Alpine refresh

We flit between mountains and massages on a trendy ski-spa getaway in the heart of the Austrian Alps.

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‘I don’t know if we are going to make it!’ laughs Ricarda, our German driver, nervously, as a red emergency helicopter chops around overhead with two men dangling precariously from a rope. The car – a normally reliable warthog of a BMW – zigzigs up the narrow snow-coated mountain roads, skidding a little here, sliding a bit there, as the heavy white clouds billow snow like confetti. The drive from Munich airport, which should take just an hour-and-a-half, has lasted nearly four; it’s not hard to see how someone might come a cropper on the slopes – let alone the roads. But then, this is not a well-beaten track leading to one of Austria’s commercial ski resorts like St Anton; it’s a little winding road to the picture-postcard town of Leogang. Tucked deep in the Alps on Austria’s north-western border with Germany, it’s part of the ‘Ski-Circus’ that incorporates the resorts of Saalbach and Hinterglemm. With its dense pine forests laden with thick layers of icing-sugar snow, it’s Narnia without the Lion, the Witch and the annoying kids.

Leogang is small and a little bit special: here you won’t find herds of legless après-skiers (there are just a handful of cosy bars frequented by locals) nor will you get carved up by psycho speed-skiers (the locals and Germans holidaying here seem calm and considerate). What you will find are wide, well-groomed pistes, meticulous instructors and affordable restaurants – you can get a hearty lunch for €8 (around a fiver) and more importantly glühwein is only €4 (£2.50) a glass. Combined with cheap flights, it’s possible to have an affordable long-weekend break here – leaving London on a Friday night and departing Monday evening to get a good two-and-a-half days of skiing in.

In the snowy darkness, the warm glow of Der Krallerhof hotel is a soothing sight. The large, family-run hotel has a recently renovated wing with large contemporary alpine rooms featuring burnt orange walls, dark wooden floors, deer-skin rugs and fluffy duck-down duvets (pictured above). The spa-bathrooms are the kind you’ll want to linger in thanks to the Jacuzzi baths and waterfall showers. The hotel’s new slate-floored spa includes a pool overlooking mountains (there’s a ski lift right behind the hotel) and all sorts of steam rooms and saunas (strictly sans bathing suits). It’s obvious why Austria is leading the way in the ski and spa trend.

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