Amanda planned a ski holiday...with a pool

Sometimes everyone just needs a break. 2023 was a great year for the family with many milestones, a few exciting trips and more than a little time together. In anticipation of needing something a little different than our usual holiday travels, Amanda found a reasonably priced all-inclusive holiday stay for our transition between 2023 and 2024. So rather than playing tourist for a couple weeks in various cities across Europe we drove 2 hours to Oetz and setup camp for one glorious week of relaxing, dining and skiing in western Austria.

All-inclusivism was a bit of a mystery for us going into this trip. Amanda typically prefers to control our travel plans so her interest in taking a step back and letting the vacation come to us so to speak was quite a surprise when she suggested it. But as the months went by and we got closer to the trip we both became more excited about it. Amanda wouldn't have to meal or activity plan and I wouldn't have to drive or carry luggage around public transit terminals!

Dining is probably the thing most all-inclusives are best known for and our experience in Oetz was definitely on par. Breakfast and Dinner were included at the hotel and after the second day the staff realized that Olivia really likes blackberries so every morning this was waiting at her spot at the table.

Although she wasn't sure about the yogurt that showed up the third morning.

Dinners were very good even though the menu was somewhat limited. We see this frequently in central Europe though, so we've learned to expect that you'll only get 3 or 4 meal options to choose from and that unless you really don't like one of the dishes on offer it's all very high quality. Of course trying to tell the kids that they can eat something other than Schnitzel mit Pommes is the most challenging aspect of dinning out. But at least they loved dessert while we got wine!

Even the butter was fancy!

The resort also had all our personal details and realized that we celebrated both our anniversary and my birthday during our stay there. And they made sure we were spoiled for both.

Oh I almost forgot. There was also an afternoon snack which was enjoyed by someone daily. Can't imagine why!

Each day was a little different. We enrolled Charlotte in 3 days of ski lessons and so she and I took the gondola up the mountain to ski most days. Amanda and Olivia played games in the hotel or found playgrounds in the valley to explore or relaxed by the pool while we were gone. 

But the best days were the ones we spent together!

Because they normally ended like this!

For our first foray into all-inclusive vacationing, I think it went pretty well. Perhaps not something we will manage every time we go on holiday but certainly something worth considering for those times when we all need a break!