Hintertux, Austrian Alps, Austria

5Joeyofficer 5:00 PM Aug 21, 2011

Perfect summer getaway for activity lovers
We went to Hintertux for a week in August. The main attraction was the all-year abaility to snowboard/ski on the glacier, but there are plenty of other things to do. The glacier had previously been snowed on around 8 days prior to our arrival. Conditions were definitely spring-like, with the best of the snow being on the two open blue runs, while the reds tended towards being much icier as the snow cover got increasingly thinner and the glacier ice was exposed. All is still fully rideable, although I would recommend at the very least a fresh warm wax on any equipment before you go. The conditions can be very slow at this time of year as snow verges on (and turns to)slush. Having said that, we had a lot of fun!! Ski teams have training camps here but despite what other reviews on other sites have said, they do not hog all the slopes. There are slaloms etc set up on parts of slopes depending on the training they're doing, but there's plenty of space and generally doesn't stop you using the same run. Snowboarding/Skiing starts from the top of the mountain at 3250m - the 3 cable cars needed to get up there take around 30mins to reach the top overall, but once up there the drag lifts service 6 out of 7 open runs. The 7th is one run that was open down to the station a 2660m, allowing you to ski down to get food etc rather than having to take the lift down. The slopes were open from 8am through to 1.30pm when the drag lifts stopped. Any skiing or riding past this time was starting to get very difficult. During our time in Hintertux we also rented mountain bikes and did a couple of the trails around the mountain. There is no specific bike route plan, but we were told that the hiking trail map was the same. The only bad thing was that it didn't give you any idea as to the degree of difficulty of the route. The trails in general are well maintained and signposted. We also visited Nature's Ice Palace, located at the top of the glacier, which is a completely natural glacial fissure discovered in 2007 and open to the public. The interior was stunningly beautiful, however being English set us at a huge disadvantage as the entire tour was in German. We got the general gist, but probably missed some of the most interesting information due to the technical nature of the tour. Other activities included paragliding, hiking and non-glacial caves. Outside of daytime activities, Hintertux itself has a very limited amount of things to do. In the actual village, there are 3 or 4 hotels, each with a bar and restaurant, a fire station, a mini shop and a couple of clothing stores. At the base of the gondola, you have a couple more shops, a couple of bars and another three or four hotels. Hintertux is definitely a place to get away from everything as it's very quiet at night (meaning if what you want to do is sit on your balcony with a bottle of wine talking rubbish, this is a great place to do that). if you need something more lively, then Mayrhofen is the place to stay at the bottom of the valley.

4Wangfox 5:00 PM Aug 8, 2017

Skiing in August, I could get used to this!
Fun time. Being from the US, cant say we have the opportunity to ever ski during our summer. What a treat to do this. Get there early. Get there when it opens to have the best snow. Summer skiing. By 11:00 am to noon the snow becomes very heavy and like mash potatoes. Then it is time to Apre ski, and enjoy the magnificent views. The views are breath taking. There are 6-10 decent runs. Nothing difficult. Mainly easy blue at toughest. Everyone in all the shops and on the mountain were extremely helpful. We were not sure what to expect but everyone made the process easy. Rental equipment was high quality too. Great different experience for the summer!! Ski early.