Alpinecenter Bottrop — Another Indoor Ski Place!

Reader Recommendation…

“There are at least two places to ski/snowboard indoors within 1.5 hrs drive. SnowWorld in Landgraaf is the most well-known among us Americans. Today my husband and I visited a different one. Alpincenter near Bottrop/Oberhausen has a nice long slope that I like better than SnowWorld. However, the conveyance to the top was not to my husband’s liking- one short tow rope for the bunny slope and a long conveyor belt the length of the entire slope. I enjoyed the ride on the belt (call me weird if you must). We made use of their “Before 2pm special” for 25 Euro each. This included rentals and a “warm/cold buffet and drinks” which we didn’t have time to check out. They also have lessons for kids and adults.”

alpincenter Bottrop
Prosperstr. 299-301
46238 Bottrop (DE)

http://www.alpincenter.com/

Open: Daily 0930 – 2400

Last entry: 2130 (Su – Thu) or 2230 (Fr – Sa)

** The website is in English and has a ton of information including online ticket sales and a very detailed pricing chart. It is best to refer to their website above for more information. Also, check out the FREE outdoor park area for nordic walking, a beer garden, and beautiful scenery.

SnowWorld, Landgraaf

Would you like to brag to your friends back home that you went skiing in July? Go to SnowWorld!

SnowWorld
GPS: Witte Wereld 1, Landgraaf, NL
Website: www.snowworld.nl (English site available)
PDF info file link

SnowWorld is a indoor ski center in Landgraaf, NL just about 20 minutes from GK where you can ski or snowboard any day of the year. There, you can rent all of your equipment: skis, snowboards, boots, helmets, and sleds.

There is one small area for beginners and young kids with a conveyor belt so that they can step onto it and get slowly moved up the hill at a non-threatening pace.

Just to the left is a banana tow, a rope tow with plastic “bananas” that hook behind you and pull you up. Then, just to the other side of the run sits the one and only chair lift there. It’s not bad. It goes up a ways in between two runs that weren’t open that day and over the top of a mid-hill restaurant advertising “biertje?” It lets you off at the top, of course, and then there is one run to go down that is a perfect beginner run.

Kids under age 6 get free ski passes, so you only have to pay for ski rentals. Helmets are not required, but gloves are.

So, there it is… indoor skiing. This place is great for people who love to ski and want to continue in the summer. It’s great to train. It’s great for beginners. It’s set up beautifully with everything that you need pretty conveniently located. However, being indoors, it lacks trees and sky – two things that play a large part of my ski addiction.

Will I go back? Definitely, occasionally, with friends. Often, no. I need sky and trees and a variety of runs. This one run was fun, but got boring really quickly and I can imagine that on a busier day, the little slopes would fill up making it impossible and probably a little dangerous to attempt a good run down the hill. My tween aged daughter enjoyed herself, but she felt the same way. She’ll go with friends to have a good time and be social, but it’s not a place she needs to go a lot. We prefer the mountains. Send us to the Alps!