Austria – Around the world with Evie Bean

Solden Snow Trip 2024

Jan 2024; having asked Bean of her preference of a hot holiday or a ski trip, and the fact that in Europe the snow was falling heavily, we cancelled a holiday of hot sunshine and booked one for snow in Solden and, we hoped, cold sunshine!! And we got lucky.

We are off – day one and this girl can’t wait to get up that mountain.

Tickets collected – it’s so easy now. Pay online, go to the machine and out they pop. Even better – for a 5 year old it is only 2 Euros a day!

First mountain image as we head up the mountain on day one.

Mummy, daddy and Bean about to head down.

Day one ski down

The difference between last year at Mayrhofen and this year at Solden was that only ‘full’ days were offered for ski school – 10am – 3pm in Solden. Both we and Bean felt that this was too long for a 5 year old. We all missed skiing together as a family in the afternoons. And by the time she was done the slopes were all cut up and we were all ready to finish for the day.

You can do night skiing at Obergurgl, Solden and Hochgurgl, on 3 different evenings each week. This was really fabulous fun and something about it made the Bean fly. By the second night it was official – I can no longer keep up with the Bean!

The slopes at Hochgurgl were great, wide and cruisy, so we ended up going back twice even though we stayed in Solden.

On a good day from the top cafe you can see over the border dropping dramatically into Italy.

Cheeky top cafe drinks looking down into Italy. Stunning.

There were some great fun slopes At Hochgurgl to.

Tunnels to go through, hands to high five and even a car to jump over!

Tobogganing was something else that we did. Great fun as Grandma could join in, and also a great activity for keeping the smiles on faces the morning when there was a complete white out.

A visit to the Motor Cycle museum at the top of the Timmelsjoch pass is a must if you are up at Hochgurgl. And you don’t need to drive there – you can ski in! it has an awesome cafe to.

The other place that is a must is the James Bond installation, built into the mountainside at 3080m (the very top).

The building for one of the scenes in James Bond – Spectre (the cafe!)

After a visit to the installation there’s nothing for it but for a drink in the cafe after (which has remarkably similar prices to the other mountain restaurants).

Time for our final descent. Was an icy last one, but Bean took it in her stride, and we got from the very top of the mountain back down to Solden in one long run.

What a holiday it was. We found as a family the runs at Hochgurgl better than those based out of Solden (wider and shallower, better fun slopes), but the extent of the lift passes it was hard to get everywhere in a week, especially taking ski school into the equation. We also had a pass to the local pool in Solden which was a great pool.

We had a break in the beautiful old city of Heidelberg on the way home, to visit the castle there and see the enormous wine barrels.

The castle houses the biggest wine barrel in the world. It has the capacity for 219,000 litres of wine!!! you can even walk on top of it.

There’s a splendid view over the city from the castles balcony.

There’s also a museum of pharmacists and, randomly, a huge Playmobil exhibition!

A small part of the Playmobil exhibition, which took up many large rooms.

Thankfully we stayed just late enough to catch this spectacular sunset before continuing the long drive back to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

Due to catching the ferry from Ijmuiden, our trips often end with a day in Amsterdam. We enjoyed a boat tour on the canals, and then a visit to the Mouse Mansion- nothing short of a feat in craft, the the most intricate enormous dolls house for toy mice. it never fails to blow my mind.

After all that walking we had a late pancake lunch, which was delicious. Then time to board the ferry – early – due to an anticipated rough journey.

And rough it was – this trip ended with a ferry journey in Gale Force 9 winds and not much sleep!

Overall a fabulous holiday.

Penkenjoch

First lesson of this day was don’t waste time trying to drive to the top of a lift to save on some cable car money (my idea). The result was a VERY narrow hairpin mountain road with very few barriers and very steep drops (why is it that holding on to the door inside the car in these situations somehow helps the nerves?!). Halfway up this nerve racking road we then got to a barrier that you clearly only get a pass for if you live this high up the mountain. So back down we went, and after some deliberation about options, we boarded the Finkenbergen Almbahnen cable car to its middle station.

Up up and away leaving Finkenberg way down in the distance.

Getting out at the middle station, we set off on path 22b.

The path had intermittent interesting educational boards about the wildlife and the area. There were even a couple of experiments set up to do en-route.

There were also the obligatory cows with bells, which is the perfect finishing touch to any alpine walk!

We then turned uphill and followed path 57, where a spot of lunch and some Evie wiggle time were required

Onwards, we nearly had to leave Tim behind as he was too big for the gateways!

A steep up for a while but then we arrived at the top of the lift on the Penken. What better way to arrive on a hill top than through an amazing adventure playground (as exciting for the big kids as the younger ones!)

Once this amazing course was scaled, we went and enjoyed a drink at the brand new beautiful mountain restaurant, the Granatalm, before having to also have a play on the little kids playground (Evie gave us a pass!). Meet Pepi Bear!

And yes, I did go inside the bear, crawled through the adventure park inside the bear (crawled as it was designed for smaller people) and down the slide. The slide was so fast I shot out the end and was removing wood chips out of my top for the next hour! I expect smaller people would have stopped at the base of the slide…..

Talk about a full in great set up at the top of a lift. Something for everyone.

Before heading down we stopped off at the new chapel, the Granatkapelle at 2,087m. Intriguing from the outside, beautifully simple inside, it is a sight to behold.

It was time to head down the 22a path, as the lifts stopped at 4.45, but we could continue to enjoy these views every step of the way.

We even managed time for one final drink on the balcony of the Almstuberl restaurant to sit an absorb the mountain views after our final walk in the big mountains for this holiday. What a beautiful day it was.

The Hintertux

Woke up to clear blue skies so decided today was the day for the Hintertux walk, one of Tims favourites. The Hintertux is a 19km drive up the road. From there you can either walk up, or do what we did and get a cable car up and walk back down.

Even in early September there are skiers going up for some all year round glacial skiing. There are also some beautiful natural ice caves on / in the glacier which you can tour around (we did this a previous year).

In the past few years we have noticed the glacier is retreating, yet they are still developing their ski stations up here.

It is a downwards only walk when done like this. A mix of small rocky footpaths and wider tracks, but always stunning surroundings.

Oh how I wish I could swim in this! But you are not allowed.

Just before the middle lift station is a nice area with some information boards places to sit and enjoy the view.

A stop for a bite at the amazing ski restaurant at the middle station, with another good play area for kids.

Then descent part two, from the stunning to the pretty. And tricky underfoot.

Evie makes friends with the cows

And you find yourself in a valley with this stunning waterfall

A bit of wriggle time out for Evie, and enjoying the view for us, before the steep and rocky descent down to the bottom.

An easy day from Mayrhofen

A relaxed morning in an about Mayrhofen, meant that we were ready for a short post lunch walk. We decided to walk from the door and crossed over the river and up to the Zimmereben hut, which was closed.

However, it has fabulous views over Mayrhofen on its balcony.

The hut sits at the top of a family friendly Via Ferrata route, although Evie is a little small for Via Ferrata yet!

So without a drink, we headed back down and instead had a naughty treat at the Cafe Kostner in town

Evie very much enjoyed the apple from inside he Apfel Strudel and the banana from inside the split!

She proudly displayed her sitting balance on the cafes dragon, part of a great little playground it had.

From there to Mayrhofen’s mini golf. Three holes in one between us!

Evie was very amused just playing with a putter and keeping score for us!

This meant we all had a great time and could enjoy the cafe afterwards!

Stilluptal – a beautiful valley

If the weather isn’t the best but you still want stunning, this valley is gorgeous and is great for all.

The way up the valley is a toll road, which winds it’s way up from the middle of Mayrhofen to the Stilluptal reservoir. This costs €8, but it would be a very long way up without a car. It’s a pretty drive, but totally stunning when you get there. Glacial waters and steep sided valleys with waterfalls pouring down from the tops.

This view is from the top of the Penken, on the other side of the Mayrhofen valley. It does show its extent and why it feels so amazing when in the Stilluptal valley

This walk is tarmac the whole way and a 2-3 hr round trip depending on the speed you walk. A downside of the tarmac is that if like me you prefer to be off road, it’s not. But it does make it totally accessible to anyone with a buggy/pushchair who still want views and a decent walk.

One of the joys of the mountains for me is hearing the cows with bells. Even better when they are friendly on their stroll down the road, and enjoy a stroke!

In her typical sleepy way Evie misses most of the walk up

We decided to trial her on the back in the sling, as she is getting heavy for front carrying over distance. She seems happy… and falls back to sleep.

The the rain comes, but all is well. Waterproofs for us, BundleBean for her and the rain is unimportant.

We arrive at the Grune-Wand-Hutte, very ready for late lunch.

Evie checks the menu to decide on food

She settles for her first go at baby food – Spaghetti Bolognese – and loved it

The food here was really good, as Austrian hut food generally is. Evie’s own meal doesn’t stop her interest in our food and her joy in routing her hands around in my salad!