One night stay at pensions?

Hi all,

We are planning to go some weekends (in low season) to go to Austria
(probably Skiwelt) or to Suisse (engelberg). We leave at friday evening,
go to sleep in some F1 hotel), drive to the ski area on saturday morning
and ski the day.

How difficult is it to find a sleeping place for 1 night? You see
sometimes pensions with those green and red beds, can you just walk in
and ask for a place to sleep (and pay ofc. ). How much does this cost
aprrox.? Anyone who got some experience in these ultra short trips? We
try to make these trips as cheap as possible.

We ski on sunday and we'll be driving back on sunday evening.

Thanks for any advice!
TK

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:50:28 GMT, The_Kit
wrote:


Hi all,

We are planning to go some weekends (in low season) to go to Austria
(probably Skiwelt) or to Suisse (engelberg). We leave at friday evening,
go to sleep in some F1 hotel), drive to the ski area on saturday morning
and ski the day.

How difficult is it to find a sleeping place for 1 night? You see
sometimes pensions with those green and red beds, can you just walk in
and ask for a place to sleep (and pay ofc. ). How much does this cost
aprrox.? Anyone who got some experience in these ultra short trips? We
try to make these trips as cheap as possible.

We'v often spent one or two nights in Swiss resorts, but only once in
Austria, so I'm not sure certain how 'transferrable' our experiences
are. That said, I think it's quite simialar.

So, yes, in Swiss resorts it's usually not a problem to find somewhere
for a single night, or two or three, even at a weekend. Prices vary,
of course, but are often considerably lower than they might be in
France. There are various classes of accomodation, ranging from youth
hostel type stuff (v. cheap, I'm told, but never tried them) through
Hotels "Garni" (aka pensions), which are generally nice enough small
hotel rooms with breakfast but no evening meals available, then up to
one, two stars and upwards.

You've not given an idea of your budget, but I can give you ideas
about a couple of cheapish places I know in Engelberg - one of them's
a small pension about 100m from the village centre, called (if you can
pronounce it) the Chuchichäschtli - prices from CHF55 per head. Some
rooms have shower cubicles installed, some are shared facilities down
the hall. Perfectly nice, with a restaurant downstairs and half-board
available at 20 francs (well worth it, as it'll usually cost twice
this to eat out).

Another one we've used is the Hotel Bellevue, a huge and impressive,
but somewhat down-at-heal, 2* hotel oppposite the railway station. Its
main usage these days seems to be for visiting students. Rooms are
large and clean, and vary in price but can be as low as chf55 per
person without en-suite.

As for turning up and finding somewhere - well yes, it can be done,
but I tend to book at least a couple of days in advance, particularly
at busy periods. Central booking systems are best avoided, just find
the hotels in a list (e.g.
http://www.engelberg.ch/en/Schlafen_...king/index.php
and call them. Even if you speak no German they'll generally speak
enough English to confirm a booking.

The key point is that these places, and Swiss hotels in general, are
perfectly well set up for weekend-only stays and odd nights at any
other time, so there should never be any question of them saying
"sorry we only take Sat-Sat bookings" like is so often the case in
France.

HTH
--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

In article ,
The_Kit wrote:
We are planning to go some weekends (in low season) to go to Austria
This is a plus to your advantage ^
(probably Skiwelt) or to Suisse (engelberg). We leave at friday evening,
go to sleep in some F1 hotel), drive to the ski area on saturday morning
and ski the day.

How difficult is it to find a sleeping place for 1 night? You see
sometimes pensions with those green and red beds, can you just walk in
and ask for a place to sleep (and pay ofc. ). How much does this cost
aprrox.? Anyone who got some experience in these ultra short trips? We
try to make these trips as cheap as possible.

It shouldn't be too hard.

In the Swiss case, pretty much every city and town has a web site which
will help you so put engelberg.ch into a browser window and look for
housing options. And towns typically have a green board with this kind
of current stuff. The big problem is when in low season as well as
where. And similar kinds of things can happen in the Austrian case
(I've a little less experience there). It's wonderful having some of
these places to themselves.

Also consider hostels.

--

Ace schreef:

The key point is that these places, and Swiss hotels in general, are
perfectly well set up for weekend-only stays and odd nights at any
other time, so there should never be any question of them saying
"sorry we only take Sat-Sat bookings" like is so often the case in
France.


Thanks for your long reply, appreciated! :-)

Found a youth hostel in Engelberg, gonna try that one first, soon.

Eugene Miya schreef:

Also consider hostels.


Yes, found one in Engelberg, definately gonna try that one!

Thx for your reply!