Tiroler Zugspitz Arena

The praise is for how the region is put together: one pass covers Ehrwald and the Ehrwalder Alm, Lermoos and the Grubigstein, Berwang with Bichlbach, Biberwier and the Zugspitze glacier, and a free ski bus in the guest card links the villages, so a car is optional. Reviewers like the wide gentle pistes, heated chairs, short queues, the Zugspitze views and prices well below the famous Tyrolean names.

The fragmentation draws criticism: the areas are not linked on skis, so every move means a bus ride and lost time. The terrain is overwhelmingly blue and red, black runs are scarce, and strong skiers exhaust it quickly. Lermoos fills up at weekends with day trippers from Munich, and there are accounts of badly prepared pistes there, alternately slushy and icy, and of a closed blue run nobody flagged at the ticket desk. The lower areas depend on snowmaking, and apres-ski is a quiet affair.