When you think of skiing the Austrian Alps there are several places that may come to mind….Obertauern, Innsbruck, Zell Am See, Kaprun, St. Anton, Zillertal, Ischgl and Kitzbuehel.
Here’s a shared NotebookLM I’ve created for you. GenAI created video introduction on Kitzbuehel
I’ve skied Innsbruck, Obertauern, Kaprun and most recently Kitzbuehel and for this post will focus on the latter. For me Kitz is like coming home. When I was younger, I often worked in the area and skied it for 3 years. For a quick view try this: Hahnenkamm camera
It’s never too late
My son recently convinced me to give it another try and so in January of 2026 we returned for a trip that will always be remembered as Epic. I am not 25 anymore and had hesitations. We skied out West two years ago and the same hesitations were present. Both times I returned home feeling renewed and encouraged that I can rise to challenges.
Getting to Kitzbuehel from the U.S. is ridiculously easy.
Pretty much hop a plane with a final destination of Milan, Munich, Innsbruck, etc. and hop a fast train. If you get off at the right stop the train drops you off 50 meters in front of the main Hahnenkamm lift in downtown Kitz. Here’s the view from the train platform looking back at the Hahnenkamm. As you can see you pretty much walk off the platform, turn left, walk over the railroad tracks and it is immediately on your left. Equipment rentals shops are at the lift, across the street from the lift, and right around the corner. It doesn’t get easier than that.
We chose Munich as it offered the best pricing for us. Once in Munich It is as easy as take the airport commuter train to the main train station which is a 35-minute ride, prebook your ticket to Kitzbuehel and 2 hours later you are on the platform. It couldn’t be easier.
Just one note it only cost about $5 to reserve your train seat per person. Highly recommend doing it. Download the OBB app, book your ticket, then choose the booked ticket and add a $5 seat reservation. I found this to be a two step process, but once understood makes it super easy.
Everything you need to know about Kitz can be found at: https://www.kitzski.at/en/ Years ago Kitz was a village like atmosphere. In my opinion the secret is out and the village is becoming more crowded which honestly saddened me, but it is still a small town feel for now.
We stayed at https://www.dasreisch.com/en and enjoyed our stay. The hotel sits right across the street from probably the loudest bar in the village…The Londoner. So if you book Das Reisch confirm a room on the side of the hotel away from The Londoner or you will have to put up with noise. Having said that if you like to party and maybe catch a great English band playing covers from Coldplay and Pink Floyd until 4 a.m. it’s the place for you.
The hotel rooms were clean and each room is named after a winner of the Hahnenkamm World Cup Race. The racer’s names are even woven into the carpet in front of each room. There is a sauna downstairs included in your overnight stay booking. Make sure to use it for sore muscles. On the flip side, if you end up on that side of the hotel you get a great morning view of the local church and the Wilder Kaiser behind it.
The hotel has an agreement for ski rental discounts at element3 just around the corner and we loved the shop. Much better than InterSport in that it felt local and not so industrial/touristy. We found the staff friendly and the equipment was in great shape. In all the years I’ve skied no shop tech ever offered me a Schnapps to get the day going, but they did here when they heard I was a bit stiff and sore from the day before 🙂 Honestly, a nice touch that made me feel like part of the family.
If you are a larger family and would like private accommodations, please see this listing. It is owned by an Austrian friend of mine. Centrally located, well maintained and may be a better option for you than a hotel. It has great ratings which don’t surprise me as my friend of over 3o years is meticulous on details.
Skiing in Austria, for me as a Southerner, is cheaper than going out West in the U.S. Lift tickets run approx. $82/day and ski rentals are vastly cheaper. The European experience – culture, multi-languages spoken, food, hospitality, the journey, the vast array of slope choices…. all of it makes for a great experience. We never waited longer than 3 minutes to catch a lift except at the main lift heading up into the slopes. Even that was only 5 to 7 minutes at the beginning of the day. Granted we skied Tuesday thru Thursday.
Here’s a big tip: If you own a season pass for out West in the U.S. and you have an Ikon or Epic pass check their associated partners. Both offer something like 5 days a season for various resorts in Austria. At that point, all you have, is your flight, lodging, food, transportation and equipment.
Here are a couple of photos from the slopes. The views are absolutely to die for if you love mountains and skiing.
On to the food…..as it is always about the food. The Goldene Gams has been there forever. My mom, dad and I ate there 30 plus years ago and the food has been consistently good. Two blocks from our hotel and on the main shopping street.
Food on the slopes is amazing and very reasonably priced. Beers out west can easily run $15 or higher. Not here more like $6 or $7. Expect a good meal at $20 and it is high quality not processed chicken fingers for $30 and up.
In this last photo you can see a shot of Skiwasser. Super popular on the slopes, non-alcoholic…basically water with some juice added to it for rehydration with a bit of sugar added in.
I didn’t get a picture of the pizza, but there is a great shop two blocks down from the hotel that is very reasonably priced and the pizza provides that warm comfort food feeling everybody wants on vacation once you’ve eaten all the schnitzel and sausages you can handle.
If you don’t want to eat breakfast at your hotel as it can be expensive or prefer to pack your own lunch for the slopes there is a Billa Grocery store on the main street in the heart of Kitz. You’ll get fresh baked bread and anything else you need at very reasonable prices. It was our go to everyday for breakfast foods like fresh baked bread, jam, cheese, etc…
A word on local beer: Huber Brau is a local brewery and seems to be sold mostly if not exclusively in Kitz. Delightfully tasty and refreshing.
I would be remiss not to tell you about Schloss Mittersill just on the other side of the pass. Many years ago I worked there on and off while working as a campus ministry intern at the University of Vienna. We used it back in the day for conferences. Later on it was bought by a private investor who spent millions updating it to modern standards. A local friend drove us over one night for dinner. If you have to take a taxi it will cost you 100 Euro each way. The ski bus will take you there on your pass but you are supposed to still be wearing your ski attire to ride the bus and it doesn’t run late. The Schloss is now a 4 or 5 star kind of place and you don’t want to be eating in the main dining room in your ski clothes, but it is a worthy experience if you can get a ride over the mountain and back for dinner.
To close this one out, Kitzbuehel is great in winter and in summer. If you are a warm weather person, then consider staying at the Schloss and maybe visiting the Krimmel waterfalls. They are the highest in Europe and when you get to the top it opens up into an Alp valley at the foot of glaciers with a river running along the path. Absolutely stunning.
A side note, in 30 years of visiting Kitz this was the first trip I made an effort to visit the local Church to see the inside. It was worth the 30 minutes I spent. Ran into a local parishioner and asked her who lights the candles in the church graveyard each evening as often there are 100 plus grave side candles burning. She told me the families come out several nights a week to remember their loved ones. I love old graveyards and this one is centrally located. Walking through at night seeing the community remembering those who have gone ahead may sound crazy, but it brings home the point. This is a local village. Real families live here and have for generations.
So if your dream is to ski the Austrian Alps I can whole heartedly affirm you. Take the trip. If you are lucky and get Bluebird skiing days with decent temps Kitzbuehel is hard to beat 🙂
There is an Austrian saying “Berg Heil”. It is used after skiing a particularly difficult mountain. When you reach the bottom you look at your skiing buddies or the mountain and say “Berg Heil” which means “The mountain salutes you, because this time down you beat the mountain it didn’t beat you”.
Wishing you the best of “Berg Heils” !
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