28 February - 7 March 2009

7 March - 14 March 2009

Climate:  June is an ideal time to walk in Austria when days are warm and sunny with temperatures averaging about 16.5°C and flowers clothe the meadows in spectacular colours.

Our base:  The Leutasch Valley is situated at 1130 metres above sea level, west of the delightful city of Innsbruck, less than an hour by road or rail. An excellent bus system serves neighbouring villages, making the towns of Mittenwald and Seefeld easily accessible.

Grading of Walks:  Anyone who can manage a few miles on the flat will enjoy this relaxed holiday. The walking is on forest and meadow trails of the main valley and from time to time we venture into side-valleys and one day we walk very gently downhill from the cablecar station (or ride if you prefer!) The ‘A’ grade walks are easy, no more difficult than an ‘A’ grade in England except that you are surrounded by high mountains! And using a pair or poles you will be able to walk further without tiring and gain more enjoyment from your walking.

Nordic Walking:  The wide flat Leutasch Valley is ideal for Nordic Walking and has consequently been established as a Nordic Walking centre with numerous trails crisscrossing meadows, forests and villages. Tuition is available from fully qualified INWA instructors for both beginners and improvers throughout the holiday at any time you have an hour to spare. Video technique analysis will be available and poles will be hired for you locally. More experienced Nordic Walkers will also benefit from video technique analysis and pole hire. Once you have learnt the technique, there will be plenty of opportunity to practise your new skills if you wish.

Hotel:  The Xander Sport is a 4-star hotel in a superb location at Leutasch-Platzl surrounded by mountains and alpine meadows. It is family-run, friendly and efficient. The hotel offers an excellent indoor pool and spa facilities, numerous treatments including massages, facials and special baths. There is a bar, lounge and games room, The cuisine is excellent with extensive buffet breakfasts and four-course dinners with buffet-style salad starters, a wide range of desserts and a choice of eight main dishes.

All rooms are large, light and very well equipped with both baths and showers in all rooms, a lounge area, fridge and basic cooking facilities (useful for tea and coffee-making). Our allocation of rooms includes 5 large suites comprising 2 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and one shared lounge and kitchen area, ideal for 2 singles to share without paying a single supplement. Gaistal rooms have balconies while Panorama rooms have extra large raised lounge areas instead of balconies.

Accommodation Available:  5 suites for 10 singles; 5 Gaistal rooms for twin occupancy; 2 Panorama rooms for twin occupancy

Holiday Price:  £580 for a couple sharing a twin room or for two singles sharing a suite; £640 for single occupancy of a twin room.

Price Includes:

o    Coach transfers to and from Innsbruck Airport

o    Bus transport to and from the walks

o    Full day excursion by train to Innsbruck

o    Funicular rail and gondola tickets

o    Guided walks

o    Nordic Walking tuition from INWA instructors

o    Cycle Hire

o    Hotel accommodation as described above

o    Access to pool and sauna complex

o    Buffet breakfasts, four-course dinners and one packed lunch

o    All restaurant gratuities

o    Services of a certified Innsbruck city guide

o    Services of two leaders throughout providing optional activities   

o    Many unique experiences that money can’t buy

Price Excludes:

o    Flights (see below)

o    Insurance

o    Lunches in alpine huts and in Innsbruck (5-12 euros)

o    Hire of Nordic Poles (15 euros for 6 days)

o    Drinks and items of a personal nature

Treatments

These prices are based on an exchange rate of 1.2 euros to the pound. We will absorb any rate increases up to 5%; any increases above 5% will incur a small surcharge.

Flights:  EasyJet are the only airline to fly from Gatwick to Innsbruck with a flight time of 2 hours, details as follows:

EasyJet  (<http://www.easyJet.com/EN/Book/index.asp>)

Wed 24 June  dep London Gatwick   0635, arr. Innsbruck 0930     Wed 1 July     dep Innsbruck             1030,  arr. London    1125

The above timetable is shown as a guide. Flight times may well change before June. Please note that fares increase as the departure date draws nearer. We are happy to talk you through online booking of airline tickets: call us on 020 7233 6563.

Itinerary

Wednesday

Depart Innsbruck airport by coach for a 45-minute drive to Leutasch-Platzl and the Xander Sport Hotel. Today’s activities will depend on flight arrival times; however a variety of options will be available including Nordic Walking tuition, cycle rides, swimming, spa treatments (bookable in advance) as well as an informal Welcome Meeting to meet your fellow guests.

Thursday

The Leutasch Valley, Part 1  (5 miles)  Today we walk straight from the hotel alongside the river, the sound of gushing water greeting your ears as we explore the gentle charms of the western side of the sunny Leutasch Valley, one of the most picturesque in the Austrian Tyrol. There are no crowds here: simply open meadows and forest trails, pretty villages and tiny hamlets which run alongside the river at the foot of the Wetterstein mountain range. A highlight today is the beautiful lake at Weidach and lunch at the nearby trout restaurant, basking in the sunshine, flowers all around.  After lunch we walk into the village of Weidach, perhaps stock up on teabags for the week and return to our hotel early afternoon. Here you can take an hour’s Nordic Walking tuition (or brush up on existing skills), take a cycle ride, go for a swim or a sauna or indulge in a facial or massage. Or you can simply chill!

Friday

The Leutasch Valley, Part 2  (5 miles)   After a leisurely breakfast the bus takes us to Weidach to a beautiful riverside path which gushes along the eastern part of the valley floor. At Puitbach, we cross flower-strewn meadows, populated with cows, bells clanging in Tyrolean fashion. Back through the forest to hamlets which remain predominantly traditional farming communities with pretty frescoed houses and onion-domed churches scattered across Alpine pastures. Then back to our hotel via Gasse and its bakery famed for its Applestrudel!  Following lunch on the hotel’s sunny flower-bedecked terrace, there follows an optional visit to the Ganghofer Museum located alongside our hotel. Here you will gain insight into the life and work of Ludwig Ganghofer in preparation for Sunday’s walk along the Ganghofer Trail, One of the best-known folk culture writers of his era, he is noted for his work ‘Silence in the Forest’. Here you can also learn something of the history of Leutasch and its farming communities. Other options this afternoon: Nordic Walking, cycle rides, a swim or sauna or treatment in the Wellness Centre. And you can always simply relax on your balcony.

Saturday

Day in Innsbruck

No trip to the Austrian Tyrol is complete without a visit to Innsbruck, the crossroads of Europe, the city in the heart of the Alps, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. A short bus ride to Seefeld followed by a scenic 40-minute train ride to meet our guide for a two-hour guided tour of the city’s highlights, including the City Tower, the 15th century Helblinghaus and the Golden Roof. After lunch there will be free time to further explore this charming and lively city with its labyrinth of cobblestoned streets and jumble of mediaeval buildings. Then there are fascinating museums and monuments including the Hofburg Palace, home to the  Hapsburgs, Austria’s royal family. And you simply must sample coffee and scrumptious Austrian cake! Return by train to Seefeld and bus back to the comforts of our charming hotel.

Sunday

The Gaistal Valley & Ganghofer Trail (5 miles: easy; mostly flat terrain)  A wonderful walk in the secluded and totally unspoiled Gaistal Valley. A short bus ride to the Salzbach Bridge, then a gentle, short ascent on an easy-going trail to the Hammermoos alpine pasture and Gaistal Alm. Here we stop for lunch in the most idyllic surroundings imaginable, breathing fresh mountain air, soaking up the sun from a flower-filled terrace, surrounded by jagged peaks, digital cameras clicking. Our route along the Ganghofer Trail winds through high pastures in the footsteps of Ganghofer who spent many months each year here in his nearby hunting lodge, entertaining well-known personalities such as Richard Strauss. A short, gradual descent to the valley floor to walk alongside the river to the bus stop and a short ride back to our hotel

Monday

Seefelder Spitze and the High Mountains (5 miles) A short bus ride to Seefeld to board the funicular for a thrilling ride to Rosshutte. After a short easy walk on the Zirbenweg we enjoy a coffee on the sunny terrace of the Rosshutte Panorama restaurant before being hoisted up by cable car to the Seefelder Joch Top Station at 2060 metres. Here you will enjoy quite spectacular views in all directions from the highest mountain top around. Then another cable car excursion across the gorge from the mid-station at Rosshutte. Finally we descend gradually and easily on foot via Lake Kaitwassersee and the Hocheggalm where we stop for a beer or a coffee in stunning surroundings. Our descent continues on the forest road to Seefeld. Return by bus to the comforts of our hotel, having spent an unforgettable day in the high mountains of the Tyrol.  (Packed Lunch today)

Tuesday

Leutaschklamm & Mittenwald 

(5 miles: easy)  A short walk from the hotel to join the bus in the nearby hamlet of Gasse to the spectacular Leutaschklamm. This is a favourite route, suitable for everyone, where you walk on a spectacular steel trail, clinging to the side of a dramatic gorge high above the teeming Leutascher Ache (don’t worry - you are fully enclosed and quite safe!). The path crisscrosses the ravine below by a series of footbridges as you admire not only the scenery but the feat of engineering which brought this about. Then from the gorge we cross a bridge, quite literally, between Austria and Germany to lunch at the Gletscherschliff Mountain Hut with stunning views of Mittenwald and the Karwendeljoch across the valley from the terrace. We gently descend to Mittenwald itself, wonderfully situated against a mountain backdrop: here you can stroll through pedestrianised streets, exploring pavement cafes, sampling traditional coffees and cakes, admiring historic buildings whose facades are adorned with brightly coloured frescoes. You can visit the church, one of the finest in the Bavarian Alps or the famous Violin Museum to watch a demonstration of the violin maker at work. The German writer, Goethe, called the town a ‘living picturebook’ and it has remained so ever since, 200 years later. Return by bus to Gasse and our hotel.

Wednesday

Depart after breakfast for Innsbruck and our return flight to Gatwick.

Riverside Paths

Funicular Railway

Seefelder Joch Top Station

Painted facade: Mittenwald

Leutasch-Platzl

The Leutaschklamm Gorge

Lunch at the Gaistalalm

Alpine Meadows, Leutasch

Flower-filled meadows

Leutasch Valley

Lake at Weidach

To Book

24 June - 1 July 2009  (Easy ‘A’ Grade)

Xander Sport Hotel

Path to our hotel

Alpine Meadows, Leutasch

Printable

Version

“ I am beginning to run out of superlatives to describe your holidays, but suffice to say this was tremendous. As usual the work and effort you put into compiling the itinerary is exemplary . . . Thanks once again for all you do to create a sense of wellbeing amongst the walkers. I have returned feeling totally relaxed and refreshed and ready to face the day-to-day world.”  (Sheila Wardell, Reigate)

Just to thank you for a wonderful holiday, your organizing skills are superb, no stone left unturned to ensure our comfort.

I have already recommended you to my optician and his wife, as I couldn’t stop talking to him about the holiday.

Thank you once again both of you.

(Val Willmott and Bridie Alexander)

Just to say thank you for such a lovely holiday in Austria last week.  I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you for all your patience and good cheer, and all the research that you do to make these holidays so great. (Carol Prior)

 

Thank you for a really fabulous holiiday.   Your organisation was sensational and everything we did was wonderful. The week got better and better with the great climax of the ascent to the top on the last day. It was such a lovely group of people too.  (Clare Prichard)