The centres of Saalbach and neighbouring Hinterglemm are around 4km apart in the dead‑end Glemm valley. Saalbach is an attractive village with traditional buildings, an onion-domed church and a river running through it. The main street is traffic-free and very pleasant to wander down. Hinterglemm is also built in a traditional style with a traffic-free main street, but feels less homely and friendly.
As for the ski area, it has long been linked to Leogang in the next valley, and for the 2015/16 season it was also linked by new lifts and pistes to Fieberbrunn, further along the valley from Leogang. For one season the resulting ski area was Austria’s biggest – until St Anton was linked to Zürs, Lech and Warth in 2016/17 to form the much bigger Ski Arlberg area, the feckers.
The slopes themselves suit intermediates best, though there are a couple of excellent steep black runs and a good choice of easy options for beginners too but more on that below.
Now, down to business. The villages of both Saalbach and neighbouring Hinterglemm are renowned for their lively après. This starts on the mountain with DJs and live bands blasting out music from lunchtime onwards and continues down in the villages until the early hours. It’s far from unusual to see people still dressed for the slopes and in their ski or board boots trying to find their way home at 11pm or midnight. Also, should it tickle your fancy it, there are several lap dancing clubs too. In fact, for a small place there seems to be a really high density of them.
Yeh We Will!!!
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Saalbach is home to the largest ski circuit of the alps with 12,400m altitudes, 65 km of tracks, 7 hours of skiing experience. With the ability to start on any of the ski lifts, you will be treated to some relaxing stops at one of the many rustic ski lodges and restaurants along the way, dreamy mountain top moments or sunbathing will have to be postponed to the next ski day, as you will have to catch 32 lifts to complete this marathon. With a constantly improving network of lifts, this season the 12er Kogel is being replaced with a new modern 10-seat gondola carrying over 3500 people an hour. Lastly, there is Night Skiing from Monday to Saturday starting at 9:30pm should we be able tear ourselves out of the pubs.
Pistes
270km
Ski Lifts
70
Altitude
1000m – 2100m
Trails
140km Blue
112km Red
18km Black
Piste Map
Saalbach ...
Bauer’s Ski Alm & Hinterhag Alm
Aprés Ski, arguably the best bit of the holiday. If the current trajectory keeps going from the last few years, it is only due to get wilder. We close out the end of every successful days skiing with one or two up on the mountain. The Hinterhag Alm for some love heart showers and Austrian Euro-pop. Bauer's, down at the bottom of the slopes blare out tunes across the mountain from early afternoon. Skiing down from one to the other in the dark will be loose. Serious craic.
... and Hinterglemm
Goass-Stall, Hexenhäusl and Tanzhimmel
Slightly, further down the valley things get a bit more 'themed'. The Goass-Stall is obsessed with goats for some reason but also claims to be the biggest apres ski venue in Austria. It's still 100m from the bottom, so it's everyone's first stop into the madness with some flashing goats. Hexenhäusl is a cheap bar next to the slopes so if goat flashing isn't working, a large witch that de-robes might interest you. The Tanzhimmel in the center of Hinterglemm. This big apres ski bar lies on the main street and plays a mix of mainstream apres ski, dance music and golden oldies until 9.00pm. For those who want to continue at that time can go downstairs to the London Pub, a proper nightclub. Think I might have a shot of Jager now to get me in the mood. Yeh We Will!!