Winter road trip. First stop: Leogang, Austria

Hey! So the other day I got back from an amazing trip to the mountains with my mom and I can’t wait to tell and show you all about it in two blog post. Starting with this one!
Our first stop of the trip was to my all-time favorite place: Leogang, Austria. The first time I went here was last year (summer 2018) and since then I’ve been back two more times during summer and autumn so this time I was super excited to finally experience my favorite place during winter!

Before I start with where we stayed and what activities we did on this trip I like to point out that for this trip Mazda Netherlands kindly let me drive their CX-5. This car proved to be perfect for our winter holiday to the mountains since it easily fit all our stuff. I didn’t even have any trouble fitting my snow gear and snowboard in the car. Another big plus of the CX-5 was how save I felt driving it. Driving for 8/9 hours can be quite a challenge with staying focused and I love how the car helped with some of that. The blind spot detection and the stay in lane assist which gives a small pulse when you unintentionally cross the lane line are just a couple of the function this car has which made me feel safe and confident to drive for all of those hours. And the 4 wheel drive made driving up snowy hills feel like a breeze!

Where we stayed

We stayed at Holzhotel Forsthofalm |Gifted stay| which is situated on a hill (1050 meter) right on the slopes of Skicircus Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Leogang, Fiberbrunn. It’s a ski in/ski out hotel so the slopes go literally until the front door with a lift just a couple of meters away. The hotel is made with natural materials like wood and stone from the region and I love the bio and organic approach we saw throughout the hotel like the amazing organic regional food with lots of vegan options!

One of my fav places to hang was the SPA with an outdoor pool overlooking the slopes and the relax area overlooking the amazing Leogang Steinbergen. The best spot to relax and wind down after an active day outdoors.
The hotel has a weekly program with hikes, yoga & fitness classes and more that you can join. I really wish I had time to join a yoga class which must have been so good with the amazing mountain view!!

What we did

Snowboarding/Skiing

One of the reasons I was here was to go snowboarding and what better place to do it when you have the lift right outside your door. The chairlift at the hotel takes you right to the ski area(Skicircus Saalback, Hintergelmm, Leogang, Fieberbrunn) with a slope going down to the hotel again or you can take the gondola all the way to the top and have the whole of the skicircus with 270 kilometers of slopes to explore!

Stoissengrabben

I’ve been on this little hike before but only during Summer/Autumn. Normally you can walk to a waterfall but because there was snow we decided not to go all the way there. It’s still a pretty nice walk though without the waterfall, walking through a canyon. There were lots of icicles on the rock walls which looked so magical!

Riedlalm

Also a hike I had done before and really liked so had to do it again. It’s a hike to a little alm on a hill side with a view of Leogang below. When I hiked here in October 2018 it was so warm and while walking I was dreaming of an ice cold coke when I arrived to the top. Little did I know the alm had just closed for the season. I was so disappointed BUT then I saw this mini refrigerator with cold drinks in it and a tin to put money in so I could have my cold coke after all and since no one was there I drank it sitting in the grass with the warm sun on my skin and hearing the cow bells in the distance. It was the perfect afternoon!
This time I was looking forward doing just the same. It was such a lovely day with it feeling like spring with the sun blazing down on us. The snow by this time had already gone melting a lot in the warm sun and I could sit in the exact same spot on the grassy hill. Always good to relive some memories.