This year's trip is a hiking holiday in the west Tirol region of Austria. On this page I share all my research and after the trip I will update with reviews and lessons learned.

Which Alps?

The Alps are a very large mountain range that reside in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria and Lichtenstein.

At first we were planning to go to the French Alps because family members had spent a week there last summer and enjoyed a fabulous active holiday and had a great time. The resort they stayed in was called Les 2 Alpes and I was enticed by all the active pursuits available, but everything had a extra cost and with the current Euro exchange rates, the costs were mounting up as I made lists of things I wanted to do while there.

As I am also studying German, I tried looking for something similar in the German Alps without much luck. These sport resorts are ski resorts in winter and Germany didn't seem to have big summer programs.

Next I tried Austria and found exactly what I was looking for. The resort we selected in actually a trio of villages high in the Alps connected by a network of cablecars and chair lifts called Serfaus, Fiss and Ladis. This resort is just a bit west of Innsbruck and close to the borders with Italy and Switzerland and Germany.

On compelling reason for staying at this resort is the inclusive Super Sommer Card that every staying guest is given for free. This card allows you to ride all 7 cablecars and chairlifts for free, entitiles you to take up to 6 weekly guided hikes for free, free use of the hiking bus that goes between the 3 villages, and all the children's activities and attractions.

We explored every possible airport in the vicinity and the only option that worked for us was to fly into Munich and rent a car to drive the 3 hours to Serfaus. We wanted to fly direct and we also needed to fly to England before going home again. Innsbruck has flights to England in Winter, but nothing in the summer. Friedrichshafen on the Bodensee has flights, but nothing at the right time of day and not every day of the week. We managed to get a round trip ticket with United from Washington DC direct to Munich with the return leg from London to Washington. We then booked a one-way ticket on another airline from Munich to London.

We did look into other options such as flying into Zurich, but everything required complicated arrangements or layovers where luggage could be mislaid.

The only negative (having to rent a car) has since turned into a positive. Without the car we wouldn't be able to do the day trips I have listed on the bottom of this page. We will see much more as a result.

Staying there

There are hundreds of hotels, guest houses and pensions to choose from in these three villages. We had the following requirements:

• Half board (Breakfast and dinner included) with vegetarian options
• double room with balcony and shower
• Non smoking room or better yet, entire hotel
• TV, telephone

I narrowed the list down to 5 that all happened to be located in Serfaus. I emailed each to ask about availability and to confirm catering for vegetarians. The replies left me with 3 choices and we choose Hotel Barbara because it met all of our requirements plus there is food available to pack for a light lunch while hiking which means we really get full board if we want.

If you want to see all the available hotels, go here.

Attractions and Activities

For a full list of all the things there are to see and do, go here. Below is a sampling of things we would be interested in doing while we are there. When I return, I will update this page to review each.

• Ride the Fisser Flitzer toboggan
• Ride the Fisser Flieger
• Ride the Skyswing
• Take one or more of the free guided mountain hikes
• Do one or more of the Mountain bike routes (bike rental option)
• Take a Segway tour
• Take a rafting tour
• Experience the Nature High Rope Park
• Do several of the self-guided hikes
• Take the Naturthemenweg Fisser Gonde circular route and see the tree house
• Experience the Bergsommernacht

Day Trips

On the way to Serfaus from Munich, we plan to make a stop in Ehrwald Austria and travel up to the top of Germany's highest Alp - the Zugspitze. A round trip ticket to the top with entrance to the museum and the "experience exhibit" is 33 Euros each. The cablecar ride up takes 10 minutes but the elevation change is 1750 m during the ride. It should be exhilerating.

During our stay in Serfaus, we plan to take a Day trip to Lindau Germany.

I would also love to visit Zammer Lochputz which is nearby in Landeck and only costs 3.50 Euros. It has suspension bridges, mysterious caves and waterfalls. The visit including the multi-media show takes 1.5 hours.

Other Essentials

Read the log of someone else who has already been there. Makes me wish I was there now.