Villas in Gastein Valley

Bad Hofgastein suits families and spa weeks, Bad Gastein suits keen skiers, and Dorfgastein is the quiet end nearest Salzburg. Most of our homes are apartments and chalets split almost evenly between the two big towns. The valley is a single road with a railway, so you can manage without a car, and Salzburg airport is about an hour and a quarter away.

Where

Villas: 90
From, per week: £306
Cheapest month: September
Nearest airports: Salzburg is closest: around an hour to Dorfgastein and an hour and a half to Bad Gastein. There are direct trains from Salzburg to Bad Gastein taking around an hour and a half. Munich is the alternative at around two and a half hours. Flights from London to Salzburg take around two hours.

Where to stay in Gastein Valley

Bad Gastein (upper valley)

Bad Gastein is where nearly half our Gastein homes are. The town climbs either side of a waterfall that drops through the centre, past the big Belle Époque hotels of its spa heyday. The Stubnerkogel gondola links over to the Angertal and Schlossalm, and the separate Graukogel is a smaller, quieter mountain. The Felsentherme has thermal pools cut into the rock. Salzburg airport is around an hour and a half away.

Best for: Skiers who want lifts from town and an old spa resort with character

Not for you if: You want flat streets: the town is built on a steep slope, with lots of steps and hairpin roads.

Bad Hofgastein (mid-valley)

Bad Hofgastein sits on the wide valley floor, which makes it easier with pushchairs and for less mobile guests. The Alpentherme is the valley's largest spa, with indoor and outdoor thermal pools. The Schlossalm gondola climbs from the edge of town into the same ski area as Bad Gastein, and the valley-floor cross-country tracks start nearby. Bad Gastein is around 10 minutes up the road, and Salzburg airport about an hour and a quarter.

Best for: Families and mixed groups who want flat walks and a big thermal spa

Not for you if: You want to walk out to the slopes from most homes: many are a bus ride from the Schlossalm lift.

Dorfgastein (valley entrance)

Dorfgastein is the first village you reach after the Klammstein gorge, and it has only a small share of our homes. Its lifts form a joint ski area with the Grossarltal next door, separate from the Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein slopes but on the same Ski amadé pass. In summer the Entrische Kirche show cave is just down the valley. Salzburg airport is around an hour away, the shortest transfer in Gastein.

Best for: Families on a budget and skiers happy with a smaller, linked area

Not for you if: You want evening choice: Dorfgastein is a village with a handful of restaurants and bars.

Böckstein and Sportgastein (above Bad Gastein)

Böckstein belongs to Bad Gastein and sits a few minutes above it. It has the Gasteiner Heilstollen, an old mining tunnel used for radon therapy, and the car-train terminal through the Tauern tunnel to Mallnitz in Carinthia. Above it, Sportgastein is the valley's highest ski area, topping out at around 2,700 metres, with open freeride terrain and a later season than the lower slopes. Ski buses run up from Bad Gastein.

Best for: Freeriders, snow-sure late-season skiing and the car train south

Not for you if: You want to stay up here: we have no homes at Sportgastein, so you stay in Bad Gastein and take the bus up.

When to go to Gastein Valley

The ski season usually runs from early December to around Easter, with Sportgastein often holding snow longest. Christmas, New Year and February half-term are the busiest and dearest weeks, and German school holidays fill the valley too. Summer runs from June to September, when the lifts and mountain huts open, and the side valleys inside the Hohe Tauern National Park are good for walking. The spas stay open all year, which makes the shoulder seasons more useful here than in most resorts, though many lifts close in May and November.