Oh my goodness gracious me. What were we thinking when we shunned this ski resort for years because of a tetchy email we received from them a while back? Having finally skied Serfaus Fiss Ladis, we can say with absolute certainty that it deserves a place in amongst the great mega ski resorts of the world. Lifts, piste trails, off-piste terrain, snow quality, food, family friendliness, accommodation and general infrastructure are all fabulous. We especially loved that there are a series of black trails that, unlike many European ski resorts, are genuinely black……. dark black! Lovely steep fall line skiing on-piste is always a treat. But if you are not into that, take heart in the massive amount of intermediate terrain.

This resort is a monster. The trail map scale is absolutely inaccurate in its portrayal of the lifts & pistes, but it has to be in order to fit it all onto a reasonably sized page! And as with all monsters the resort brings with it a vast number of visitors. However, aside from standing in a few lift lines for a minute or two near the villages, the crowds are not noticeable at all, particularly as one gets further out to the fringes and around the advanced terrain.

With regards to snow quality, forget about what the snow may look like near the three villages on the sunny south-facing alpine terrace above the Oberinntal (Ober Inn Valley). Up high & in the distant recesses of this huge resort, there will be plenty of super, high-quality white-stuff to satisfy the needs of snow sliders from novice to expert.

For convenience, liveliness, and best access to the majority of terrain, Serfaus is the best of the villages to stay in. Fiss, with its charming old town centre comes second, with distant Ladis (and its castle!), third. Ski-in ski-out is not a great feature of most accommodation here, but each village is well served by means to get around easily. Serfaus is car free, with all vehicles required to be parked in a series of parking garages on the outskirts of the town. Access to the ski lifts is via an efficient underground railway running under the village.

Because we tend to follow the snow and leave our accom booking until the last minute, we were unable to secure decent lodgings in the resort villages for a price that we felt wasn’t extortion. So we visited the resort from our base in a beautiful, well-priced apartment in the pretty Oberinntal village of Pfunds, and then the following week from Burgusio, just over the Reschen Pass in Italy. With a rental car both proved excellent to get to the resort. Without a rental car, any of the Oberinntal villages (Nauders, Pfunds, Ried, Prutz) can be used for affordable last-minute lodgings, with local buses providing the uphill transport to Serfaus, Fiss or Ladis.

And if skiing isn’t enough, then the Fisser Flieger or head-spinning Skyswing are available to keep the young (in mind or body) entertained. Shame they are not including in the lift pass, but they are operating a business after all!

More to come when I finally catch up with everything!