Nassfeld – skiing where the sun shines

As the winter is slowly but steady approaching, I decided to tell you about the ski resort I’ve been to last winter.

This resort is located in the south of Austria, in the Austrian Alps, the region is called Carinthia and one of the closest towns to the ski resort is Hermagor. Moreover, Nassfeld is quite close to the border with Italy, the town Villach is approximately 50 kilometres east and its close to the border with Slovenia.

Nassfeld Ski Arena map

Nassfeld offers 110 kilometres of slopes, 39 pistes and 30 cables. It is quite a big resort and some of its slopes cross the border with Italy. Due to its location directly at the border with Italy, there is quite an Italian influence in the area, like cuisine.

The cable car which takes skiers to the top leaves from Tropolach, which is at an altitude of 610 m. Taking the cable car, you will arrive at a hight of 1919 m and the top of the mountain is called Skiplatz Madritsche. There is a shop, from where you can buy helmets of buffs and you can rent skis or snowboards from there, as well. Moreover, near the shop, you can find a restaurant, which has a beautiful terrace from where you can admire the breathtaking panorama.

Panorama from the top

From where the cable car leaves you, there are lots of pistes you can take. Most of them are red, but you can find blue ones as well. The pistes are different lengths and difficulties, but you will surely find some you’ll like.

One of the best things about Nassfeld Ski Arena in Hermagor is that it’s really sunny. We stayed there for a week and 5 out of 7 days it was sunny. It’s a pleasure to ski when the sun is up or to chill and drink a hot wine at one of the restaurants or cafes.

View from the top

Of course, this ski resort is not perfect and it has its perks. One of the things I didn’t like is that the slopes are quite crowded (we went there for the New Year’s) on the slopes, at the lines to take a cable car and at the lines to buy a ski pass. If you don’t arrive early in the morning, around 9, then you’ll have to wait in so many places. And sometimes it’s quite annoying because you get tired before you have the chance to ski!

Apart from that, there is another inconvenient about this ski resort. If you don’t want to take the cable car from the top to the parking in the afternoon and you want to ski all the way down, then you have to change 3 cable cars and go down 4 slopes. There’s no direct way down and it’s really tiring to change 3 cable cars.

The cable cars are all modern and they are working really well, I don’t have anything bad to say about that. Moreover, the snow has a really good quality and they always maintain the pistes.

If you go in that area, then you have many other things to do apart skiing. For example, one day we took a trip to Lienz, a beautiful medieval town located 71 kilometres from Nassfeld. It’s a nice place to spend the day or the afternoon in the centre of the town. Moreover, we also took a trip to Villach, which is 67 kilometres from the ski resort.

All in all, the Carinthia region and the Nassfeld Ski Arena is a beautiful place to spend a week or to spend the Christmas or the New Year’s Eve. As it’s one of the top 10 ski resorts in Austria and as it’s a really nice place, which I liked, I would recommend everyone to go there.