Skiing — Niederau, Austria — Summary

A week of skiing at Niederau and the surrounding ski areas

January 2015

Hotel Sonnschein, Niederau, Austria

The Hotel Sonnschein was good, very good. One of the nicest ‘solo’ (single) ski rooms I have had, and the package from Crystal Ski was one of the best value solo ski deals I have ever come across.

The Hotel Sonnschein is large and very Austrian. The staff at the hotel front desk were English, and there was a mix of nationalities staying.

One odd thing, and something that I have not come across before, is that the hotel was not ‘run’ by Crystal Ski. Often a ski company will take over a whole hotel. But the Sonnschein was run by the owners, and several ski companies (Neilson and Inghams) also had guests staying at the hotel.

The hotel is around a 10-minute walk from the ski area.

The Sonnschein also has a sister hotel (below) — the Harfenwirt — which is closer to the ski area. The hotel had a ski hire shop in the basement, and guests of the Sonnschein could leave their skis at the Harfenwirt.

The Sonnschein has several large dining rooms, and the ski package I had included breakfast (help yourself from cereal, toast, bacon, sausages, eggs, fruit juice, tea, coffee etc.), served from 8 am to 10 am daily, and an evening meal — 6 pm to 8 pm. There was no afternoon post-ski tea, but there were tea and coffee making facilities (and a large flat-screen colour TV) in the room.

Every evening, there was a lit candle on my table (why?), and the evening meal did not include drinks.

The weakest part of the hotel experience was the food. It was OK, but not great, and there wasn’t enough. The photo below is of a typical evening meal.

You also pick your food for dinner at breakfast in the morning.

The hotel also had some pretty good Christmas decorations.

The hotel offered free Wi-Fi. Even though several Wi-Fi transmitters spread around the hotel, the Wi-Fi was only available in the lounge (see the photo below) and bar area. This made sense for the hotel, as it pulled people out of their rooms and into the bar, where they would spend money on beer and wine. Smart move.

The hotel also had an excellent ski and boot room in the basement, with heated boot racks.

There was also a bomb shelter in the basement, used as a games room.

And a swimming pool.

There was also a collection of cards and notes on the stairs to the basement from former guests. It was interesting that many of the guests were return customers. Always a good sign.

The hotel was popular with families.

Niederau, Austria, ski trip — summary

It was a good trip.

The Sonnschein Hotel was very nice — warm and comfortable with friendly and helpful staff and very nice facilities. The hotel is located about 10 minutes from the slopes and about 5 minutes from the ski rental shop.

Transfer from the airport was good (about 90 minutes).

Skiing was mixed. Snow conditions were variable, with a lot of ice and very thin cover in places. The local (Niederau) ski hill is small (one gondola and one quad) with few trails. A free ski bus (15–20 minutes) to a nearby larger ski area — Auffach — offered more skiing. The extensive ski area of Söll is only 7 km away. However, there was no free ski bus.

The Crystal Ski Reps didn’t add any value to the holiday. I only spoke to my rep once and only saw her in the hotel a few times.

Yes, I would go back to Niederau, particularly the Sonnschein Hotel. Would I use Crystal Ski again? Yes, they were cheap, but if I wanted a ski holiday to be ‘made’ by a ski company, I wouldn’t choose Crystal Ski. They added no in-resort value.