St Johann family holidays and breaks

With its quaint, traditional, villagey centre, the cosy and relaxing ski resort of St Johann in the Tirol region of Austria must be the envy of every purposebuilt 1960s resort. A few miles from the more famous Kitzbühl, between the Kitzbüheler Horn and Wilden Kaiser mountains, it has 17 lifts and is thus the perfect size for family ski holidays, especially with younger kids and beginners or intermediates. But it doesn't rule out family holidays with adventurous skiers, who can branch out into the 61-lift Schneewinkl ski region. 

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Today

12°C
54°F

Flying Time	2 hours
Carbon Footprint	0.96 tonnes CO2
Timezone	GMT +1
Local Currency	Euro

What to do

Explore St Johann's 60km of superb slopes. If you don't already ski, there are some highly reputed ski schools for adults and kids, with most instructors speaking English. There are also crèches for very young children.

Snowboard the halfpipe, or learn to snowboard in the dedicated park.

Where to stay

In keeping with its low-key, cosy ambiance, accommodation in St Johann tends to the homely and unpretentious – it doesn't get much more 'Austrian' than one of the resort's family-run Alpine chalet hotels, which are great for family holidays. Self-catering apartments are not as prevalent an option here as in many other ski resorts. Our recommendations in the St Johann area include the 4-star family-run Brückenwirt Hotel and the traditional Hotel Park. 

When

The ski season in St Johann lasts mid-Dec–Mar. The highest lift ‘only’ reaches 1,700m, but there are plenty of north-facing slopes, so snow retention is good.

St Johann is a lovely spot for family holidays in the summer months, when you can enjoy the outdoors in other ways.

How

Those keen on eco-friendly family holidays will find it easy to get directly to St Johann by rail – see the Man in Seat 61 for details of the journey, which involves a 2hr 20min Eurostar from London to Paris, then an overnight train to Munich in Bavaria, then a train to St Johann itself, changing at Wörgl. Including changes, it takes 20hrs. 

There are plenty of flights to Salzburg from various British airports, some by low-cost carrier; see our flight deals page.

From Salzburg there are taxis, shared shuttles, trains and buses to St Johann. Buses take 2hrs to 2hrs 30mins.

Eat

If you book with a tour operator, breakfast and dinner are normally included in the package. But for lunches or more variety on family holidays, there are around 50 restaurants in St Johann, offering everything from pizza to traditional Austrian cuisine at generally reasonable prices. 

Cost

St Johann sees its peak prices in the February half term, so it's worth scheduling family holidays for other times if possible.

For a family of four with flights, half-board accommodation, transfers, ski passes and ski hire, but without ski lessons, reckon on paying £1,500 to £3,000.

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