Discover skiing, music festivals and Snowbombing on the snowy slopes of Austria

SNOWBOMBING festival looked more Sound Of Music than Sound Of The Underground.

It was all rolling green fields and farm animals — until I reached the centre of town.

Julie Andrews would have turned on her heels and walked right back out of town on hearing the throbbing basslines spilling from every doorway.

For one week in April, the Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen is taken over by Snowbombing.

Stages are spread all over, from the mountains to snow shacks and igloos in a forest. Even the swimming baths host a pool party with DJs, slides and inflatables.

In fact, there isn’t a restaurant or shop that isn’t geared up for the festival and once wary locals have now embraced the “world’s greatest show on snow”.

There is a lot to take in but there is no fear of missing out, thanks to daily paper The Bomb previewing what’s on.

Visitors can enjoy plenty of highlights. The Street Party sees 5,000 Snowbombers transform the picture-postcard resort into a wild dressing-up box, with epic sets from Jungle, Groove Armada and The Cuban Brothers soundtracking previous parades.

The Forest Party encourages you to don your scarves and winter woollies and head into the woods until you find a tree-lined clearing.

There, you will experience the mother of all raves from a stage that has hosted some of the world’s biggest artists including The Prodigy and Norman Jay.

Without doubt, my favourite night is The Arctic Disco. Held up on the Ahorn mountain, this exclusive party is only accessible once the slopes are closed for the day, so you need to book tickets in advance.

Your pass takes you up in the gondola, which won’t carry you back down again until the party is over. But I can’t think of a better place to get stuck.

Sitting high on a snowy plateau, it’s a party like no other. You will dance to some of the world’s top DJs in a giant hollowed-out igloo.

In 2016, Fatboy Slim raised enough sweat to melt the igloo with a typically thunderous set.

Next year’s festival will feature huge names such as Liam Gallagher and Dizzee Rascal, below.

At any point in the day, you could find yourself sharing a chairlift with an international DJ or carving up a red run alongside a film star (ahem, Idris Elba).

In fact, with all this apres ski fun, I haven’t even touched on the actual skiing.

Money from the festival has noticeably been pumped back into Mayrhofen, nowhere more so than the impressive new lifts which cost a European record £57million.

The result is without doubt the most stylish ski lift depot ever and means the slopes are only seven minutes away from the bottom of the village.

The time of year means it is sunny too, so there are plenty of panda-eyed tan marks on show.

My tip would be to rise early and head up the mountain. As most skiers sleep off their hangovers, you can enjoy almost empty runs for the first two hours each day.

Food is traditional Austrian fare and a special mention goes to the now legendary Hans the butcher, who single-handedly feeds most of the crowd at the venues as well as in his incredible butcher shop-cum-restaurant in the heart of the village.

There are great flavours and plenty of choice on offer, from schnitzels and bratwurst to goulash.

Steins of beer and a pop-up oompah band playing in the streets ensures the mood stays authentically “Alpine” amid all the night-time modernity.

It all adds to the magic of Snowbombing and makes sure I’ll be back on the party slopes for 2018.