DESTINATIONS — SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA
Gateway to the Alps
Joanna Booth flies into Friedrichshafen and finds it’s easy to hop over to Austria and Switzerland
reach another isn’t something we’re necessarily used to. But when you’re heading to continental Europe, skipping from one country to another is easy – as I discovered when I flew to Friedrichshafen in Germany with British Airways and ticked off four countries in just three days. (That one of them was Liechtenstein and we only got out of the bus briefly doesn’t mean it didn’t count. Honest.) But ticking off multi-country
A
itineraries isn’t what most clients will be doing having flown into this German airport on the shores of Lake Constance. They’ll be heading to one of about 50 ski areas within easy reach – some German, others in Switzerland and Austria. Zurs, Lech, St Anton and Flims-Laax are about an hour and
s an island nation, the idea of flying to one country to
a half away, with Arosa, Davos and Ischgl about two. Stefan Liebenz of Bodensee Airport Friedrichshafen is keen to highlight the benefits of the airport over others nearby. “We’ve had no diversions for 10 years,” he says. “Planes can land here even if it’s foggy. They need just 20m vision because of the all weather landing system and anti-skid runway.” A new terminal opened in 2010,
allowing the airport to handle a million passengers a year. Up to 750 can be processed an hour, who can then cross the road to the bus and train terminals to continue their journey to the mountains. British Airways launched on the route last season, and this year the twice-
weekly services from Gatwick will run from December 12 till March 26, with one-way fares starting at £47. Flights leave Gatwick at 7.20am on Saturdays and 8.25am on Sundays, returning at 11.50am on Saturdays and 10.50am on Sundays. The flight time is two hours and 40 minutes. For clients who end up with time to spend in Friedrichshafen, the town is the home of the Zeppelin airship, and those with an interest can visit the Zeppelin Museum or even book a scenic Zeppelin flight. In winter, Friedrichshafen and other towns around Lake Constance host beautiful Christmas markets. We took the
catamaran to Konstanz’s huge market, sampling its extra-fortified glühwein and a range of cinnamon- scented cakes and pastries.
l ST ANTON Transfer time: 1 hr 35 mins Renowned for challenging skiing and lively après-ski, St Anton is growing in popularity with the Brits – for the first time last year, we overtook the Germans as the resort’s biggest foreign source market. Arlberg is one of Europe’s snowiest areas, and St Anton offers 210 miles of marked runs and another 125 miles of off-piste and challenging slopes, plus a snowboard fun park. The pretty village – think
beautifully maintained historic buildings housing swanky skiwear shops and an onion-domed church – has a pedestrianised centre, making access to the lifts easy,
2 July 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 69
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