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After a bit disappointing Verbier, we hoped that our next stop – Sölden in Austria – would offer more options for an active relaxation. Pleasant surprise – this resort also had a free sports activities card included with some of the accommodation options.

The Ötztal Premium Card, similarly to the Sportignes card, offered many free activities. You could either buy the card, or get it for free (like we did) with some partnering hotels/guest houses (listed on the card brochure). What was included with this card:

* a number of cabin lifts, taking you to 3,000m+
* 3 hours in the Aqua dome wellness center (an EUR 50+ value, for a family of 4)
* free bike rental from a number of rental shops
* mini golf
* several covered and open swimming pools
* a water sports and climbing fun park (so called Area 47)
* public transport, museums and much more

All this for the period of your stay (including day of arrival + day of departure), of course there was some usage limit for most activities.

The offer would have been absolutely awesome if there was an easy way to find which Ötztal Card partnering hotels had availability. The resort was full, so most partner hotels we called did not have free rooms for just a couple of nights. On the other hand, Sölden has an impressive accommodation board, where you can see all accommodations, with availabilities, price, etc but..it did not list the ones who were card partners. Moral: do your research in advance and book your card-offering hotel before coming, to avoid losing precious time.

What did we manage to do within 2 days?

* enjoy the Aqua Dome of course. If you haven’t been to this amazing place – put it on your list. Outdoor thermal pools, whirl pool, massage pool, 2 kids swimming pools, and an attractive water slide are just some of the facilities to be mentioned. Very relaxing, comfortable, and kids-friendly.

The Aqua Dome

* get on the cabin lifts – enjoyed amazing views, both from the resort and the mountains above. Mountain biking paths were available, though not as attractive/picturesque as in Tignes.

Sölden village from the lift

* leisure biking in the numerous villages around – very pleasant biking terrain, not steep at all, passing through rivers, forests, cold milk machines (cold milk was a common drink in the resort restaurants btw), beautiful houses..very relaxing and charming landscape, very kids-friendly biking routes (marked).

Milk machine

* Visit the Area 47 water fun park – situated on a river, with all kinds of water and adventure (climbing) activities, some of which seemed quite extreme! The fairly cold river water was quite refreshing, and crystal clean.

Area 47 water park

Climbing/adventure bridge in the water park

And a round of mini golf of course!

2 days were quite insufficient to fully enjoy even the above. So if you decide to visit the resort and take advantage of the card – stay at least 4 full days to be able to try all that’s worth visiting. And, if you want a personal recommendation on a very comfortable, beautiful and friendly place to stay in – try Hotel Garni Bellaria as a first choice.

Hotel Garni Bellaria

And, be prepared that accommodations with the Ötztal Premium Card included will be more expensive. But, the value you get is really much higher than the price add-on.

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