Season Dates: December to April

HALLO,
DORFGASTEIN

Gateway to
the Gastein
Valley and
200km of pistes

Dorfgastein is a quiet Alpine village at the entrance to Austria’s Gastein Valley, an hour and a quarter from Salzburg. Students stay in a four-star aparthotel a minute from the gondola, ski 200km of Ski Gastein on one pass, and spend the evenings by torchlight on snowy footpaths, in the thermal pools at Alpentherme or curling on a frozen rink. Its wide, quiet pistes suit first ski trips.

RESORT INFORMATION

Altitude Range 850m – 2,650m

No. of Ski Lifts 47

Marked Pistes 200km

Longest Run 8km

SKI-IN, SKI-OUT ACCOMMODATION

DORFGASTEIN

A modern four-star hotel with apartment-style rooms at the foot of the Fulseckbahn gondola, a minute’s walk from the lift and the beginner slope, so the group skis from the door rather than waiting for a bus.

Students share apartments of two to six with their own bathrooms and mountain views, and staff have private rooms within the same apartments, which keeps supervision simple. A private room is set aside for the group’s evening activities, and a heated ski and boot room keeps everything cold and wet downstairs.

The restaurant serves a breakfast buffet and a three-course evening meal, and lunch is a hot meal on the mountain each day, schnitzel and chips one day and spaghetti bolognese the next. Dietary requirements are catered for once the school has sent them to us.

The hotel is used to school groups, and our Schools Go Skiing Leader stays with the group all week.

ACCOMMODATION FACTS

Type:

Four-star hotel, apartment-style rooms

Accommodates:

120 students and staff

SGS Star Rating:

Ski Lift Distance:

1 minute walk to the Fulseckbahn gondola

Facilities:

Apartments with private bathrooms Free Wi-Fi Restaurant Private evening room Heated ski and boot room Sun terrace

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SKIING IN DORFGASTEIN

Dorfgastein’s own mountain, the Fulseck, has 70km of wide, quiet, tree-lined pistes rising to 2,033m above the village, and the Ski Gastein pass adds another 130km down the valley at Bad Hofgastein, Bad Gastein and Sportgastein. Lessons run five hours a day in groups of eight to ten students per instructor.

Snow from December to April

The Gastein Valley season runs from early December to mid April. Dorfgastein’s pistes sit between 850m and 2,033m with snowmaking on the main runs, and Sportgastein at the head of the valley reaches 2,650m, so the ski safari day has snow even in a lean spring. The slopes are groomed overnight, and mornings on the Fulseck are cold, bright and quiet.

Quiet pistes for every level

Beginners start on the wide nursery slope at the bottom of the Fulseckbahn, a minute from the hotel, and move up the mountain as the week goes on. Intermediates have long blue and red runs back down to the village, and stronger skiers get the steeper reds on the upper Fulseck and the ski safari day to Bad Hofgastein and Bad Gastein, where the valley’s longest runs are. The slopes are among the quietest in Ski amadé, so lessons move at the group’s pace rather than the queue’s.

Lessons with Skischule Dorfgastein

Lessons are with Skischule Dorfgastein, a family-run school that has taught on this mountain for more than 40 years, in groups of eight to ten students per instructor for five hours a day, with a hot lunch on the mountain in between. Equipment comes from Sport Egger at the gondola’s valley station, a minute’s walk from the hotel, and is fitted on the first evening. The last afternoon ends with a race, conditions allowing, and an awards ceremony for everyone.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

What a week in Dorfgastein includes.

SKI EQUIPMENT HIRE

Skis or a snowboard, boots, poles and a helmet from Sport Egger, a family-run shop at the gondola’s valley station, a minute from the hotel. Fitted on the first evening and handed back on the last afternoon.

EAT AND DRINK

A breakfast buffet at the hotel, a hot lunch on the mountain every day and a three-course dinner back at the hotel. Expect Austrian favourites alongside the dishes students already know.

ACTIVITIES

A torchlight walk through the snowy village, the thermal pools and slides at Alpentherme Gastein, ice stock curling, bowling on three private lanes near the hotel, a jewellery workshop and a quiz night, all included.

TRANSPORT

Flights into Salzburg, an hour and a quarter from the hotel, or Munich at two and a half hours, with a private coach waiting at arrivals. In resort the gondola, hire shop and bowling are a few minutes’ walk from the door.

SKI-IN, SKI-OUT

In Dorfgastein the group stays at the foot of the lift. The hotel is a minute’s walk from the Fulseckbahn gondola and the beginner slope, so the morning is ski boots on at the door and straight up the mountain.

We have now taken pupils from Eastbourne College on four skiing and surfing trips with Schools Go Surfing/Skiing, and each experience has been outstanding from start to finish. The instructors are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and fantastic with young people, helping pupils of all abilities build confidence and improve quickly while having great fun.

– Eastbourne College

BOOK YOUR SKI TRIP

Tell us the dates, year group and roughly how many students, and we will send a quote and the Dorfgastein guide within 24 hours.

Plan your trip

HALLO, DORFGASTEIN