BBC Travel reader Carrie Miller is studying in Austria next year and wants to know about affordable ski weekend possibilities. Our Facebook followers provided suggestions.
BBC Travel reader Carrie Miller is studying in Vienna from February to June next year and is looking for “ski weekend possibilities on a college student budget”.
We called upon our Facebook fans for their sage advice. Here are some of their suggestions.
From H W Roos: “Romania. Go with a budget airline and fly straight to Targu Mures. Not far from there are many excellent places to ski (and above all it is cheap).”
From Desislava Ivanova: “What about Bulgaria? We have good places for skiing, such as Bansko, Pamporovo, Borovets. It’s not so far from Vienna.”
From Christoph Vogl: “The ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) offer the Kombiticket Wintersport. At the moment there are no offers on their homepage, but you should find some in the winter months. The USI (University Sports Center) offers quite cheap ski trips (mostly for a week) including a skiing instructor. I think you can use their offers if you are an exchange student. On the Bergfex homepage you can find all skiing areas in Austria with information on the skiing area and prices.”
From Horst Fux: “I don’t know if it is the same in Vienna, but I would suggest asking the people of the Erasmus Student Network. In Graz, they organise a great weekend with skiing in Zell am See.”
From Michele Kathleen: “Get out of Austria for a weekend and head to Slovenia. Affordable to travel to, affordable accommodation, affordable skiing and underrated for its beauty. Avoid a ski trip to Switzerland. Beautiful, but your entire budget will be blown.”
From Bibiana Kysucká: “Slovakia is definitely student priced, with wonderful nature. In the Low Tatras (highest peak is 2,043m), the ski resort is called Jasná and the concrete mountain is called Chopok. The second option is High Tatras (located in the north on the border with Poland, the highest peak is 2,564m). There are many more ski resorts in the country but I would highly recommend Chopok as High Tatras is overpriced in my opinion and Chopok is closer to Austria; the distance Vienna to Brezno is 320km.”
From Ulli Maier: “For an easy day trip you can go by bus for 48 euros including the ski pass to Semmering (about an hour and 15 minutes from Vienna). The website will tell you everything: if there is enough snow and if it is cold enough to make artificial snow. You can even go skiing for the evening, reachable with public transport. You can rent equipment there as well. This is a place where young people meet for a bit of winter sport.”
From Anna Pope: “This is an awesome experience: go night-sledding down the slopes in Semmering, just outside of Vienna.”
To join the next discussion or have your travel question answered by fellow readers, stay tuned to our BBC Travel Facebook page and Twitter.
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