Do you like comedy, copious amounts of fresh snow and an excuse to drink hot chocolate all day long? Who the hell doesn’t?! Well, Altitude Festival is just be the thing for you. Home to some of the best stand up comedians on the scene today plus a whole host of up-and-comers and improv groups, Altitude is a solid five days of side splitting hilarity. The festival is based in the stunning eastern Alpine town of Mayrhofen (Austria) and is surrounded by ski resorts, spas and some of the most breathtaking views the Alps has to offer. Now we all know that skiing ain’t cheap yo and venturing to Altitude may cost you a pretty penny, so here is 7BitArcade’s budget guide to Altitude Festival!
First things first, how the hell do I get to the damn thing?
Unless you really REALLY like driving, flying to Mayrhofen is probably your best bet. Altitude Festival starts on Monday 23rd March at 5pm, though the organisers recommend getting there a day in advance so you can settle in and ski before the comedy starts at 5pm. The closest airport to Mayrhofen is Innsbruck, which also has the most convenient airport transport system. There are other airports you can fly to, but from what I can see Innsbruck is the cheapest and most hassle-free destination.
Depending on where you are flying from it may be massively cheaper to fly on either the Saturday or Monday. Below is a table I whipped together with a few days either side of the optimum travel times.
As you can see, depending on what days you fly from, and from where, there is a considerable difference in price. Bear in mind though that if you decide to arrive an day or two earlier, you will have to fork out for more in accommodation so make sure you factor that in when booking flights. Just a heads up, these prices are assuming you’re only taking hand luggage on the flight, so be prepared to either bite the bullet and pay extra for checked baggage or get on the plane looking like this.
It seems like the best places to go from are Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh. So if you’re somewhere like Birmingham, it may be worth getting a train or coach to a different city and flying from there. Quite often train tickets are reasonable when booked in advance and megabus.com also does a lot of crazy cheap fares.
I got all these flight prices from Skyscanner.com and they will no doubt become more expensive nearer the time so if you want to get to Altitude on the cheap, it’s best to book sooner rather than later. The festival website outlines other airports you can use if Innsbruck is simply a no-go for you so check it out the alternatives here.
Okay, so I’m in Austria, now what?
Well, you could use a taxi but considering it’s an hour on the road it may cost you a fair bit (€120 are some online estimates) however splitting a cab is always an option if travelling in a group. Luckily, the trains in Europe are amazing and for about €12 – €15 each way you can get trains from Innsbruck straight to Mayrhofen. You can plan your journey using this handy website.
The festival website nicely outlines how to get to and from the appropriate train stations from all the major airports including Innsbruck, check it out here.
I’m at the festival now, where do I sleep?
Well, the obvious answer is a hotel. There are plenty to choose from and after a gander on Hotels.com, based on staying between Sunday 22nd – Sunday 29th March they seem to range between £720 – £1000, though some of the more swankier ones cost up to £2000. This search was based upon two people sharing a room, so you would pay between £360 – £500 each for a hotel for a week, which ain’t too bad. When based on 4 people sharing one room, there were about five hotels to choose from, ranging from £1500 – £2200, so you’d be paying similar prices to the two people sharing option. Below is a map from hotels.com which shows the hotels that are still accepting bookings.
Be sure to check out Hotels.com, Lastminute.com, laterooms.com as well as expedia.com to get the best rates. Plus it doesn’t hurt to check the hotel websites themselves as sometimes you can get an even cheaper rate by booking straight through them.
However, this is a budget guide and £350 is a steep price for some, me included. Sadly, staying in a hostel is not an option as this quaint mountain town seems to be devoid of them, perhaps because they were collectively put off by Eli Roth’s gore porn epic Hostel franchise.
But fear not, for there is a wallet friendly option available in the form of Airbnb! For £271 you and a friend (with room for another in some cases) can rent a private room in the centre of the town. That’s less than 20 quid a day which is a pretty swanky deal! However, there are only a couple of places available, as shown on the map below, so you will have to be pretty swift in snapping up a bargain.
There are also apartments you can rent for a little as £400 for everyone in your party for the entire week! But these are selling out fast, so head over to booking.com and search “apartments in Mayrhofen”.
So if you’re lucky and book in advance you can get to Altitude festival for as little as £218! That is based on £62 for flights (flying from Liverpool), a £20 for return train tickets as an airport transfer and £136 for a weeks’ worth of Airbnb room (based on sharing with another person). While a spring jaunt to the Alps may seem like an expensive one, if you book in advance and do a bit of research you can do it in far more cost effective manner. Happy travels!
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