The prize is not bad, if we do say so ourselves. A 10-night tour of Austria with flights, accommodation and activities in every region for the In Pursuit of Austria Competition winner and a lucky companion of their choice. Just imagine: You start your journey with a luscious spa treatment and a glass of sparkling wine on the roof terrace of your Bregenzerwald hotel, move on to Montafon and master a 3000m mountain, bake a “Brandteigtorte” in the Alpbach Valley to impress friends back home, discover breathtaking landscapes and spend the night in a traditional alpine hut  with your Eagle’s Walk guide in Tirol, have a cooking lession with one of Austria’s top chefs on the top of a Zillertal mountain, then complete your trip from a different angle by paraglider or hot air balloon in Innsbruck!

With such a fantastic prize at stake we have been keeping competition entrants preoccupied with weekly taster breaks and an Austrian Treasure Trail in London. The first week saw participants entered into an additional prize draw for a 2-night trip to Salzburg, including a guided “Walk of Modern Art” through the city. This inspired us to leave a mark of Austrian culture and the finer things of life on London’s famous sights with a giant Mozartkugel Measuring Tape – fully functional and, of course, edible! Someone who got to know all about Austrian indulgence was Jenny, winner of our epic Year’s Supply of Chocolate prize draw amongst those of you who joined us for afterwork drinks at the Kipferl restaurant in Angel.

Week two we showed Londoners that delicious cuisine is enjoyed best against a refined natural backdrop with an Austrian picnic in the park and live string duo to accompany. Even the British weather was on our side and we were amazed by the turnout. Thanks to all those who waited in line  for their Austrian lunch box, but we are sure those Schnitzel sandwiches were worth the wait! The giveaway of the week was a trip to Vorarlberg’s Lake Constance region for a Bregenz Festival performance and chauffeur-driven journey in a Rolls-Royce, a wonderful taster of what lies in store for the final week.

Marking the last stretch of the In Pursuit of Austria Competition, we would like to invite you on an In Pursuit Bike Tour of London, taking place on Thursday 29th March 2012. After a long day in the office you might want to stretch your legs Austrian style – by pushing the pedals. Enjoy the fresh air and see the city from a different perspective as you cruise it by night, but not by yourself or on an empty stomache! Bring a friend to experience Austrian hospitality and we’ll provide the food and drinks to enjoy on board. To be in with a chance of winning this unique tour of London, make sure you stop for our “In Pursuit Team” that will be biking around the city throughout the day.

Remember to get your In Pursuit entry in by 4th April 2012 to win the 10-night tour of Austria for two! Enter Here

Rob Rees is on a tour through Austria. Discover with him Austria’s hidden gems. After some days in Schladming he is on his way to the Zugspitz Arena in Tirol.

“Our fourth Austrian ski area and fourth Austrian province in just over a week was the Zugspitz Arena where we stayed at the Sporthotel Loisach in Lermoos.

The hotel is a friendly ‘home from home’ run by the Rieder family. The 79 year old father Josl Rieder was World Slalom Champion in 1958 and the hotel’s bar areas are crammed with his many national & international trophies (as well as a signed, framed photograph for his daughter-in-law Hillo from Lady Di). Josl also won races in Kitzbuehel and Wengen and lit the Olympic flame at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games so he was the ‘Klammer’ of his day. We skied with him for a few runs on Grubigstein and he clearly still has the magic! If he was a champion with the old planks – Kaestle were his weapons of choice way back then- he has no problems with today’s carvers.

Lermoos coincidentally produced a string of 1960s ski champions like Walter Schuster & Berni Rauter and even today, nearby Bichlbach is the home of current Austrian darling Nicole Hosp. There’s clearly something in the water around here. You’ll also not go hungry at the Sporthotel Loisach either. A legendary breakfast selection, excellent evening cuisine and the most knowledgeable Belgian wine man Luc to walk you through a wide range of Austria’s high quality wines. Many guests particularly English, Irish and Dutch, return year after year and relax into the calm pace of life and endless quality food. One couple from Cheshire were on their 20th year!

If you can tear yourself away from the breakfast buffet, the best skiing is on the Grubigstein above Lermoos, affording majestic views  of the Mieminger mountains and the Wetterstein range and the 2962m Zugspitze. Initial impressions of the Zugspitz Arena is of a really traditional group of villages, framed by some incredible mountains and 7 distinct ‘old style’ ski hills on the same pass. There’s plenty of tree skiing on blues and reds for the intermediates; enough blacks, ski routes and ‘free ride’ if you need something more testing. A total of 149km of pistes in the Arena (only 13km are black/ski routes) but if you have the ‘Top Snow card’, you can also nip over to nearby Germany and ski in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald. The area is worth a long weekend at least. And it is less than 2hrs transfer from Munich or Memmingen airports but it can get crowded out by the Southern Germans.

To round the trip off, we took the single gondola to the summit of the Zugspitze from Ehrwald on Wednesday morning. The views, looking over the Hohe Munde and down towards the Inn valley, were simply breathtaking. We hopped back and forth between Bavaria and Tirol on the summit, enjoying the excellent cafe and gazing agog at the entire Eastern Alps. You can also ski on Zugspitze on the Zugspitzplatt but you first need to take a gondola down from the summit. A bit convoluted with 5 drag lifts and one chair lift… but you’ve got to be able to say you’ve skied it!

Finally, our last two hours skiing awaited us on the Ehwalder Alm, a dozen fun reds and blues on the Gaistal flanks of the Zugspitze. A relaxed way to finish the trip and after one last snack(!) at the Hotel Loisach, we packed the car and headed for the autobahns, the Rhein valley, the Polders and eventually Calais.

It has been quite an incredible week and a bit. Four Austrian provinces, four great resorts, variable and sometimes severe weather and plenty of new discoveries. Austria for me is the only place in the world to ski. Rich culture, diverse ski areas, a real, genuine personal welcome and total pride and excellence in everything to do with their national winter sport.

I now know Austria that much better but it makes me want to get to know it even better still. The ‘hidden gems’ list for next season is already taking shape!  

…..Deferregental, Heiligenblut, Pillerseetal, Hinterstoder, Kleinerwalsertal, the bits of Ski Amade left untracked this time… and so on.”

Rob Rees is on a tour through Austria. Discover with him Austria’s hidden gems.

“We are five days into the Grand Tour of Austria’s lesser known ski resorts, having just left St. Johann / Alpendorf en route for the Dachstein area.

We started the Tour in the village of Au in the Bregenzerwald in Vorarlberg. The area is magical, totally unspoilt and so accessible from the Southern German motorways and the main Vorarlberg town of Dornbirn. Friedrichshafen and Memmingen airports are both within an hour making it a perfect short break destination. We were lucky to stay at the Hotel Roessle in Au. It’s a 300 year old building, tastefully renovated and run with such passion and care by the Simma family. Good food, attentive service and a simple spa and sauna area.

Snow kept coming but we managed to get up to Damuels for 2 hours deep snow to reacquaint ourselves with our skis and trusted equipment on the first day. ‘Warm-up Day’; well that’s what we convinced ourselves as the afternoon refreshments slipped down easily. How good that Austrian beer always tastes!

Bregenzerwald is a real find. Totally authentic; mostly dairy farms and wooden buildings. 22 villages scattered along the main road so you never feel like you are in a developed or commercialised ski resort. Skiing co-exists with real life. The ambience is excellent; the Mountain cheese is abundant and it is the home of 17 cheese producers and a Cheesemakers academy. There’s also plenty of good intermediate skiing split over three big mountain ranges; Warth-Schrocken, Damuels-Mellau and Au’s Diedamskopf. 200km in total giving plenty of runs, even for the most dedicated piste basher. They are all covered by the Three Valleys or 3 Taeler lift pass www.3taeler.com .

Day two provided us with the ‘day of all days’. After a morning skiing the delightful Diedamskopf by Au, the snow just kept coming. A 4 hour car journey from the Roessle to our next stop -Alpendorf near St Johann in Pongau- took seven hours. In hindsight, a very wise decision to abandon our skiiing on the Diedamskopf and head for the roads early. It is easy for Brits to misjudge the conditions and easier to fail to see that huge quantities of snow can even fox the super-efficient Austrians. We’re so used to just travelling around Austria effortlessly most ski seasons on pristine roads.

A memorable car journey began; through the Alberg tunnel and along the Inn valley with famous name ski resorts flashing by us every twenty minutes on the clear motorway – Monatafon, St Anton, Ischgl, Galtur, Alpbach, Seefeld, Zillertal. We headed off onto side roads at Woergl tracking through the ‘Ski Welt Wilder Kaiser’ resorts of Soll & Ellmau. No worries about the lack of snow here! We crawled behind snowploughs, tail to tail, via Fieberbrunn and Leogang until we hit Saalfelden. Unsurprisingly the pass near the Hoechkoenig at Hinterthal was closed so we diverted via Zell am See, to take the long way round. Massive tree slides at Taxenbach reduced traffic to single file but the Austrian Army were on hand to chop it up and clean it all away.

Suffice to say a good night’s sleep was had at the Pension Palfengut high above Alpendorf, when we finally reached our destination.

To discover the Salzburger Sportwelt, it would probably have been better to be based in Flachau or Wagrain. You will be more central and these villages provide easier access to a broader range of slopes. It’s also simpler to build Kleinarl, Flachauwinkl and Zauchensee into a day’s tour. With Alpendorf as our base, we had to rush to get back home at night via the rather convoluted, ageing Gernkogel chair lifts. However, there are still some superb red runs from the top of the Grafenberg which flatter even the most ‘out of practice’ skiers. The Grafenberg is serviced by a fast new gondola from Wagrain….but it is better to use the continual bus link from this Wagrain base station to the ‘Flying Mozart’ gondola to get to the Flachau ski area www.flachau.at

Flachau’s Griessenkareck has some long wooded red runs that fan out in various directions from the summit and you’ll have a smile on your face all day. The ‘must do’s’ are the Hermann Maier World Cup run down to the centre of Flachau, the long red to the bottom of the ‘Rote 8′ gondola and the red to the bottom of the ‘Flying Mozart’ lift. The conditions could not have been better. Perfectly groomed pistes, 1 degree temperature, some beautiful huts and long uncrowded descents.”

Last week it was once again time for the Austrian National Tourist Office to bring the corporate jackets out from the back of the wardrobe, pile the latest brochures and promotional material into the back of a truck, and assemble the finest Austrian partners and sponsors for the annual World Travel Market at ExCel London. The leading global event for the travel industry, this 4-day event is a must for all international tourist boards to present their destination. Having missed out on the previous year (no, I didn’t do a runner following several comments on what a long week it would be, I had generally already booked the holiday!), I was not sure what to expect from this much talked about event.

First and foremost it was the dimensions that surprised me, from the crowds of people pushing their way down the platform at the DLR stop, to the sheer size of the Austria stand which encompassed a main desk and platforms for 28 partners, encircling a Viennese-style café. And then there was the buzz, the galore of decorated stands from all over the world, and the chance to hold an Abu Dhabi falcon followed by a bite-size Thai delicacy. All of this put into perspective the breadth of the industry that we work in and the enthusiasm those involved can evoke.

All the more wonderful to have a bustling Austria stand and that pick-me-up kind of visitor who never failed to grace the desk just as the legs were starting to get tired, telling you how fabulous their tour of the “Hoff Burk” had been. “I’m sorry, Hoff Burk?” Awkward silence. “Yes, you know that historical building in Vienna.” Hurrah, the Hofburg! “Oh yes, the Hoff Burk. Magnificent little piece of Austrian workmanship.”

So back in the office this week we trawl through the tons of brochures collected, work our way down contact lists and eat leftover Mozartkugeln to our heart’s content. And I think to myself – if somewhat cheesily after all of this global cheer – that we really do promote an incredible country and I am in fact happy to don that corporate jacket every once in a while.

Abigail King (Insidethetravellab) visited Lech-Zürs am Arlberg and Bregenzerwald in Vorarlberg for us. She tells us what she thinks about this region. 

Austria without the hype. Expect beauty, innovation and plenty of tradition, whatever the locals say.

I arrived in Schwarzenberg just as the funeral procession entered the graveyard. Grey clouds conspired overhead, matching the mourners’ sorrow with their soft and gentle rain.

Schwarzenberg stands, indeed stands out, among the fresh mountains of the Bregenzerwald region in western Austria. The stone tower of the church faces a dancing pavilion, while two traditional guest houses look on. Their facades, like most around here, consist of stained wood layered like fish scales – or schindel as Irmtraud tells me.

“Bregenzerwald is my home,” she says. “And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. People here – our young people – they leave to study or for work but they always come back. They always come home.”

By now, the mourners have gone and wedding guests begin to gather in front of the pavilion. The women wear juppe, embroidered aprons and bodices over long black skirts, accompanied by bright white blouses. It is, as Irmtraud tells me, the oldest traditional dress in Europe that’s still actually worn. I get a closer look at the juppe  in the  museum next to Angelika Kauffman’s paintings, where gold stitching and blue ribbon march across velvet, cotton and centuries of needlecraft.

Not that Schwarzenberg, or even the Bregenzerwald region as a whole, is all about tradition, no matter how many heart-shaped carvings and lace-trimmed pillows snuggle between wood shavings and low ceilings.

“We are not Tirol,” says Irmtraud.

In the village of Au, Andrea agrees. “Bregenzerwald prides itself on its innovation. You can see it everywhere, from the architecture to the gastronomy.”

She’s talking about the KäseStrasse, the cheese route that circles through artisanal shops, along the smooth but winding mountain roads and into the cooperative cellar near Lingenau. Rows of amber discs glow behind a pane of glass, while a woman slices cheese with a viciously large knife.

“Would you like a taste?”

The knife tells me I can’t refuse.  Bregenzerwald Alpine cheese has a tough, sweet – yet salty – taste. Farmers here, like many elsewhere, have struggled to make a living the old-fashioned way. So, in typical Bregenzerwald fashion, they improvised, expanding into different types of cheese, gourmet tastings, tours, and in the case of one farmer, using cheese to create beauty products.

In the small town of Au, the Krone Hotel combines evening dinner with organ recitals at the church next door or live zither performances inside. The picturesque town of Bezau, with narrow streets and a church almost overbearingly perfect, has made a name for itself with its award-winning wellness hotels.

Modern art embraces the mountains in the form of 100 statues of Antony Gormley. Each one stands proud 2039 metres above sea level. Each one attracts attention from snow, hikers and inquisitive cows.

Yet for all the focus on the future and innovation, those cows, snowy mountains, wild orchids and alpine air dominate life here as much now as they did thousands of years ago. That’s why it’s such an interesting place to visit.

Back in Schwarzenberg, I’m warming up inside.  As it happens, both the funeral and wedding parties have chosen the same cosy guesthouse, giving me plenty of chances to see the juppe in action.

It’s time to agree with Irmtraud. It’s not just for tourists, this is the real thing.  

 More on Abigail’s adventures in Austria you will find on her blog.

 Abigail King is a freelance writer and photographer who swapped a career as a doctor for a life on the road. She has circled the globe twice, camped in the snows of Kilimanjaro and Patagonia and tracked down tigers, turtles and panda bears. She’s then had a hot shower and embraced the city life of New York, Rio, Paris and Tokyo.

She blogs about unusual journeys at Inside the Travel Lab