The Hintertux glacier is one of Europe's largest year-round skiing operation and in winter is part of the Ziller valley pass that takes in Mayrhofen. The glacier is serviced by increasingly high-tech lifts including Glacier Bus 3 with 24 person cabins capable of uplifting 3000 skiers per hour from the bottom to the top of the glacier. There are five villages in the valley beneath the glacier, which is regarded by many as having the best summer skiing in the world and is one of the few centres open for snow spoprts 365 days per year. The largest is Lanersbach, where most of the facilities are based. The little village of Hintertux itself, at the head of the valley, has thermal springs. The lifts are directly at the huge day-visitors car-park. Apart from skiing there are motre than 250 km of hiking trails and Natursport Tirol offers active sports like paragliding, canyoning, flying fox and caving.
Mountain
There are nearly 230km (145 miles) of ski runs in the joined Tux and Finkenberg ski areas. - with about a third around Lanersbach and Vorderlanersbach and the remainder on the slopes and glacier at Hintertux. More than 20 lifts make short work of the queues, uplifting more than 30,000 skiers per hour. The resort is part of the Ski and Glacier World Zillertal 3000 lift linked pass with Finkenberg and Mayrhofen, although a bus journey is required through the Tux valley to make up the link to the glacier. Skiing from the door is a no-no but the resort is included in the Zillertal Super Pass which gives the skier a wonderland of nearly 640 kms (400 miles) of pistes. The management keeps the area beautifully groomed with its arsenal of snow canons and piste machines. Like most of Zillertal, Tux - Finkenberg is really a paradise for intermediates, with many kilometres of excellent, laid-back trails. However, there is a real shortage of nursery slopes, especially when snow is scarce and, for the expert, there is little to quicken the heart. Off-piste skiing can be good when there is a lot of new snow but the dangers of skiing off the beaten track on glaciers are very real - who wants to end their holiday falling down a crevasse? Local guides are available if you want to explore. The various ski schools at Tux - Finkenberg are excellent, teaching all standards of skiing and snow boarding.
Families
This is an excellent resort for families although the shortage of beginner slopes means that it might not always be the absolutely best choice when introducing newcomers to the white stuff. That said, once everyone is off and running, the whole family will be able to have a fantastic time skiing all over the mountains together. For three plus year olds, there is an excellent ski kindergarten and babies and toddlers from 1 -3 years can be looked after by the Guest Kindergarten.
Eating Out
Most of the accommodation is in hotels with guests tending to eat in their own hotel restaurants. Altogether Tux and neighbouring Finkenberg have more than 50 restaurants (most of them attached to hotels or guesthouses), all of them serving traditional Austrian cuisine.
Apres
The nightlife is based around the bars and pubs in the villages, with evenings much quieter than those at Mayrhofen down the valley. Usually people drop in for a quick drink as they come off the slopes and then head out again after they've had dinner in their hotel or chalet. Popular bars in Hintertux are the Batzenkeller, the Almhit, the Hohenhaus-Tenne and the Tux 1. The other villages, especially Lanersbach, have a very traditional Austrian flavour and much of the apres ski is in the many large hotels, with special Tyrolean entertainments put on for visitors.
Boarding
In the winter snowboarders will enjoy the big cruisey runs and the free riding, However, with little demanding terrain and the fairly quiet nightlife, boarders tend not to come to this area out of the summer months preferring instead to hang out in nearby Mayrhofen.
