Skiing Zermatt and The Austrian Alps
Euro Ski Trip
We loved our trip to Zermatt, Switzerland last year so much that we decided to return this ski season! Since we did France last year and hadn’t been to Austria yet, we added on a few days there as well. Click here if you want to read more about our trip skiing the French and Swiss Alps last year.
Day One: drive to Zermatt
A red eye from New York landed us in Zurich at 10 am. We picked up our rental car and started our four hour drive to Zermatt, one of our favorite places on earth. The car train through the mountains was less of a surprise this time and we were prepared for driving onto the single-lane train for a 45 minute ride. Since Zermatt is a car-free town, we drove to park in Täsch and caught the train toward the Matterhorn. After having such a positive experience at Hotel Phoenix last year, we booked it again for our four-night stay. We didn’t make a dinner reservation for our first night since it was a Thursday, but we ended up at Hotel Unique’s Brown Cow. Last year we found that reservations are essential at popular restaurants, so I made numerous reservations before we left the US.
Day Two: Zermatt, Switzerland
Our first ski day in the Glacier Paradise was a beautiful one. We used our Ikon passes to get free lift tickets for the next three days and took the train directly up the mountain. They didn’t have nearly as much snow as they did last year, but it was still phenomenal skiing. Lunch was at the Michelin-starred ski-in, ski-out restaurant, Zum See. This restaurant is a must do in Zermatt and I highly recommend the tortellini. Later that night, we decided on wine and cheese at Elsie’s Wine Bar in lieu of dinner.
Day Three: Zermatt, Switzerland
Another ski day! We didn’t make any plans for the day besides skiing and dinner at Bazaar Cervo, which we had accidentally stumbled upon the previous year. We did end up at Harry’s Après-Ski Bar prior to our dinner reservation. It’s a popular place in Old Town that fills up fast after the hill closes - naturally, we had to stop by. Cervo is a hotel and restaurant at the bottom of a run, so anyone coming from town has to take the elevator up to the base of the mountain. They have amazing vegetarian tapas and dumplings. Since we loved the food and atmosphere so much last year, we had to return.
Day Four: Zermatt, Switzerland
Yet another ski day on the Matterhorn with a lunch reservation at Chez Vrony. It’s seemingly one of the most popular lunch places on the mountain and is ski-in, ski-out only. The views of the Matterhorn are astonishing and the food was well worth the search to find the place. Later, after changing out of our ski boots and snowpants, we walked around the town and had fondue at Pinte on the Main Street.
Day Five: Drive to Liechtenstein
After one last breakfast at the Phoenix Hotel, we took the train back to our car in Täsch and drove four hours to Liechtenstein. We had to take a different car train through the mountains and the drive was beautiful the whole way. Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world and the only country in the world with 100% of its territory in the Alpine region. We spent a few hours sightseeing in Vaduz and tasting wine at the Cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein. The Grüner was great and it became my drink of choice for the rest of the trip. We then drove an hour and a half to our hotel outside of St. Anton, Hotel Schrofenstein, in Landeck. We ordered a takeout veggie pizza with corn (surprisingly a good addition) and went to bed early to get ready for our first ski day in Austria the following day.
Day Six: St. Anton, Austria
Our favorite ski day of the trip, St. Anton is a gorgeous mountain that had perfect snow on the day we went. Finding parking was not the easiest, but once we figured out the limited parking situation, we walked to the lift and got day tickets for the equivalent of $60 USD. It’s always surprising how cheap lift tickets are in Europe when is costs over $250 for a single day in Vail.
St. Anton is a massive glacier that we could not cover in one single day, but we did our best. We took the gondola to the top and had Clif bars for lunch while we FaceTimed Paul’s aunt to show her the view. Funny story: After sitting with our skis in the snow, the snow froze on them. While Paul was smart and stopped to get the ice off, I went for it, ate it, and belly flopped off a small ledge in front of a German family. We laughed a lot and didn’t want our ski day to end. St. Anton is the world capital of après-ski, but we decided to avoid the party on the hill and have a few beers at the bottom since we had a few more days of skiing left.
Day Seven: Kitzbühel, Austria
The next day we went to a high-end restaurant called McDonald’s for breakfast, tried the McToast (so good), and drove 2 ½ hours to Kitzbühel for another ski day. Kitzbühel is on the ikon pass, so we showed our passes at the ticket window and got free lift tickets. The snow was a little icy, but still fun. After a few runs and watching a woman in head-to-toe Fendi fall off the lift at the top and scream at a ski instructor blaming him for her inability to snowboard, we decided it was time for a drink. We found a panoramic bar at the top and enjoyed some beer and mulled wine.
After a few more runs, we checked into Hotel Tiefenbrunner, a four-star hotel in the heart of Kitzbühel. We had loose leaf tea and watched the sunset from our balcony, then had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Goldene Gams-Rosshimmel, where I discovered a love for Wiener schnitzel.
Day Eight: Kitzbühel, Austria
We slept in and made our way to the hotel breakfast. I could really get used to eating a perfect little croissant for breakfast every day (in addition to another plate of food obviously, I’m still an American). We decided to take a day off from skiing and explored the town instead, stopping in the little stores and a cafe for coffee. Mostly, we did this crazy thing that I hardly ever do on a trip - we relaxed. Around dinner time, we went to Huberbräu-Stüberl, where we succeeded in securing a coveted table. It’s the most popular restaurant in the main part of town and of course, we had to get the Wiener schnitzel again.
Day Nine: Stubaital and Innsbruck, Austria
Another wonderful hotel breakfast and we were off, driving 1 1/2 hrs to Stubaital Glacier. The have free parking right off the gondola and the lift tickets were only around $60 USD. The snow was good that day, but it’s a beginner-friendly hill with a lot of easy and intermediate runs. We skied for a large portion of the day and then drove 50 minutes to Innsbruck. We stayed in the city center at Hotel Central so we could explore the town on foot. We had wood fired pizza for dinner at Tribaun, one of the few breweries in the area. It filled up fast with a lot of young people, so maybe we incidentally found a local hotspot.
Day Ten: Zurich, Switzerland
We woke up early with no real plans for the day besides eventually making it to Zurich. Another croissant for breakfast at a local cafe and a morning spent walking around, sightseeing in the lovely and historic town of Innsbruck. After checking out of our hotel, we drove the 3 ½ hours to Zurich just in time to check in to our final hotel of the trip. I wouldn’t recommend the place we stayed, but we spent minimal time there anyway. We love Zurich and walked around for the rest of the day. We had dinner at the LA-inspired La Brea for some overpriced tacos, just how we like it back in New York. Our last stop of the night was at another brewery, International Beer Bar, as it was Saturday night and our last evening of the trip.
Day Eleven: Flight home
Our flight was later in the afternoon, so after crushing another hotel breakfast, we walked the river before the rest of the city got up. Walking around early on the weekends is one of our favorite things to do on a trip as it’s usually quiet and peaceful. I think it’s one of the best ways to get to know a city.
The Zurich airport is extremely nice and always a treat to fly out of. We posted up, got drinks and a final pretzel while waiting for our flight home to New York.
That was our trip! I will never get enough of skiing in Switzerland and the European Alps surrounding it. We’re already looking forward to coming back again soon.
