The Kids Go Free

Nestled in the mountains of Austria’s North Tyrol is an Alpine playground that offers something for all the family.

- Jamie Darlow

I have a recurring dream that’s been visiting my sleep for over a year now. I’m on holiday somewhere in the mountains — there are big snow-dusted peaks all around, we’re staying in a picturesque little village, chock full of stone churches, water features, wooden ski chalets and cuckoo clocks. You get the picture. I say “we” because my wife Jen is there too, as is my little 18-month old daughter Pippa — they’re waving me off as I pedal out of the hotel and into the ski lift station that whisks me up the hill for a day’s uplifted riding.

And then I wake up. But not today, this time I don’t wake up because it’s not a dream, we’ve travelled to Austria to indulge in family-friendly fun and mountain biking at the same time. The stars have aligned.

I’d first mooted the idea a couple of months earlier. I’m paraphrasing but the conversation went something like this. “How do you fancy going on holiday to the mountains in Austria? The North Tyrolean mountains, to be precise,” I’d asked. “It’s beautiful up there, and three ski towns have banded together to create a vast kids’ playground for the summer trade, and the place could be perfect for us.” I take a deep breath and look away so she can’t see my face. “Oh and I think there might be a few mountain bike trails there too.”

“So Pippa and I have been invited on your mountain biking holiday, huh?” Jen says. She’s much cleverer than me. “What the hell, let’s go…”