A gigantic torchlit column of ancient standing stones shoots a ghostly dance of flickering flames upwards into the ink black heavens on a frigid Friday night high up in the Austrian Alps. There is magic in the air on this hallowed winter’s eve, and ecstasy on the slopes as gaggles of euphoric alpine skiers zig and zag their way down a brightly illuminated piste. At the end of the trail, a large wooden ski lodge decorated with fairy lights shines like a beacon, offering warmth, shelter, and yes, you guessed it – FONDUE!

But this ski tale is more than just about having fun on the slopes under the stars, and enjoying fireside fondue feasts in a nocturnal winter wonderland. This is a story about one of the most enchanting mountain resorts in the world – SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental – where witches and fairy tales are kind of a thing!

One of Austria’s largest interconnected ski areas stretching out over 275 kilometres (170 miles) of trails, this vast resort in the eastern expanses of the Tirol region sits in the shadow of the magnificent Wilder Kaiser massif, one of the most stunning and rugged mountainscapes on the planet.

Here’s what my 48 hours in this very magical corner of Austria looked, felt, and tasted like…

Itinerary

You can access the massive SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental resort via eight charming mountain villages (Scheffau, Ellmau, Going, Hopfgarten, Itter, Söll, Westendorf, and Brixen im Thale) and accommodation is plentiful. For my visit I chose to stay in the picturesque village of Scheffau am Wilder Kaiser that sits directly below its namesake mountain range. There are two majestic structures in the wonderfully sleepy little alpine hamlet – a beautiful white baroque parish church that dates back to 1756, and the stunning Kaiserlodge, a sweeping, spacious bespoke hotel/suite complex built in 2017.

Run by the mother and son team of Barbara Winkler and Michael Landlinger-Weilbold, this gorgeous Tyrolean style hotel crafted out of stone, glass, and light colored wood has the feel of a grand hotel with large open public spaces and towering cathedral ceilings, without losing the warmth and charm of a family-run Austrian ski chalet. The Kaiserlodge also has several plush spa and wellness facilities (including a brand new “adults only” spa), a rooftop hot pool with breathtaking panoramic alpine views, its own private lake for guests only, a fabulous restaurant, a deli, and even a large children’s club and cinema.

My room was actually a massive, meticulously decorated two-bedroom lake suite with direct access for swimming and cold plunges (more on that later) via a large private patio. Despite its grand scale, my apartment-style suite still felt cosy thanks to its warm, honey colored hardwood floors, natural wood wall panelling, and impressive exposed beams. Laid out over two floors, it had a full kitchen, and a living room on the first. On the second floor, two large bedrooms, two unbelievably posh bathrooms that felt more like private spas – and best of all – jaw dropping views of the lake and mountains on one side of the suite, and views of Scheffau’s striking baroque church in the center of the village on the other!

If you love to ski under the moonlight, there is no better place to go out for a nocturnal rip in Austria than the Söll ski area, as it’s the largest night skiing facility in the country with 10 kilometres (over 6 miles) of well-lit, groomed trails.

Night skiing is open from Wednesday to Saturday, with lifts running from 6:30 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. Unlike your run of the mill night skiing areas, this place has a really cool vibe – especially if you’re into spooky stuff –  as the entire ski area doubles as a winter/summer witch-themed mountain adventure park called “Hexenwasser (which translages to “witch water”.). Buildings, chairlifts, and gondolas at the Söll ski area are all decorated with pointy-hatted ladies on broomsticks and scenes from local fairy tales – but fear not, there are no Voldemorts here, and the witches are of the super-friendly sort – very suitable for kids and adults alike.

Söll is a great place to hang out even if you don’t ski or snowboard, as it also has several mountain huts with fabulous food, an ice skating rink for kids, a carousel, snow sculptures of witches, and a “magical” winter hiking trail that takes you to the Stöckalm hut and restaurant where you can drink, dance, and dine like an ancient druid next to the aforementioned torchlit giant standing stones.

Oh and one more thing, if you’re visiting on skis or even just on foot during the day, make sure to head over to the Simonalm hut for “witching hour” which begins promptly at 11:03 am daily (except Saturdays) for a meet and greet with the witches, and a free hot “witches brew” straight out of a boiling cauldron…but more on that later!

After a couple of blissful hours of night skiing under Söll’s Friday night lights, and a very informative “behind the scenes” tour of the resort’s snow grooming plant (danke Mario Haller!), we decided (I was skiing with friends) the fondue hour was nigh. So we pointed our skis towards the flaming torches on top of the ginormous standing stones in front of the Stöckalm and ripped our way down to dinner at one of SkiWelt’s most popular ski huts.

Stöckalm, if you’ve never been, is one of 80 charming and very traditional, family-run  Tyrolean mountain huts that serve food and drink to skiers and hikers all over the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental area, winter and summer. Stöckalm itself is actually a ski-in/ski-out Gasthof-style inn with several large dining rooms and banquet areas. We were lucky enough to get a table at Stöckalm’s “Grillalm” room, a spacious rustic wooden parlour that can host up to 70 people. We opted for a spectacular fondue smorgasbord, which included locally grown and sourced meats, poultry, and cheeses. To say this meal was exquisite would be an understatement. What a way to finish off a night on the slopes, truly enchanting!

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day when I’m in Austria, even more so when you can order bacon Eggs Benedict on avocado toast and wash it down with an assortment of organic bio teas, and then top that off with a mini “Zitronen Gugelhupf” (lemon bundt cake) for “brekkie dessert” – OMG pure caloric heaven! Hats off to the chefs at Kaiserlodge, they are true breakfast cuisine culinary masters.

When a ski resort’s website describes its ski terrain options as “insanely varied” you know you’re gonna have fun! As mentioned earlier, SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental has a very large footprint with over 275 kilometers of skiable terrain. With 81 modern lifts across the resort the possibilities and permutations of a day out on skis are endless, and even intimidating if it’s your first time at the resort. Thankfully, the braintrust running the ski area has come up with a fantastic and very user-friendly solution on how to navigate the resort – two different tour circuits with color-coded signage that are extremely easy to follow.

The first tour goes clockwise and is marked with green signage. This one has 69 total kilometers (almost 43 miles) of route and a grand total of 34 lifts (9 of which are used to get you from point to point on your journey). The other route is counterclockwise and uses orange signage.  The orange option has 84 total kilometers of route (about 52 miles) and 37 lifts (13 of which are used to get you from point to point on your journey), and is the one I jumped on from the Scheffau Valley gondola station which was a 5 minute ski shuttle bus ride from the Kaiserlodge.

The weather gods must have known I was amped to embark on my grand tour of the SkiWelt region because they set me up with bluebird skies, buttery snow, and blazing sunshine. Despite the fact that it was a Saturday, ski lines were not long at all and the pistes had plenty of room to play on. The route took the entire day, with one stop for drinks,  and another for lunch – oh, and I never ended up using the same lift twice, which was truly remarkable.

I can now say from experience that hot chocolate as a pre-lunch warmer-upper on a sunny outdoor terrace after a long morning clocking mucho mileage on your skis, and a delicious Wienerschnitzel mit pommes (fries) for lunch inside, are definitely the way to go for a 10/10 Austrian lunch in the mountains. The photos speak for themselves. The hot chocolate was a dream, and the Wienerschnitzel was to-die-for. Thank-you to the folks who run the wonderful Talkaser hut restaurant in Westendorf for an unforgettable ski-in/ski-out dining experience!

Nobody likes a sprained ankle when they’re on a ski trip. They’re even less desirable when they happen because your buddy gets his ski pole stuck in the snow directly in your path, and you end up flipped over on your butt with a twisted ankle. The only upside to a freak ski accident like this is having private access to a frozen alpine lake with a dock ladder you can use for cold plunges (which apparently improve blood flow, help decrease soreness and inflammation, and speed up injury recovery time).

Yes, this happened to me, and yes I put the amazing private dock at my luxurious lake suite to good use for multiple cold plunges to soothe my swollen paw.  I’m guessing it helped because I kept skiing for the rest of the winter…oh and there is definitely something to be said about the unforgettable sound of cracking lake ice yourself before you submerge your aching corpse into nature’s frigid bathtub…literally sooooooooo cool!

Nothing is more refreshing than an hour or two spent soaking in hot pools (especially on rooftops overlooking snowcapped mountains and ancient churches) and schvitzing in saunas after a long day of big mountain skiing and therapeutic cold plunges. And this is exactly what you can do at the Kaiserlodge’s family-friendly (no nudity) Seelig. Spa wellness area, or if you prefer to be clothing-free in their new state-of-the-art, adults-only (yes nudity) Natürlich.Spa. The wellness facilities at this hotel are top-notch and worth experiencing even if you don’t have a freak ski accident.

Even if you adore Austrian mountain cuisine, and admittedly I am a devout disciple and worshipper, sometimes you crave your old standards – like a nice filet mignon steak and house salad. Both of these classics are on the à la carte menu at Kaiserlodge’s fabulous in-house restaurant and were absolutely delicious choices prepared to perfection.

For dessert however, it’s always tough to turn away from Austria’s most famous after dinner sweet treat Kaiserschmarrn, especially if you’re staying at a hotel named after the same guy! Kaiserlodge’s Kaiserschmarrn (pancake bits topped with powdered sugar with a side of apple sauce) was absolutely scrumptious!

Excited to share spells with some of the local witches before leaving the Wilder Kaiser region, I decided to squeeze in a morning on the slopes. After another hearty breakfast at Kaiserlodge, I accessed the mountain again at the Scheffau Valley Station gondola, and timed my route perfectly for a meet-up with the local coven. My journey took me via Brixen im Thale to the Simonalm hut in Söll, a 400-year-old farmhouse not far from the No. 44 “Stöckl” chairlift, very close to where I had night skied on Friday.

Witches, by the way, have been part of the local folklore of the Söll area going back to the 16th century, and today some of the area’s “wise witches” share the old legends, myths, customs, and traditional knowledge at public meet-ups in front of the Simonalm hut at 11:03 a.m. sharp every day of the week except Saturday. They also dole out a nice, hot cup of “witches’ brew” (free of charge) from the deep, dark depths of a boiling black cauldron with visitors who aren’t afraid of spells, enchantments, and such. If you’re really keen, you can even book your own private witches’ “HeXpedition” where you can find out more about witchcraft, from cooking to casting spells. Click on this link if you’re witch-curious https://buchen.hexenwasser.at/hexpeditionen .

Oh and in case anyone out there is wondering about my welfare after spending time in this very bewitching part of the Austrian Alps, I can confirm that I was not turned into a frog, and departed the area unhexed even after consuming a tasty cup of the very sweet bubble, bubble, toil and trouble potion brewed up by these very witchy women.

PHOTO CREDIT – Photos of witches used in this article are Copyright: Bergbahnen Hexenwasser Söll

MORE INFO ON SKIWELT WILDER KAISER-BRIXENTAL: 

The SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental region has a wide assortment of hotels for every budget. For my visit I chose the lavish Kaiserlodge, a luxury hotel & apartment-style suite establishment with rooms and apartments. To find out more or to book a stay go to:  https://www.kaiserlodge.at/en/

For more info about the entire SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental region go to: https://www.skiwelt.at/en/

For equipment rentals I used Skiverleih Rainer Scheffau-Tirol. This wonderful ski shop had very friendly English speaking staff and excellent service! For more info go to: https://www.skiverleih-scheffau.at/en/welcome-1.html

The SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental Area is easily accessible via train, bus, and car and is only a one hour drive from Munich Airport. For more info on how to get there go to:

https://www.skiwelt.at/en/arrival-insanely-close.html