Lipno

The praise is for one of the best family options in Czechia: gentle blue runs, chairlifts only and no queues at all on weekdays. Reviewers note that snowmaking covers almost the whole area, so a poor winter does not ruin the trip, and that lift passes, food and lodging run at roughly half the Austrian level. Free parking gets a mention, as does the long skating track cleared on the frozen reservoir between Lipno nad Vltavou and Frymburk.

Criticism goes first to the slow chairlifts, and to weekends and holidays: visitors who arrive at opening time describe spending more of the late morning in line than on snow. Many call the day pass steep for an area this size, and on-slope cafe prices draw the same complaint. Confident skiers find the blues too flat - into a headwind you end up poling - while the opposite side ices up by late afternoon. Reviews of the apartments often mention thin walls.