Bad Kleinkirchheim

BKK, as the Brits call it, is downhill race hero Franz Klammer's favourite ski area - he learned to ski here, there's a World Cup downhill run named after him, and he skis with guests here a few times a year. Given Klammer's endorsement, it's no surprise that the resort has some serious skiing: 75% of its slopes are classified red and suit confident intermediates best. It is perhaps a surprise that there are few real challenges for experts. BKK is tucked away on the edge of the Nock Mountain National Park in Carinthia, in the far south-east of Austria, near the Italian and Slovenian borders. The nearest airports are Klagenfurt (around 50 minutes away) and Ljubljana (90 minutes). Salzburg is less than two hours away. The lift pass covers St Oswald, a smaller village at the far end of the shared ski area, and all the resorts in Carinthia - useful for visiting other resorts if you have a car. BKK's spa facilities are excellent, with indoor and outdoor thermal pools, different types of sauna - including a tepidarium (which is a sauna with a lower temperature so you can sit there longer) - and steam rooms, solariums, hot tubs, massage and therapy rooms. There are also water slides, waterfalls and massage jets in the pools. The Thermal Römerbad reopened in 2007 after complete refurbishment and is set over three floors, with 13 different types of sauna and steam rooms. We tried it and thought it was superb; we could happily have spent days there. 'World class - we went for an hour and stayed all day,' says a recent reporter. BKK is tucked away on the edge of the Nock Mountain National Park in Carinthia, in the far south-east of Austria, near the Italian and Slovenian borders. The nearest airports are Klagenfurt (around 50 minutes away) and Ljubljana (90 minutes). Salzburg is less than two hours away.