Das Rivus

Lovely hotel in a gorgeous setting, nice modern room, we stayed in the most recent addition to the hotel which was in room 109. Lovely view of the mountain from our window. The most comfortable bed of our 2 week ski/touring holiday (not good when you really should be getting out of it to go skiing in the morning). Bedding a little odd, crinkly sheets which sort of looked like sack cloth! Great powerful shower, separate loo which is great when you are a couple wanting to get out skiing in the morning. The food was amazing in the evening, presented well, and very tasty, food is always good in the ski hotels in Austria but this was about the best we have had for a long time, compliments to the chef, (only the salad course was buffet style). Breakfast was buffet style and you could order freshly cooked eggs or omelettes. The staff were all so very lovely, really pleasant, professional and welcoming and worked hard and tirelessly to make sure they kept everyone happy. In particular 2 Hungarian waitresses, one called Patricia and the other (whose name I can not remember) but had the most wonderful, broadest English accent you could imagine, she had lived in various parts of England over 8 years and we actually thought she was English. Also a special thank you to Roland our waiter. The only down side was that there is only a small bar area which is part of the room with the breakfast/salad buffet and no real lounge area to sit in if you did not want to ski or had a partner who did not ski, also not many shops in this area to walk around or cafes etc, so mainly for the skier. No complimentary cakes at 3.30pm like most ski hotels although I assume this is because there is not much of a lounge or bar area for people to sit in. You can buy your lift passes at hotel reception, one day pass is around €76, half day €63 (until 12.30, but you can ski all the way down after that time or still download on the gondola at any time after 12.30). Gondola is open at 8am if you fancy doing the long blue or red back to the base (chair lifts on the mountain open at 9am). The hotel offers a free one day pass to go up on the gondola if not skiing, there are 2 bar/restaurants you can walk to from there. Nice spa area, both family and naked although the lovely outdoor swimming pool was with swim wear. Parking was outside, not undercover and around the building, there was indoor parking for a few cars but this was reserved for suite guests only. Although we could see the ski slopes I would not call this ski in and out hotel. The ski room with boot heaters did not have individual lockers and then to access the slopes you had to walk through the garage, out through the door, around the building and then onto the slope, so although only a short distance, a bit of a worry if it was icy. I can not understand why they could not have an easier access directly onto the snow path, directly in front of the hotel. (We have stayed in hotels where you clip your skis on at the door and then literally onto the slopes). There is another locker room which has better access to the slopes but this is for the apartments only and your key will not access this. The main ski area is up on a gondola near the hotel, beginner slopes are conveniently located right at the base, absolutely brilliant if learning or for children. Quite a large ski area, Leogang sort of being on the end, and you could ski right across the mountain through the other resorts and back. On a personal note, we were not keen on this because everyone was sort of skiing the same runs to get across and back and the runs were interconnecting with each other half way down them which made it feel a bit crowded, like you were skiing down a run and then 2 other runs would join you half way down on either side (if that sort of makes sense)! The hotel and the resort seams to be open all year around as the hill also has mountain biking on it and hiking. Although we were not keen on the mountain for the skiing we would definitely visit the hotel again when we are on one of our car touring holidays and would highly recommend.