Sporthotel Strass, Mayrhofen, Austria

ROOM: We had a family room sleeping 2 adults and 2 kids. The kids "put me up" beds were very hard - like sleeping on board, and had the kids found them uncomfortable, I would have asked for different ones (one was a rolled out sofa on the floor). But the children slept soundly, so all was good. My room was on the 3rd floor, at the back of the hotel. Very quiet and heard nothing from the clubs/bars mentioned in some other reviews i had read. Water pressure was excellent and hot water all the time. TV available with BBC1, BB2 and ITV. wifi reached the rooms as well (a little intermitent), but OK. FOOD: Superb! Truely excellent. 5 course meal every night. Kids could choose adult or kids menu. Waiter service was very attentive. We had the same table every night and could eat anytime from 7.00pm onwards. Breakfast was plentiful - fruit, cereal, yoghurt, eggs, bacon, ham, cheese etc. CLEANLINESS: very clean. Rooms cleaned every day. SPA: Lovely spa, with an array of treatments. 2 pools, sauna, steamroom. Family sauna and steamrooms are big so no need to panic if you dont fancy going au naturel! Towels (free) and robes supplied (at a deposit). LOCATION: perfect. Right next door to the main Penkenbahn lift. Opposite a large spa (supermarket), rightin the heart of the town. BARS: lots going on each night in the bars. Karaoke, live signing, football on large TV screen. SKI STORAGE: Ample room to store your boots and skis in the ski locker. Boots can be left in the heated area overnight. Locakble ski storage (1 Euro coin operated, returnable). On arrival, go down to secure a free locker and keep the key for your stay. this will ensure you have a locker at the end of each ski day MAYRHOFEN SKIING The ski area is fantastic. Mainly consistiing of red runs. Not ideal for a complete beginner, but for beginner / intermediate onwards, its great. The lifts, once up the mountain, are some of the very best I have seen. Almost all are 6 or 8 person high speed express lifts and all are very well interconnected. On the negative side, the lift up the mountain to the ski area, is a pain. It took us 10 mins (good day), 30 mins (bad day) to get up and @ 45 mins to get back down the mountain as the queueing is a mess. You have to be brave, bold and aggresive. If not, you will never get on a gondola. We did it with young kids as well and folk don't make room for you or your children... so you have to make your own room! Be aware, you cannt ski up of down from the town. The Gondola is the only access. I am lead to believe the penkenbahn is being upgraded for next season 2015/16. I hope this makes a big difference to getting up and down the mountain as at the moment, this is the only let down for an otherwise beautiful mountain area. Ski School - was a bit of a mess to start with... lots of people, lots of instructors, no one knew who was in what group. After the second day, it sorted itself out and all was fine there on in. Word of warning - note which mountain the ski school is on. Some take place on the Ahorn mountain, which is much smaller and different area to the main Penken mountain. We made the mistake and booked in advance, but got the wrong mountian for the kids so had to beg for a refund

Apres Ski: 5/5
Accommodation & Value: 5/5

Sarah Waite

This week long holiday started well and, just went from strength to strength. The resort itself offered access to a variety of pisted areas, with more than enough to keep both advanced and beginners interested. On the first day I enjoyed a gentle start with a guided tour of the main Penken ski are hosted by the Inghams rep. As I was snow boarding alone, this offered an ideal opportunity to blow off the cobwebs and meet some friends at the same time. In the following days I enjoyed some great conditions on the Hintertux glacier, which offered higher altitude skiing and great spring snow. At the end of a hard day on the slopes, the resort offered no shortage of apres ski destinations. On those nights when I preferred to relax the Sporthotel Strass offered plenty of facilities such as swimming area, sauna and steam rooms. If I decide to ski in Europe next season then Mayerhofen will definitely be on my list of destinations to revisit.

Apres Ski: 5/5

Ben Rainbow