Aschau im Zillertal, Austria was the destination for our June break with good friends Tim & Georgie. This was to be a week away in a large first floor apartment that was located in the Zillertal Valley, around an hour by car from Innsbruck.

Flying from London Gatwick on Saturday morning meant a journey south on Friday afternoon/evening where we met Tim & Georgie who had travelled from Norfolk. The Premier Inn (A23) located at Gatwick's north terminal was undergoing refurbishment and had no dining facilities so we had a meal over at the airport. It was a good chance to catch up over a couple of drinks and some food before turning in for the night and the flight the following day.

Saturday

After breakfast at Gatwick we boarded easyJet flight EZY8293 to Innsbruck. Despite a lengthy hold on the taxiway for air traffic clearance we arrived around 15 minute later than planned into Innsbruck airport. The approach to Innsbruck is quite dramatic with the plane following the valley with mountains either side of the aircraft wings - it would look stunning from the front I am sure.

The drive to Aschau im Zillertal was fairly painless and the apartment we had rented was plenty big enough for the four of us as it could sleep up to ten people. The apartment had great views across the Zillertal Valley including the narrow gauge Zillertalbahn which was a few hundred metres away. Aschau itself had a supermarket, baker, butcher, a handful of restaurants and the railway station. Just about everything we needed for a week away within 500 metres of the accomodation.

Sunday

On the Sunday morning we decided that a walk was in order. The weather looked to be favourable for a nice walk along the valley to Mayrhofen which was around 7.5 miles from Aschau. With a couple of villages en-route, stopping for lunch, coffee and cake or a beer would not be too difficult either. With a train every thirty minutes back from Mayrhofen to Aschau it made for a leisurely walk and a great introduction to the local surroundings.

Monday

We decided to visit the Krimml Waterfall which was about an hour by car from the apartment. The waterfall, which cascades over 350m, is stunning. We took the path up the side of the waterfall - it was a steady climb - before arriving at the Schonanergl restaurant around ⅔ the way up the falls. Service was the quickest ever experienced with drinks ordered before you had even sat down. It seemed to be a fairly high turnover sort of place and for lunch it was an OK stopping off point.

Monday evening was spent back in Aschau where we had dinner at Kruma, a pizza/pasta joint, to celebrate Georgie's birthday.

Tuesday

Today it was my turn to celebrate a birthday and I thought a day out that involved trains and boats would be in order. We started by catching the narrow gauge Zillertalbahn from Aschau im Zillertal to Jenbach (approx. 30 minutes), where we changed trains onto the Achenseebahn, a rack railway that took us on an incredibly steep climb up the mountain to Seespitz pushed by a rather strange looking steam locomotive. The 45 minute journey was not the most comfortable sitting on the wooden bench seats. At Seespitz it was a short wait for a cruise boat that would take us across Achensee lake to Scholastika, taking just under an hour, where we would have lunch.

Everything pretty much worked to plan and lunch was a most pleasant affair before we started the whole journey in the reverse fashion. After a day of travelling there was chance to relax for a while at the apartment before heading out to the Weiherwirt restaurant in Aschau which served up large plates of schnitzel and other Austrian cuisine.

Wednesday

We started the Wednesday with a visit to Erlebnis Sennerei, a local cheese factory (they also made other dairy products too) which turned out to be a really interesting experience The audio guide tour was informative and you got see cheese making in action - it was well worth a visit.

With temperatures in the valley of around 37c we decided on a trip to the Hintertux Glacier as a good way to cool down. It was, after all, only 22c on the glacier according to the weather app. In hindsight this was a bit of a dud visit, it was OK to go walking in the snow, but we could only reach the 2nd cable car station as the 3rd was not running and it was not possible to reach the top for the panorama views.

In the evening after dinner in the apartment (it's not all eating out), we went into the village as there was live music being played in the main square. It was a great local event with beer stands, food stands and nice community atmosphere - the music was good too!

Thursday

After driving to Jenbach and parking the car at the station we caught the train to Worgl and then onto Zell am See. The journey by train took around two and a half hours and went through some lovely scenery. As luck would have it we arrived in Zell am See at lunch time so was able to enjoy lunch overlooking the lake before having a walk around the town.

After the journey back to Jenbach, where there was a parking ticket on the car, we ate at another restaurant in Aschau called Hoadacher. This place had a great balcony to watch the world go by - including the Zillertalbahn - as we enjoyed pizza and schnitzels . . . nearly every place in Aschau seemed to do schnitzels (with various types of potato), pizza and salad.

Friday

Our final full day in the Zillertal Valley saw us take the Penkenbahn from Mayrhofen to the top of the Penken mountain. The cable car journey up to around 2,000m was fantastic and it seems almost impossible that they managed to build it. At the top there were great views across the Zillertal Valley and also a chance to watch the paragliders launching themselves off of the mountain. It was a far better experience than the Hintertux Glacier.

Once back at the valley floor we had lunch in Ramsau before popping into the Zillertal Arena where we had a go on the Toboggan Run. This was a bit like a roller coaster but you controlled the speed as you travelled over a 1.3km downhill course. It was brilliant fun!

Saturday

It was a shame to have to leave the apartment and start our journey back to the UK on the Saturday morning. There was enough time to call in at the Tirol Panorama in Innsbruck ahead of catching our flight to the UK. The panorama is a 360 degree painting that depicts, with a little bit of artistic licence, a battle that took place at Innsbruck in 1809. The painting itself is very impressive and did make you feel as though you were there and it actually felt quite immersive.

Grabbing a proper lunch in the adjacent 1809 Restaurant - far better than the pre-packed sandwiches you might get at a UK museum - it was a nice way to round off the trip before catching flight EZY8294 back to London Gatwick.

Parting with Tim & Georgie in central London to enable them to head back to Norfolk, Heather and I still had one more thing to do before heading home and we needed to stop the night in London.

After a quick 'splash and dash' at the Premier Inn on Euston Road we hot footed it to the London Stadium at Stratford (the former Olympic Park) to watch the inaugural London Series Major League Baseball (MLB) game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This was the first time that a regular season MLB game had been played in Europe and they had made a great job of converting what is normally a football field to a ballpark.

It was a nice way to round off the holiday and we also got to catch up with our friends Simon and Linda who were also watching the ball game.

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