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quite like the look of this place for a change but mindful that promo, tourism videos can be glossy.
Also, is it only really viable flying into Innsbruck as there aren’t many flights around.
Thanks
Been there last two summers - staying at awesome campsite down the valley in Umhausen in a VW Cali with the family. If you like climbing, hiking, on and off road biking in stunning scenery with one of the very best integrated tourist set ups I've come across in Europe (Google Otztal) then I cannot recommend it enough. Super friendly people too. Tourist offices have loads of info that is online too I'm sure. IIRC the main bike track above Solden (Teare Line) was a £500k construction?!
I am a regular there, i live in Oetz, which is the first main village at the head of the valley. As max mentioned there is the teare line which is the main one you see in the videos a lot, 8km of large bermed corners from 2200m down to 1400m. They have just finished building a trail down from the other gondola station (giggijoch) which i believe is called the ollwette line. There are also a couple more purpose built flow lines but the best thing i find about Solden is the fact that all the walking trails, of which there are a lot, are shared trails, meaning that there is no conflict with walkers as long as you dont charge around like a bellend.
Search on youtube for Nene trail, leiterberg trail, bodenegg trail to get an idea of the trails.
There are also a few lesser known trails in the area, One from the top of the glacier road round the top to a village called Vent and another one from the gondola in Oetz where you carry your bike for an hour up to a cross and ride down the back down a stunning valley.
Riding in Oetztal is great and as Max said great location to do other stuff, rafting, canyoning, climbing, basically what the area runs off. If you need anymore information just ask.
Andy
Lucky fellow Andy - what a great place to live! I must admit we were there more for climbing/via ferrata than biking but as you say it's an outdoor action sports paradise with pretty much everything catered for and a superb lift system. I think you have part of the UCI world championships starting at Area 47 this summer too?
OP - this is a good place to start for info:
https://www.oetztal.com/biking
Tick - Junior wants me to take him.
Yes max you are right, world road championships or something starting in Area 47 in June i believe, also Solden is the start of what i believe is the hardest one day road race in Europe, 235km with 5500 vertical metres.
Would honestly say its a underated location for a family holiday. Proper tirolean culture and not to expensive compared to France.
I regularly fly Easyjet to Edinburgh from Munich, easy transfer with the Flix bus, but you can also ryanair to Memmingen.
Andy, that's totally fascinating. Especially the bit about paths being usable by bikes. I'm totally interested in that. We went to saalbach a few years back and the riding there grinds my teeth. It's all either plummet DH or shitawful fire road . They even have the cheek to grade the fire road trails red , blue and black depending on how long the godawfulness lasts.
My missus has loads of German connections and I'm really keen to find somewhere in Austria with skiing and biking ad good as tignes. Oetztal does of course have the additional advantage that it has brilliant rock climbing too. Not to mention the paddling
Where's best to but a holiday house there?
Solden is my favourite riding location in the Tirol hands down. The trails are nicely technical and certainly enough to entertain for a few days although perhaps not a week, but the valley is extensive if you want to explore.
Just to add, the most remarkable cheese buffet selection I've experienced was in Solden (Hotel Erhart FTW !)
staying at awesome campsite down the valley in Umhausen in a VW Cali
I'm intrigued why the make and model of your van is so important to the tale😁
Do they exclude riff raff in lesser vans?
I regularly fly Easyjet to Edinburgh from Munich, easy transfer with the Flix bus, but you can also ryanair to Memmingen.
Does any body fly from the North of England to any of these places? We're (I shall be accompanying Rockhopper) struggling to find a route to Soelden which doesn't take the best part of a day ;-). At this rate we'll be heading back to Morzine, again (nothing wrong with Morzine - just fancied a change)
Unfortunately flights into Innsbruck seem quite rare, i believe you can fly from Bristol and London, i am sure others exist, but they are the ones i know about.
To be fair though, Munich is a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Otztal. Not so bad
Are you a kayaker generalist? If you are then otztal is one of the best valleys in Europe for whitewater, basically you can choose how hard you want to go and there are possibilities at every water level.
If i was looking to buy a holiday house i would say Oetz, nice villiage and lots to do with a stunning lake next to it. Bit expensive though and there are a lot of cars driving through.
If you are ever in the area drop me a message and i can show you a few of the lesser known trails.
Does any body fly from the North of England to any of these places?
I do regularly, we have a place about 2 hours NE under Salzburg by Leogang.
In Summer you can fly Manc/Munich or the drive can be done in around 18 hours end to end.
This summer I’m doing a road trip with my lad:
Morzine - Pila - Garda - Solden - Innsbruck - Leogang
Morzine – Pila – Garda – Solden – Innsbruck – Leogang
Nice!
Probably try to avoid driving - were only planning for a long week end.
I presume transfers (with bikes) are available from munich ?
It's a bit rich when you're talking about buying a blooming holiday house there! 😉
As most people are aware of what a Cali is I was just saying that it works well compared to say flying/hotel etc - obviously campsites are relatively cheap and the bikes are on the back so easy to transport up the valley. When there are four of you and four bikes then Eurotunnel/drive/camp works great is super flexible and is affordable.
FWIW I don't even own a Cali - we have one car - a twenty year old Disco. But for summer we do the same every year, buy the best deal I can find on an early/older Cali bought privately in July, use it for a long Euro trip and sell it in September. Buy and sell right with a bit of 'wheeler dealering' and it can even end up making a little money to go towards the holiday. You get the main use of a camper for the summer for free. 🙂 Always stick to Calis as they lose virtually no money at a certain age (or have been appreciating) and are super easy to sell on. The alternative of hiring costs thousands.
Cheaper basic camping at 'Camping Winkle' about 10km or so before Solden as you head up the valley. That's where I started my alpine climbing career as a 16 year old. I was back there this summer with my family. Had an epic ride up the Timmelsjoch in epic weather, and then dropped back down to the motorbike museum to get picked up. Was nowhere near as epic as the brit we met at the café at the joch who had ridden up from the Italian side in short sleeve and shorts with no waterproof......and then descended down...he seemed dvery happy that we sorted out some bin bags from the café and we passed him in our van.....wished we thought about offering him a lift: we tried to stop a few times but he would just shiver past us....
Been for the last 2 summers and have had a fantastic time , camped at Solden Camping (stunning site with spotless facilities) it also has pods if you don't own a Cali . The riding if great - the teare line is fantastic and the other marked trails are great too , I'm not a fan of man made stuff but the stuff there puts a huge smile on the face , as others have said the waliking paths are equally as good in fact the blacks and the foot paths are my fav . We're not going this year as we thought a 2 year gap would give them chance to build more stuff , so we're going to try Serfauf Fis Landis in the next valley or so .
I presume transfers (with bikes) are available from munich ?
I think possibly but it would be costly, we rent a car if we fly but usually drive as in Summer we go for 7 weeks.
A mate of mine does transfers,
Has a nice blue van thats easy to find, is british so no language barrier and has a trailer which takes bikes and is lockable.
Not sure on prices but you can always email him.
Would it be easy to find a catered chalet there in the summer for about 10 of us?
Holy thread resurrection.. !!!
So were looking at Solden again for NEXT summer now... any accommodation recommendations - self catered or catered?
Cheers
I did a week in Solden at the end of September, flew in to Innsbruck from Brizzle, they were flying every other day. TBH it was too late in the season, most restaurants and all the strip clubs were closed, Giglojoch lift was closed too. Meaning the only trails that were lift accessible were Teare, a blue and a black and a couple of off piste ones, did notice quite a few "no bike" signs about.
Despite this, I would recommend this place for the future. They are doing a lot of work, hence why the Giglijoch lift was closed. They are cutting new trails in and there was a lovely flow line that was bedding in. We will be going back in a couple of years.
We stayed in a place called Haronmie in Innerwald, just up from the main village/town. It was a self catered apartment, rooms were very big, even had a bean to cup coffee machine, kitchen was very new and the view was awesome. We would stay here again.