Verdict: VAYA Kühtai Hotel is a superb choice of hotel for skiing in Kühtai, justifying it’s price. Amenities such as comfortable room, free spa and wide range of breakfast options made a week’s stay relaxing when not on the slopes.
Is the VAYA Kühtai Hotel worth staying at for the price? Here’s an overview of the hotel, skiing and local amenities after our week’s stay.
Skiing
The ski-in-ski-out facility is fantastic and a huge time saver. The hotel is located up a very steep hill, so beginners like myself had to careful trudge up and down this to reach the beginners slopes. Everyone else however can use the ski-in-ski-out directly from the locker room located on the basement floor. Ski passes are available at reception.
Locker room
The lockers can fit at least two people’s ski equipment and are operated using your hotel room keycard. The lockers are also heated so your belongings dry quicker which was much appreciated (there’s also a heated towel rail in the room). Toilets are available in the locker room (it’s just one large locker room so it’s not separated by gender).
Ski Hire
There are several ski hire shops available nearby. We went to the closest one to the hotel, Sport Seppl Kühtai. We rented skis, a helmet and boots which were all in great condition. The fitting service was great and there was no problem switching boots after my first day of skiing either.
Ski Schools
We had two adult beginner skiers in our group, with only a couple of hours practice at the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead. There are four ski schools available in Kühtai. We opted for Ski school Kühtai which I can recommend. We did two hour lessons on the beginner slope and our instructor was brilliant. It was a private lesson so it was just two of us being taught, compared to a big group at the Snow Centre where we had to wait our turn a lot and found it difficult to gain momentum.
Tobogganing
I had an embarrassing fall on my second day of skiing and didn’t have the confidence to start again. So I went Tobogganing three times instead. It was incredibly fun and can recommend the experience. One huge negative is the 40 minute hike up the mountain to reach the top.
You can arrange a taxi pick up from hotel reception to take you to the top. Unfortunately, I can’t exactly remember how much it cost for five of us in a minivan, I want to say around €30 (this didn’t include a return to the hotel so we had around a 20 minute walk back to the hotel after tobogganing).
Spa
The spa is free to use and is a brilliant way to relax after a tough day skiing, although it’s important to note the spa closes at 6pm which we would have like to stay open for longer. The pool is open till 9pm however and does have a sauna and loungers if you still want somewhere to relax in the evenings.
The spa has several rooms available including a bio-sauna, Finnish sauna, salt cave, infrared cabin and foot basin.
There were a couple of instances where fellow guests told our party that the spa had a no clothes policy and that we should remove our clothes. We didn’t. So just prepare yourselves for this confrontation to happen.
Bar/Restaurant/Local Amenities
Breakfast
The breakfast buffet was plentiful and varied. Everything from cooked breakfast like sausages and eggs to fruit and yoghurts to cereal, bread and pastries. We also appreciated the availability of lactose free, gluten free and vegetarian options.
Lunch
The restaurant at lunch was quiet (last orders are at 4.30pm) with a decent menu of around ten dishes from soups to burgers to pastas. There are terrific views from the restaurant too.
Dinner
We didn’t have dinner at the hotel as we thought it was quite expensive. Another thing we disliked about the restaurant/bar is the lack of a food or snack menu. We didn’t want a proper sit down meal or buffet, just a plate of chips for example. This meant we had to plan ahead or buy snacks from the local shop (there are no vending machines in the hotel). There aren’t a lot of places locally that are open late night for a take away or a snack to eat either. Unsurprisingly, there is no Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats available in the area.
We did find Pizzeria da Bruno, which is a short walk from the VAYA hotel, who sold toasties (the perfect night time snack) late at night. We also recommend their pizza which we had during the day time.
We can also highly recommend Kühtaier Dorfstadl as we ate there five times during our stay. The food, service and views are terrific. You can also ski-in-and-out from the deck.
There are several around ten restaurants within walking distance of the hotel, but we didn’t dine at any of them so I can’t comment on the food. We did try to walk in to Kühtaier Alm, but it was pretty busy so it may be worth reserving a table ahead of time (we were a large party of ten to be fair).
Panorama Bar And Sun Terrace
There is a sun terrace (open from 11am) which I recommend visiting. It’s a great place to relax and watch the skiers pass by.
Hotel Room
We stayed in a Superior room which was very comfortable and pleasant to stay in. The furnishings were in line with the price paid I felt. We didn’t really make use of our balcony since it was too cold to sit out.
We had a room that faced the car park. Sometimes the noise would wake us up early so it could be worth requesting a room that faces elsewhere like the slope. There are only two negatives of the room I would highlight – the glass window bathroom (the middle was frosted of course) and the temperature which had to be set at reception (the room dial did nothing).
Other Local Amenaties
There was only one ‘supermarket’ type shop I could find which was only a five minute walk from the hotel, Kühtai Shop Staudacher. You can purchase your water and snacks from here, as well as gifts and some medicine for aches and pains skiing.
There’s also a bus stop nearby that can take you Innsbruck city centre (bus number 4166). There isn’t a ton of things to see and do, but makes a decent day trip for those like me who didn’t want to ski. I bought my ticket on the vvt.at website.
There is also the option of visiting a James Bond exhibition in Solden. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t make the times work via public transport (which is around 2-2.5 hours one way), but you could take a taxi I guess.
How To Get To VAYA Kühtai Hotel From Innsbruck Airport
We organised a taxi with the hotel. The journey is only around 40 minutes and cost around €180 for four us in a minivan. The journey is picturesque.
Where to book
Official website: https://www.vayaresorts.com/en/hotel/vaya-kuehtai/
