We spent our skiing holiday in a cosy Alpine village in Austria called Reith, or rather Reith im Alpbachtal. We didn't know anything about this place before coming here, but we have to say that this is just as idyllic as you could ever wish for. Moreover, we discovered that there are a lot of interesting local delicacies here.
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Idyllic and cosy alpine village
Around Reith are the dizzyingly high Alps. From the streets of the village you can see both pistes and jagged peaks so high they disappear into the clouds.
The village itself is really not big at all. There are a bunch of Austrian-style houses with wooden balconies and paintings, a church, a school, some hotels and restaurants, some shops selling ski equipment and mountain bikes, some bakeries and a cheese shop (which we'll tell you more about below).
There is a slight smell of goat in some places and sometimes you hear a cow mooing. And every person you meet greets you. It's really just as idyllic as you want it to be.
Enjoying the sun
It's strange, but even though it's below zero, it doesn't feel cold. The snow lies like an insulating blanket over this cosy Alpine village and when the sun shines directly on your face, it feels almost... warm!
We found a hotel with chairs in the sun and couldn't resist sitting down. Here we each ordered ... well, I don't know what kind of liqueur it was, but they said something about "wood liqueur". It was good anyway!
Cheese and other local delicacies
Already the first morning at the hotel we noticed that the cheese at the breakfast buffet was absolutely awesome. No wonder! It is the local small cheese producer who delivers. They also have their own little shop in the village, Alpbachtal hay-milk dairywhere you can buy the cheese yourself.
Most cheeses are made from cow's milk and some from goat's milk. In addition, locally produced spirits are available in the shop. In Reith there is also production of marmalade and "fruit syrup", which is used to flavour drinks more. We tried several different types of (tasty!) marmalade at the hotel's breakfast buffet and took home a jar of "mountain apricot marmalade".
Skiing in the cosy Alpine village of Reith im Alpbachtal
You go to Reith am Alpbachtal in Austria primarily for skiing. There is a large lift system with many wonderful runs, and the slopes are also full of nice restaurants. You can read more about skiing here:
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Facts about Reith im Alpbachtal - a cosy Alpine village
- Country: Austria
- Federal Republic of Germany: Tyrol
- District: Political district of Kufstein
- Population: Around 2700 (2014)
- Location: Reith is located in the western part of Austria, about 300 kilometres west of the capital Vienna.
- Nearest major community: Schwaz, which is 14.5 kilometres southwest of Reith im Alpbachtal.
- Highest point: 1326 metres above sea level
Good to know
- Temperature: The average temperature in July is 14 °C and the average temperature in January is -10 °C.
- Language: German (many also speak English)
- Currency: Euro
- Price mode: A little cheaper than in Sweden
Journey to Reith im Alpbachtal
- Flight: There are several different flights and possible routes. We flew with Air Berlin, route Stockholm - Berlin - Innsbruck.
- From the airport: From Innsbruck Airport to Reith Im Alpbachtal it takes about 45 minutes by car.
Parts of this trip were part of a press trip. The texts, images and opinions are, as usual, our own.
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Alexandra says:
Looks cosy! Do you think that's a place you could go to in the summer too? For e.g. mountain biking?
10 January 2017 - 7:28
Imelda says:
Mmmm cheese is good! What nice pictures, looks super cosy. Austria is wonderful in winter and summer. Hugs
10 January 2017 - 7:37
admin says:
Alaxandra, yes you can go here in the summer too! Apparently, many people come here in the summer as well, for hiking, mountain biking, etc.
Imelda, super cosy! And we said several times that it must be fantastic here even in summer.
10 January 2017 - 7:52
Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Great pictures! I couldn't resist the cheese.
10 January 2017 - 7:59
Anonymous says:
Seems like a nice place!
10 January 2017 - 8:10
Åsa says:
Truly an Alpine idyll!
10 January 2017 - 8:59
Emma, Sol som sol? says:
"Smells a bit like goat." Haha! What an observation, but perhaps even more important. Guess it wasn't T-red in the glass either.
It looks absolutely fantastic! Truly the epitome of a small alpine village that attracts a steady stream of tourists.
10 January 2017 - 9:00
JoY says:
You really have a couple of cosy days there.
Hugs
10 January 2017 - 10:04
Ama de casa says:
What an incredibly cute and picturesque village! The Austrian Alps are (in my opinion) the most cosy. Often with cosy little restaurants on the slopes and not with the large, impersonal "feeding stations" that are found in many places in France, for example.
The delicatessens in the small villages are absolutely irresistible, and there I probably favour Italy the most (generally speaking), but that cheese shop looked really fantastic 🙂 ).
Well, well, well. Now I got hungry - breakfast time! 😀
10 January 2017 - 10:32
Geddfish says:
Very cosy, and picturesque! Have just seen your new film on Youtube, and I can promise that I went with you 😀 SO much fun!
Keep up the good work, or if you're home now, have a good time 😀.
10 January 2017 - 10:42
Marina says:
Wonderful! As I said, I have been here many years ago but I can't say that I recognise so much of your description. It may be that today I would see other things than I did then 😉 .
I can say that what we did for fun besides skiing is probably time-barred today. This is where we tested whether strohrom burns if you pour a little in a sink, and so that you don't have to try it, I can tell you that it burns well! (we probably would have been better off pouring more into the sink than we did...).
10 January 2017 - 10:59
åsa i åsele says:
Cosy. Looks a little "old-fashioned" if you now misunderstand me correctly 🙂 .
I've only seen the Alps in pictures and on TV, but it seems wonderful 🙂.
10 January 2017 - 11:09
Ditte says:
Very cosy little village and so good with the local delicacies.
The food is almost half the trip.... Well, a big part of it. I like Austria, but in many places you have to go up in cabins before you reach the slopes or take a bus and that becomes a small minus. But you can't get everything ...
Here, the village feel seems to be genuine and that means a lot.
I see that you had a great time.
10 January 2017 - 11:25
Johnny Friskilä says:
Could it be that you have tried pine cone liqueur? It is a spirit/liqueur flavoured with pine cones. I have a bottle from Austria here at home and I think it is absolutely delicious!
10 January 2017 - 12:40
BP says:
So the first picture is absolutely fantastic! If there were still "real" postcards, this photo would be a given:-)
What a picturesque little village! Just as you would imagine a typical Alpine village to be. And you got the nice weather back too.
Had a good laugh at "it smells a little goat" - hahaha! Good that I got the explanation why;-)
10 January 2017 - 13:17
Christine's Stories - Cape Town Edition says:
"It smells a bit like goat in some places". Hahaha! I think it looks absolutely fantastic. Sean the cheese... not much beats that!
10 January 2017 - 15:54
Steve says:
This is what an alpine village should look like, I think, having never visited one. Charming and idyllic enough. I would love to browse in that cheese shop.
10 January 2017 - 17:01
gun says:
Cheeses are good!!! I would like to be there and botanise:).
The small Alpine villages are as cosy to visit in summer as in winter.
gun
10 January 2017 - 17:46
admin says:
Nils-Åke, no it's not easy to resist! 😉
Asa, right? Much more idyllic than I expected! 🙂
Emma, no it wasn't T-red as luck would have it, haha. Yes, I can imagine that there are loyal tourists who return here!
JoY, really! Now we have just come home again, but I long to go back a little already 😉 .
Ama de casa, we can't compare with anything. because this is the first time we are in the Alps (apart from driving past with the motorhome in the summer). I thought that it would be more large-scale, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was so cosy!
Marina, haha, now we don't have to try. What luck! 😉 Surely it is the case that you see things a little differently when travelling in different times of life 😉.
Geddfish, how nice that you saw the film! 🙂 It is a bit new for us to film like this, but we are practicing! 😉
Åsa in Åsele, I understand what you mean. In a way, it feels a bit old-fashioned in an alpine village like this, but in a positive way!
Ditte, yes, to get to the top we had to take the cable car, and if we wanted to get to the best slopes we had to take a bus for a short distance. But the bus ran all the time and was included in the cost of the lift pass, so it was quite ok.
Johnny, pine cone liqueur? They have a lot of exciting liqueurs there in the Alps! Peter thinks it was something else, but they seem to be creative 🙂 .
BP, glad you like the photo! It's kind of gratifying to take photos when it's so beautiful, you don't have to do anything but press the shutter button 😉 And the goat smell didn't just come from the cheese, I can tell you, but also from the village goats 😉.
Christine, as a city dweller you notice things like that, that it suddenly smells like goat 😉 A very cosy place!
Steve, we've actually toured the area before with the motorhome, but this is the first time we've been here in winter. Idyllic as it gets!
Gun, it's probably just as cosy here in the summer! And cheese is a favourite for us too, hard to resist good cheeses! 🙂
10 January 2017 - 18:36
Matts Torebring says:
The first picture is awesome. There is nothing to add, Austria, the people, nature and food, everything is in a class of its own. The winter I would say is unbeatable, if the sun is shining. Summer feels a little more like home in Småland, 12-15 degrees when you wake up. But what does it matter!
10 January 2017 - 18:46
Husisblogg says:
Lovely pictures and nice summary of the village/town.
This seems to be a very cosy village/town that is well worth a visit.
10 January 2017 - 19:26
admin says:
Matts, glad you like the picture! As I said, a grateful motive 😉 Agree that it is fantastic in winter. I can imagine that it is nice in the summer as well, but do not have the same experience (although we passed with the motorhome).
Husisblog, absolutely! Maybe there are many nice villages like this, but we can at least say that we fell in love with this one! 🙂
10 January 2017 - 20:31
Ninnie says:
How cosy it looks! And beautiful with snow and sun. I have never been to the Alps in the winter, (but in the summer) and never gone downhill skiing either. It LOOKS very lovely.... but nothing for me I think. ; ) Pleases me to look at all the beautiful winter pictures from the slopes!
10 January 2017 - 21:49
Marianne - Glimt av verden says:
It looked so cosy! And what a brilliant solution for that pram 😀.
10 January 2017 - 22:04
susjos says:
What pictures! Oh what a village...and cheese that I just love!!!!
Have never been to the Alps, but will be good to go there! However, I have visited Austria ... but not to ski, no it was the ESC in Vienna that attracted! Oh fun was that Sweden won then!!! Yes, you know Måns and "Heroes"!!!
11 January 2017 - 5:43
admin says:
Ninnie, maybe it's something for you? 🙂 Beata had never travelled before, but now she wants to go again! 🙂
Marianne, right? You have to adapt to the environment you live in 😉.
Susjos, of course you have been to the ESC in Vienna! 😉 Understand that it was fun!!!
11 January 2017 - 6:23
4000mil says:
The Alps are great in winter! Long time ago though. Right now I'm mostly dreaming of a hiking trip to the Apples in the summer.
11 January 2017 - 8:27
cat says:
What a wonderful winter picture! It's been a long time since I was last in Austria. Sometime in the 90s.
11 January 2017 - 13:27
admin says:
4000 kilometres, it's certainly lovely in the Alps in summer too! We have stopped with the motorhome on the way to and from Southern Europe a few times and the views from the campsites have been fantastic!
Cat, glad you like the pictures!
14 January 2017 - 6:14