think of Maria Alm as a tender folk song and Bad Gastein as a hard hitting dance anthem.
THE ability to ski from one village to another is what makes the Alps so special, bringing great freedom and adventure that other ski regions can’t match.
Standing in a deep valley between two 2,000m-tall mountains, I’m surrounded by a network of gondolas and chairlifts whisking skiers off to different peaks, letting them explore the endless beauty of the Alps.
The skiing here errs more towards intermediate skiers with the runs generally being longer, steeper, and busier, but nothing that should put off people who have skied a few times before.
Reaching the end of my time in Austria, I pay a visit to Alpentherme, a thermal spa just a 10-minute drive away from my hotel.
Stepping out into the frigid evening air, I follow a crowd to an enormous sauna with 40 other people sitting around a long bed of cold coals. I’m not sure what’s about to happen and I’m even less sure I can handle the heat; everyone here looks like experts.
A sauna master walks in and fires up the coals. “Let’s go!” he shouts and begins to blast what I can only describe as Norse sea shanties from a speaker and pours a bucket of water, making the coals sizzle and creating a symphony of heat.
This sauna is a spectacle and although I’m sweating profusely, the experience has emphatically won me over — there’s no way that I’m leaving.
I’m in this until the end. After 20 minutes, which feels like a lifetime, the music and heat reach a crescendo and it ends. Paddling around the freezing outdoor cold plunge pool afterwards, I feel entirely renewed.
Hunger always hits me the hardest in the evening time on ski trips and I hear of an outdoor moonlit feast happening in Hohe Tauern National Park.
Rattling up a snowy mountain road, I reach Valeriehaus, a remote alpine restaurant surrounded by the subtle outline of powerful mountains.
Roaring firepits draw me deeper into the darkness to a frosted banquet table and I take my seat, staying warm with neverending refills of mulled wine.
The moon rises above the peaks and everything in the snowy valley begins to sparkle.
The menu is made up of Austrian dishes like veal schnitzel and fluffy shredded pancakes, but the highlight has to be the Raucherforellenmousse, a delicate yet rich trout mousse served with cream cheese tartlets.
I’m left speechless by the setting, the food, and the price. This five-course meal with drinks and transport costs €138 a head —it’s incredible value for a truly unforgettable experience.
Waiting in Salzburg airport for my flight to board, I feel that I’ve had the perfect blend of skiing and relaxation.
From carving turns on snowy slopes to melting my worries away in beautiful spas, Ski Amadé sings Austria’s praises with a resounding chorus that Mozart himself would’ve been proud of.
- Ryanair flies direct to Salzburg from Dublin twice a week, with a flight time of two and a half hours.
- Stay in Hotel Eder in Maria Alm for a luxury old-meets-new stay and Hotel Salzburger Hof in Bad Gastein for traditional charm.
- Book your ski pass for Ski Amadé in advance for the best price, with a four-day pass starting at €240.
- Visit Austria Tourism for more information and trip ideas.
