London to St Anton

I'm looking to get to St Anton on Saturday 20th February ... there are loads of different options from London ... so I ended up putting together a spreadsheet to work out the different total costs - including the various different baggage fees from different airlines, and the different rail costs from different airports.  Below are the cheapest flights I could find, ignoring the 7am departures !

I ended up booking this flight to Innsbruck - it has the shortest transfer time - so hopefully I will be able to go and pick up my skis and boots from the hire shop in St Anton on Saturday evening.  The trip from Innsbruck airport into town by bus is quite straightforward ... and with a direct train from the main station at 17:15, i could get a taxi into town if the connection was getting tight.

Dep LGW	13:25
Arr INN	16:25
Flight	76	gbp
Bag	18	gbp
Airport - HBf	2.7	eur
Inn HBf - StAaA	21	eur
Train time	1.5 hrs
Total	112	gbp

Whilst the option of going to Salzburg was a bit cheaper - the airport is a bit of a mosh pit at weekends during the winter, and i wouldn't get into St Anton until after the ski shops had closed.  And the amount Monarch charge for a bag in the hold is just crazy.

Dep LGW	14:15
Arr SZG	17:20
Flight	33	gbp
Bag	23.75	gbp
SZG - StAaA	53.6	eur
Train time	3 hrs
Total	99	gbp

The Friedrichshafen option was quite attractive - but it would mean an earlier start in the morning, and some of the train connections were a bit tight (although there were plenty more trains, it would just take a bit longer).

dep LGW	11:00
arr FDH	13:45
Flight	52	gbp
Bag	18	gbp
FDH - StAaA	31	eur
Train time	2.5 hrs	3 changes
Total	94	gbp

I've never flown to or from Memmingen airport ... but it just sounded like too much effort on this occasion (including a not overly frequent bus service from the airport to the train station) ... even though the fare is very good.

dep STN	11:45
arr FMM	14:30
Flight	33	gbp
Bag - guess	15	gbp
FMM - HBf	3	eur
Memm - StAaA	48	eur
Train time	4 hrs
Total	88	gbp

I really like Zurich airport, and the fact that mainline trains depart from underneath the airport - but the fare just wasn't competitive.

dep LHR	15:40
arr ZRH	20:05
Flight	86	gbp
Bag	20	gbp
ZRH - StAaA	54	eur
Train time	2.75 hrs
Total	148	gbp

I also looked at prices to Munich - but sadly the cheap Lufthansa flights arrived to late to make the last train to St Anton.

Flights to Geneva weren't particularly cheap, and the train costs around 120 euro each way - so the totals weren't competitive.

dublin to garmisch

Looking to spend time in Garmisch over the new year ...

Aer Lingus have direct flights to Munich with a departure at 16:00 arriving at 19:25 on Wed 28th Dec for 176 eur (plus baggage charges). Ryanair have flights 4 flights a week with a 09:30 departure time - the flight on Wed 28th Dec is currently 105 eur (plus baggage and toilet charges).

German Rail have a departure from Munich at 20:31 arriving into Garmisch at 22:58 (with well timed change in Munich Hauptbahnhof) for 21 eur (including free toilet use).

Accommodation in Garmisch is available from about 30 eur per night - the town's website has a good accommodation search function, and includes places like Gästehaus Alpenkranz which is close to the station.

The return flight choice is more complicated with lots of options (prices updated 10th Dec):

Depart Munich at 11:20 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 12:50 for 147 eur (now 188 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 07:28 (24.80 eur)

Depart 

Memmingen Allgäu

 at 13:10 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 14:25 for 87 eur (now 92 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 08:04 (32 eur with a short taxi fare from the town to the airport)

Depart Hahn airport at 21:45 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 22:45 for 55 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 12:06 to Koblenz (97 eur) and then a bus to the airport (9.80 eur)

Depart Zurich at 20:45 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 22:05 for 155 eur (now 211 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 13:08 (86 eur)

Depart Frankfurt at 20:40 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 21:50 for 106 eur (now 181 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 14:04 (89 eur)
Depart Frankfurt at 22:25 on Lufthansa arriving into Dublin at 23:30 for 170 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 16:04 (89 eur)

So the total price for flights, trains and accommodation (but excluding ski hire and ski pass) would be around 515 eur.

ischgl

i'm thinking of going to Ischgl for some skiing in January 2012 ...

the best value package holiday seems to be with Inghams for 602 gbp, which departs on a saturday, via Innsbruck ... or for 29 quid extra you could fly with BA, and with the evening departure on the way back, might get an extra morning's skiing (depending on the timing of the bus transfer to the airport) ...

alternatively, to be guaranteed an extra day's skiing, you could do your own package ...

accommodation

there isn't a great choice of accommodation that can be booked online through the town's website (unlike St Anton) ... but they do have a large number of B&Bs, it just seems that you have to contact them directly. their accommodation brochure lists Frühstückspensions from page 36 onwards (ÜF means Bed and Breakfast and HB is half board) and the map grid (planquadrat) helps to find the property - each street/house number combo is highlighted on the town map. to stay in the town itself, ignore all properties with a village name in brackets after the property name (Mathon, Versahl etc.)

one of the good options looks to be Bergfrieden which has 7 twin rooms and is located on the eastern side of town, about 10 mins walk from one of the gondolas, and a few minutes further to another gondola - which goes up to a different part of the ski area. prices start from about 35 euro per person per night ...

travel

the closest airport is INNsbruck, and Easyjet have return flights for around 191 gbp (including 1 piece of luggage). the resort isn't easy to access by train, but is possible with a bus into Innsbruck central station, a train to Landeck-Zams, and then a postbus up to Ischgl - total time would be about two and a half hours. the train part costs around 30 eur return, the postbus presumably another 10 eur each way, and the bus/taxi into Innsbruck station something similar ...

there doesn't seem to be any direct transfer buses, and the 100km journey by taxi for up to 4 people would be 300 eur or 320 eur return, or for up to 8 people it would be 382 eur return ...

another alternative is to fly to Allgäu airport (that well known hub) for 130 gbp (including the cost of a 15kg bag and the rip off credit card fee) from Stansted (dep just after midday) with Ryanair. the journey to Ischgl is about 200km - the 60 quid saving on the flight, could well be eaten up by the double distrance transfer ...

another option is to fly to ZuRicH - flights available from 98 gbp with Easyjet (a bit cheaper to fly back to LUTon) - the 3 hour train (approx 51 gbp) connection to Landeck-Zams (arr 19:21) would be too late for the last postbus up to Ischgl so would require a taxi 68 eur taxi. earlier flights with BA would be 150 gbp (cheaper available for horribly early departures) - so better to get the taxi up the valley ...

DIY price

so the total price (including an extra night's accommodation) via Zurich would be about 440 gbp (assuming the local taxi was shared between 3 pax) ...

flying via Innsbruck and got 4 people sharing a transfer the cost would be very similar to the long winded bus/train/bus option (even cheaper if there were up to eight in a minibus transfer) - and the total price including flights and accommodation would be around 500 gbp ...

Final Thoughts

if there were 4 or more people to share the transfer - Innsbruck seems like the best choice, or if there were just a couple of people, Zurich sounds fine !