Hello lovelies, I'm so happy to tell you about our extended ski weekend in Austria, which we spent on the first weekend of January. We'd wanted to go skiing with the girls for a while, so we gladly accepted the invitation from the Zillertal region* and had a wonderful time, complete with slope fun, lots of surprises, and firsts.
ZILLERTAL — that's the 4 holiday regions: "Fügen-Kaltenbach," "Zell-Gerlos," "Mayrhofen-Hippach," and "Tux-Finkenberg," plus of course the Zillertal Alps all the way to the Hintertux Glacier. In both summer and winter, the region is very attractive, especially for families. We got to spend 3 nights at the Hotel "Neue Post" in Mayrhofen — you can find a detailed report on that here.
GETTING THERE: We traveled very comfortably by car via Innsbruck, and after a short break we were in Mayrhofen in barely 4 hours. There's a train connection from Zurich to Jenbach (you have to change once in Innsbruck); this train ride also takes barely 4 hours. From there you reach your accommodation with the Zillertalbahn or a shuttle. Once in Mayrhofen, we of course first explored our lovely accommodation and then strolled a bit through the village. There are some nice shops, restaurants, and cafés, so it doesn't get boring off the slopes either. In bad weather the adventure pool offers some variety.
On Sunday, after a delicious breakfast, our first ski day was on. The ski bus departed right in front of our hotel, and that every 10 minutes — already very practical. There are various routes, depending on which ski area you want to go to. We took the one to the Penkenbahn, because the girls had a 2-day ski course there. At the valley station we could pick up our ski pass. The Zillertal Superskipass is an all-in-one ticket for the whole Zillertal, which I find really great. That way you can try a different ski area every day as the mood takes you, without paying extra — so boredom is surely never an issue, especially not with 515 km of groomed slopes in total. At the valley station you can rent complete ski equipment from Intersport Bründl. If you're smart (like us :-)), though, it's even better to do that up on the mountain, because then you save yourself further lugging — clearly an advantage with kids. 
The modern, large gondolas of the Penkenbahn then take you up to the Penkenjoch, or the mountain station, in barely 10 minutes. Waiting time here too: none — again a big plus, which isn't necessarily the norm in ski areas.
At Intersport Bründl at the mountain station we could then rent our equipment, all very fast, professionally competent, and uncomplicated. At the computer terminals you enter your details, then you get boots and the skis/snowboard are adjusted accordingly. Should you have problems during the day or want to test a different ski after all, you're welcome to do so. The staff were super friendly and we all quickly had the right skis (Papa Frei had brought his own snowboard).
I should add that for us as a family it was really a ski premiere. The girls stood on skis for the very first time, and even Papa Frei and I had actually never been on the ski slopes together before (and yes, we live in Switzerland). All the greater was everyone's anticipation. For Lilly and Emily the ski course at the Skischule Habeler soon began. We were welcomed super warmly by Chris, the owner, and got all the necessary info, and the girls got to meet their ski instructor Luca — after that they were off right away. After a short introduction and getting familiar with the equipment, they headed straight for the practice slope with the magic carpet, which lies right behind the mountain station.
During that time we enjoyed our freedom and "threw ourselves" onto the slopes. It was a great feeling to be back on skis/snowboard after quite a while, and luckily it went astonishingly well too. It really is like riding a bike — you don't forget how. The ski area offers all kinds of slopes from blue to black, and here too you have to say that the infrastructure is simply top-notch. Thanks to 4- and 6-seater chairlifts you hardly have to wait at all, and even though it was peak season, the people spread out very well across the ski area, so it wasn't crowded. After 2 hours we got to pick up the children again and were very surprised at their quick progress. The two of them actually came down the little slope on their own already — surely good ski genes :-) and/or a wonderful instructor, and they had a lot of fun with her too.
The two hours were already tiring for everyone and made us hungry. We brought our equipment to the ski depot at the mountain station — and we were really incredibly thrilled about that. You have the option to rent a large locker for several days at Intersport Bründl, in which you can store your complete equipment. No lugging down the mountain — that was definitely "invented" by someone with kids :-). We'd stored our shoes there too, so we could change and go to eat in our shoes, which is more pleasant than in ski boots.
On repeated recommendation we chose the Gschösswandhaus on both days; it lies about 5–10 minutes' walk behind the children's area and is easy to reach on foot. Especially great is the view, an unobstructed outlook onto the Zillertal Alps and Mayrhofen's local mountain, the Ahorn. The food is very delicious too; there's a special children's menu, and my special requests for vegan cuisine were very happily accommodated. You get the classics like Kaiserschmarrn, Wiener schnitzel, and Germknödel, but also delicious salads and soups. We can definitely recommend it.
That was our first ski day, and we then took the Penkenbahn back down to the valley and let the lovely day wind down in the pool of our Hotel "Neue Post," before we were treated to a 4-course dinner. After such an exciting day and especially all the fresh mountain air, everyone slept very well.
Our second day looked very similar; the children again had a ski course with Luca from the Skischule Habeler, and we decided to explore the other side of the ski area. Papa Frei especially wanted to go to the Penken Park. A fun park with 8 different areas and its own 4-seater chairlift. And I have to say, I wasn't disappointed and got my own show. Even if you don't want to jump the kicker yourself, it's definitely lots of fun to watch the others perform their tricks.
Very nearby is the Schneekarhütte, which was warmly recommended to me. But since it's hard to reach with children, we decided once more on a meal at the Gschösswandhaus on the second day.
The children mastered the second day of ski course wonderfully, also thanks to their wonderful instructor, and proudly showed off their skills — I found it especially impressive that on the second day they were already riding the surface lift on their own. Of course they also had to show us how they ski down the mountain by themselves, and with turns at that!
We had incredible luck and the most wonderful sunshine — our ski weekend in the Zillertal couldn't have ended better. All in all it was a complete success, and we were very pleasantly surprised by the great infrastructure: the ski bus, the rental service at the mountain station, the ski depot, the ski school, the gondolas/lifts with no waiting time, and above all by the warmth of the people. You can simply tell that many businesses, restaurants, and hotels are run by families who put their whole heart into it, and you feel that too.
You can find the detailed report on our Hotel "Neue Post" with its warm owner family Pfister, and why I even got to look behind the scenes of the hotel kitchen, here. We're very glad and grateful for the wonderful days we got to experience in Mayrhofen and on the Penken, and this surely won't have been our last time in the Zillertal.
And because it was so lovely, here are a few more impressions: 
Love, the Freis
**Disclaimer: We were invited by the Zillertal region to spend 3 days there, but the blog post reflects our own opinion. *
