Used to Italy? The Austrian ski resorts that keep the long lunch and the kind reds
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20269 min read
We ski Italy. Alta Badia or Madonna di Campiglio with the children, Cortina d'Ampezzo when it is just the two of us, Cervinia when we want snow we never have to think about. We go for the lunch, the sun on the terrace and reds that nobody in the group is frightened of. This winter the others want Austria. Fine. But we are not giving up the lunch.
If that is you, the short answer is Lech. It takes food as seriously as Alta Badia does, it is upmarket and good for families in the way Madonna is, and on our measurements its piste sits at the same height as Alta Badia's and Madonna's. What it cannot give you, and nowhere we cover in Austria can, is a mountain as gentle as Alta Badia's.
If the kind reds and the snow matter more than the table, go to Ischgl. If it is Cortina's town you would miss, Kitzbühel.
How we got there
We started from the four Italian resorts a UK regular is most likely to know, Alta Badia, Cortina, Madonna and Cervinia, and asked what each would miss first in Austria: a long lunch in a smart, family village; reds that never bite; snow you can stop worrying about; a real town. Then we measured all 13 Austrian resorts we cover against those.
One finding shapes the rest. Every one of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover has more of its piste steeper than one in four than Alta Badia, Cervinia or Madonna, at 15, 15 and 18 percent, and only SkiWelt, at 24, comes in under Cortina's 25. No Austrian resort keeps the whole Italian week, so each of our picks keeps a different part of it.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Piste we measure around the village | Steeper than one in four | Average red, measured | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alta Badia | 1,568 m | 2,509 m | 124.5 km | 15% | 21.7% | 65% |
| Cortina d'Ampezzo | 1,224 m | 3,028 m, a lift top | 86 km | 25% | 21.9% | 67% |
| Cervinia | 2,050 m | 3,869 m, the station shared with Zermatt | 116 km | 15% | 18.1% | 99% |
| Lech | 1,450 m | 2,440 m | 175 km | 33% | 22.3% | 61% |
| Ischgl | 1,377 m | 2,868 m | 152 km | 34% | 20.7% | 90% |
| Kitzbühel | 800 m | 1,968 m | 135 km | 29% | 20.3% | 11% |
The piste column is our measurement around each village, the same ruler for all six, because the ski areas of our three picks, and Cortina's, are not yet classified in our data. Alta Badia's own sector is 130 kilometres, with around 500 in reach by lift from the Sellaronda, our own approximate sum; the 1,200 on the Dolomiti Superski pass covers twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift. Cortina's top is a lift station above the highest piste we measure there, 2,724 metres. Innsbruck, listed for Alta Badia and Cortina, serves all three picks too.
Lech: the closest on the table, the polish and the snow line
- VillageVillage
- 1,450 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,811 m
Lech: 175 km of piste we measure. 79 km blue and easier 45%70 km red 40%26 km black 15%
Plus 56 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If you go to Italy for the lunch as much as the skiing, Lech is the Austrian resort that agrees with you. Dinner is the event of the evening, and the huts on the mountain, especially up at Oberlech, have proper kitchens and sun terraces where lunch lasts as long as you let it. The village is small and pretty, kept that way by tight rules on building, with Oberlech above it, sunny, car free and ski in ski out, for families. Of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, Lech is the only one we would call both upmarket and good for families, which is exactly how we describe Madonna.
The skiing will feel familiar sooner than you expect. Lech's reds average 22.3 percent, within a point of Alta Badia's 21.7 and Cortina's 21.9. We measure 79 kilometres of blue and easier around the village, more than at any of the ten Italian resorts we cover, and 175 kilometres of piste in all, on a lift pass shared with St Anton and Zürs. The White Ring, a loop of lifts and runs through Lech, Oberlech, Zürs and Zug, makes a day out with some of the Sellaronda's sense of a journey.
And the snow line is the Dolomites'. Sixty-one percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the same as at Madonna and close to Alta Badia's 65, and half of it sits above 1,880 metres, exactly Alta Badia's figure. The village, at 1,450 metres, is 118 below Alta Badia's and 226 above Cortina's. The top is where it falls short. The skiing reaches 2,440 metres by our measure, 60 short of the 2,500 our snow sure test asks for, so Lech sits right on the edge of that test, as Madonna does at 2,496.
The trade is the rest of the mountain. Thirty-three percent of Lech's piste is steeper than one in four, more than twice Alta Badia's share, and 31 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against Alta Badia's 40. There are 26 kilometres of black and 56 of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover, so the strongest skier in your group has more to do than in Italy. Lech is a village, not a town, and the après is a sunny terrace or a hotel bar by the fire.
Ischgl: the closest on the reds and the snow
- VillageVillage
- 1,377 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,872 m
Ischgl: 152 km of piste we measure. 43 km blue and easier 28%83 km red 54%27 km black 18%
Plus 11 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If the gradient and the snow are what you will not give up, start here. Ischgl's reds average 20.7 percent, the second gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, a shade steeper than the Italian average of 20.4 and gentler than the reds at Alta Badia or Cortina.
The snow is the other half. Ischgl is snow sure on our measure: 90 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and the skiing reaches 2,868 metres. Half its piste sits above 2,363 metres, higher than at Cortina (2,019) or Alta Badia (1,880), though not Cervinia (2,702). The season runs from late November to May, as Cervinia's does. We measure 152 kilometres of piste around the village, and the lifts cross the border to Samnaun in Switzerland, for lunch on the other side and some duty free shopping. A Cervinia regular who skis over to Zermatt will know the shape of that day.
The trade is the steep end and the noise. Thirty-four percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, and there are 26.8 kilometres of black, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against 42.6 of blue and easier. The reds are kind, but there are fewer blues to retreat to than at Alta Badia. The village is at 1,377 metres, 673 below Cervinia's. And the evenings are the opposite of an Italian week: high energy and famous for its nights out, with the après starting in ski boots as the lifts close. Stay a little away from the main strip, or over the border in calmer Samnaun.
Cortina regulars go for a town as much as a ski area, and Kitzbühel is the Austrian answer. It is a walled medieval town, pastel painted and cobbled, with designer shops, delis and galleries for the day you do not ski, and it is famous for the toughest race in skiing, on the Streif. Lunch on the mountain runs long by habit, and the restaurants in town reach well beyond schnitzel.
Kitzbühel's reds average 20.3 percent, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and a shade under the Italian average. We measure 135 kilometres of piste around the town, against Cortina's 86, with 63 kilometres of blue and easier against 38. It is not all cruising: there are 34 kilometres of black, the most of any of the 55 resorts we cover, and 29 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against Cortina's 25.
The trade is the snow, and it is a big one. The town sits at 800 metres, 424 below Cortina's, and the skiing tops out at 1,968 metres by our measure. Only 11 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 67 at Cortina, so it is not snow sure on our measure. Our guide's advice is to book January or February, the heart of the season, which the snowmaking on the main runs is there to cover. The evenings are livelier than Cortina's: Kitzbühel is one of the great party towns of the Alps.
What really changes: the mountain, not the colours
Grade colours are set resort by resort, to conventions that differ between countries, so a red in Austria and a red in Italy are not the same promise. We compare by measured gradient, and by the share of piste steeper than one in four:
| Average gradient, measured | Blue | Red | Black |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 14.4% | 20.4% | 30.2% |
| Austria | 16.4% | 23.4% | 30.3% |
An Austrian red averages three points steeper than an Italian one, and a blue two. Blacks are level. At 16.4 percent an Austrian blue sits nearer an Italian blue than an Italian red, so on the first morning, ski the blues and let the group find its level.
The bigger change is how much of the mountain is steep. The typical resort we cover has 26 percent of its piste steeper than one in four. Alta Badia, Cervinia and Madonna sit well below that line and Cortina just under it. All three of our picks sit above it, and St Anton, at 43 percent, has the most of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover.
The caveat, as always: these are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch. The elevation data behind them is good, not survey grade.
Who should ignore all of this
Alta Badia and Val Gardena regulars who go for the scale.
None of the Austrian resorts we cover can match the 500 or so kilometres in reach from a Sellaronda base. The most piste we measure around any of them is SkiWelt's 258 kilometres, and it is the gentlest Austrian mountain we cover by steep share, at 24 percent. But its village, its top and its share of piste above 1,800 metres are the lowest of the 55 resorts we cover. If the Sellaronda is the point, stay in the Dolomites.
Cervinia regulars who go for the height of the village.
No Austrian village we cover sits as high as Cervinia's 2,050 metres; the highest, Obertauern at 1,740, is 310 metres lower. If it is the top you care about, look at Sölden. Its skiing reaches 3,306 metres by our measure, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, it has two glaciers, and it is snow sure on our measure, with 89 percent of the piste above 1,800 metres. Its reds, at 23.7 percent, are Austrian reds.
So, which one
the lunch, the polish and a family village are the point, you want more easy piste than you have at home, and the strongest skier in the group wants a bigger mountain.
the kind reds and a mountain that is snow sure on our measure come first, and a loud evening is a price you are willing to pay.
the town is why you go to Cortina, the reds have to stay gentle, and you can book the heart of the winter.
It keeps the parts of an Italian week that are hardest to find in Austria, the table and the calm, on piste that sits as high as Alta Badia's and Madonna's. The steeper skiing is the price of Austria wherever you go, and of our three picks Lech gives you the most easy piste to soften it.