Achensee - Maurach

Ease of access is the first thing people mention: the cable car leaves from the middle of the village and reaches the Rofan ridge in a few minutes. The resort is rated as a fine place to put a child or an adult novice on skis, with a nursery area, a children's club built around its own mascot and almost no crowds. Up top, the mountain huts serving Tyrolean food and the panorama over Lake Achensee win warm words.

Modest size and patchy organisation are the downsides. The skiing is short and almost entirely intermediate, so a competent skier exhausts it in a day. The nursery carpet has to be reached on foot, which is awkward with a toddler, and the chairlift is sometimes left idle when visitor numbers are low. Many find the cable car fare steep next to other Alpine lifts, and the AirRofan skyglider is repeatedly called poor value: a long queue for a flight that is over in moments.