Cream Coloured Ponies and Crisp Apple Strudels. Hanging at the Sport Vital Hotel Central….

… A great hotel, with a name that would not usually have me hitting the ‘book now’ tab – the words “sport” and “vital” not being synonymous with “Jacqui”.

Cupped by the imposing mountain range and resting in the incredibly picturesque (Sound of Music postcard perfect) Tyrolean Zillertal Valley, India’s favouritist hotel in the whole world ever since last time we visited (gosh the kids were so cute back then!) doesn’t scream amazing comfort and indulgence when you look at it either,

but it is.

Staying at the Sport Vital Hotel Central in Lannersbach is like being cared for in someone’s most luxurious, alpine home.

It is friendly, warm and welcoming, and the gentlemanly owner makes a round of the diners every evening to greet them and ask them about their adventures of the day. Of course it helps if you can speak Austrian with him, but the smiles and the sentiment are all there and it’s personal touches like that, that make me want to keep coming back.

Half-board, full-board, these are terms that a lot of Australian travellers may not be familiar with, and they are not even that common in Europe, but full-board at the Sport Vital is all snuggly pampering laced with a teeny bit of self congratulation as you are served plate after plate of delicious (and mostly healthy) food, interspersed with saunas, swims in the indoor pool, and jaunts up the impressive mountains to the glacier.

Day one heading up the mountain

Two snowboarders…

Belle had never tried it.

Evan had once, years ago, and now he had his broken arm with him.

not that his face meant he was cranky about anything. That’s just pensive-teenager-face.

We were given a ride in a big snow cat to take us to the kiddies slope. In a ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ scene, we were totally spoilt with the service, even if it was a little embarrassing.