Dublin to St Anton

going to St Anton for some Easter skiing ... a couple of different options:

on Friday 30th March 2018 - Ryanair to Munich

dep DUB 06:10
arr MUC 09:40
67 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 13:00 train cost 60 euro
the 15:00 train cost 45 euro
the 17:00 and 19:00 trains cost 30 euro

alternatively could flight to Zurich

with Eurowings
dep DUB 12:10
arr ZRH 18:20 (via DUS)
100 eur - excluding baggage fees

with Aer Lingus
dep DUB 07:10
arr ZRH 10:40
132 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 12:18 train (under 3 hours) costs 52 eur
the 20:18 train (3.5 hours) costs 61 eur


on Monday 2nd April 2018 - the same routes are available

dep ZRH 21:40
arr DUB  23:00
195 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 16:57 train (arriving 19:42) costs 53 euro

alternatively from Munich there's a Ryanair flight

dep MUC 21:10
arr DUB 22:40
134 eur - excluding baggage fees

or an Aer Lingus flight

dep MUC 20:25
arr DUB 21:55
165 eur - excluding baggage fees

the train timings aren't as helpful for this route, it's a longer journey and there's only a train every two hours - so it would be the 15:03 departure (arriving 18:55) for 69 eur

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.

accommodation in Lindau or Bregenz

in order to catch the Ryanair 10:05 flight from Friedrichshafen (FDH) on sun 21st jan - the bus leaves St Anton at 5am ... an alternative would be to get the train towards Friedrichshafen on the saturday afternoon / eve, so that there is a much shorter journey on the sunday morning, and so we wouldn't need to start so early ... Lindau is approx 25km, and Bregenz is 53km from FDH ...

there are direct trains from St Anton to Lindau [dep 16:56 arr 18:26] for 21 eur, stopping at Bregenz [18:15] ... and loads of direct trains to Bregenz itself [dep 17:51 arr 19:15, dep 19:51 arr 21:06, dep 21:51 arr 23:06 etc.] ...

Lindau's accommodation options seem to be rather limited ...

Expedia.co.uk only has one hotel available for the night - Hotel Vis a Vis - costing 65 gbp for a double room for the night ... it's other hotel in Lindau - Hotel Bayerischer Hof - is not showing any availability ...

Octopustravel.co.uk only has a twin or double in the Bayerischer Hof for 124 gpb, or the Reutemann And Seegarten hotel for the same price ...

Venere.com has a double in the Hotel Garni Seerose [9 minute walk from the train station - according to deutsche bahn journey planner] available for a more reasonable 93 eur, and a triple room for 129 eur ...

laterooms.com does not have any hotels available for the night in either city

lastminute.com does not have any hotels available that night in Lindau ...

the tourism office for Lindau doesn't really have any more suggestions ...


the accommodation options in Bregenz appear to be a bit better ...

Expedia.co.uk has a bedroom for 2 persons in the Mercure for 49 gbp, a twin in the Ibis for 45 gbp, Hotel Bodensee for 63 gbp, a twin in Hotel Schwarzler for 77 gbp ... with no availability in Bw Hotel Weisses Kreuz, or Hotel Germania !

Octopustravel.co.uk [also used by ebookers.com] has a twin at the Mercure for 70 gpb, or the Schwarzler for 77 gbp ...

Venere.com doesn't have anything available that night ...

lastminute.com [owned by travelocity] has the Mercure for 45 gbp and the Ibis for 46 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk has a twin in the Hotel Bodensee for 62 gbp, a twin in the Ibis is 45 gbp, and a double/twin in the Mercure is 44 gpb ...

mercure.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 65 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for the same price ...

ibishotel.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 66 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for 51 eur ...


to get to FDH from Bregenz for the 10:05 ryanair flight, there is a train from Bregenz to Lindau [dep 07:48 arr 07:59], connecting to a train directly to the airport [dep 08:06 arr 08:36] costing 8.60 eur ...

ski week in january ...

looking for a week's skiing in january - departing sat 13 jan, returning sun 21 jan ... considering St Anton am Arlberg since it is easy to get to and has lots of self bookable B&B accommodation - so don't need to take a package ...

flights with Ryanair (FR) from London Stansted (STN) to Friedrichshafen (FDH) departing at 14:40 [arr 17:15] is 19.99 gbp [07:05 departure is an extra 10 quid] ... and return flight departing at 10:05 [arr 10:45] is 1 penny [21:40 departure is an extra 70 quid] ... giving a total price of around 50 quid ...

there is a weekend airport bus transfer to St Anton (stopping at Bludenz, Zurs and Lech) which departs FDH at 17:45 [or 10:15 for the early flight] and the return connection departs St Anton at an eye-watering 05:50 [or 17:30 for the late flight] for the price of 57 eur ...

St Anton ski pass - this week falls into the low season ... so a 7 day pass would cost 204 eur, or an 8 day pass [if taking the late flight on sunday] would cost 226 eur ...

using Intersport equipment hire prices - 7 days for VIP skis costs 151 eur and boot hire costs 57 eur ...

B&B accommodation should cost around 30 eur per night ... slightly cheaper if it's a bit away from the centre ... totalling approx 240 eur ...

all of which comes to 50 gpb plus 710 eur [approx 475 gbp] = 525 gbp ...