Austria · Tyrol · Travel guide
What a ski week in the most expensive town in Tyrol really costs, where you still save, why summer here is underrated and when you are better off just looking at the Streif.
Photo: Ronny Siegel / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in euros (EUR). Cards work almost everywhere; mountain huts and sausage stands often want cash. Tipping is expected: 5 to 10 percent, by naming the rounded total when you pay. In ski resorts a visitor tax of EUR 2 to 4 per night is added to the hotel price. Getting there: By train (ÖBB Railjet), car or a flight to Vienna, 2 to 8 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Small, family-run guesthouse five minutes' walk from the old town, simple, clean rooms, breakfast included, parking, prices you will hardly find elsewhere in Kitzbühel itself. For skiers who want to be in town in the evening.
Family-run guesthouse right next to the valley station of the Hornbahn, three minutes' walk to the centre, with a large garden, ski room and breakfast. Rooms without design pretensions, but at a price Kitzbühel otherwise hardly knows.
Traditional inn, in the family since 1658, on the edge of the old town, rooms with wood and tiled-stove atmosphere, a tavern with Tyrolean cooking downstairs. For anyone looking for the old Kitzbühel rather than the five-star Kitzbühel.
Mid-range
Four-star superior hotel in the old town with a rooftop pool, spa and a view of the Hahnenkamm. Rooms in Alpine style, half board with a good restaurant. The location is perfect, the price typical for a mid-range hotel in Kitzbühel.
Family hotel since 1870 in the middle of the Vorderstadt, with indoor pool, sauna and a restaurant that locals go to as well. Rooms partly classic, partly renovated. For couples and families who want to reach everything on foot.
Right in the finish area of the Streif, ski-in and ski-out at the Hahnenkammbahn, in summer its own nine-hole golf course. Large rooms with balconies, restaurant with a terrace facing the piste. For skiers who want to be first up the mountain in the morning.
Luxury
Five-star hotel in the old town, an inn for centuries, today with spa, indoor pool and a restaurant that refines Tyrolean cuisine. Suites with a view of the Hahnenkamm, personal service. Luxury in the middle of town rather than on the edge.
Large five-star complex at the southern end of the ski area, ski-in and ski-out, with one of the biggest spas in Tyrol and several restaurants. Rooms large and quiet, 15 minutes to Kitzbühel. For families and spa guests, not for old-town strollers.
Castle-style resort on the Lebenberg above the town, with a large spa, golf course and views of the Hahnenkamm and Wilder Kaiser. Shuttle to the old town and the cable car. For anyone who puts peace and wellness before piste access.
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By gondola in 8 minutes up to 1,665 metres, summer ticket around CHF 30 (about EUR 32) return, free with the Kitzbühel Card. At the top the Streif start house, freely accessible, a view into the Mausefalle, and the cable car museum. Two hours with a short circular walk.
Around 230 kilometres of piste from Kitzbühel via Kirchberg to Pass Thurn, day pass around CHF 72, 6 days around CHF 420, cheaper online. The link by 3S cable car to Jochberg is the highlight, and the huts there are cheaper than on the Hahnenkamm.
The local mountain opposite, cable car in two sections up to 1,996 metres, around CHF 30 return or free with the summer card. Alpine flower garden at 1,880 metres free, June to September. Three hours with the summit circuit.
Vorderstadt, Hinterstadt, parish church and Liebfrauenkirche in 90 minutes with a guide, often free with the guest card, otherwise from CHF 12. The Museum Kitzbühel with the Alfons Walde collection (CHF 8) is the best rainy-day place in town.
Moorland lake at up to 24 degrees, 20 minutes on foot from the centre, lido around CHF 7, lawn, boats, bar. The circuit around the lake takes an hour; in winter people walk on the ice.
High-level trail from the Hahnenkamm top station via the Ehrenbachhöhe to the Pengelstein, 3 to 4 hours, down by the Fleckalmbahn to Kirchberg and back by train or bus. Huts along the way, free with the summer card.
Hire bike from CHF 35 a day, e-bike from CHF 50, routes to Pass Thurn, the Wilder Kaiser or the loop via Kirchberg and Brixen im Thale. The Kitzbühel Alps are road-cycling country with little traffic on the minor roads.
Over the Pass Thurn in an hour to the highest waterfalls in Europe, 380 metres in three tiers, admission around CHF 10, the path along the falls 1 hour 30 minutes uphill. Take a rain jacket, even in sunshine.
Natural toboggan run from the Gaisberg down to Kirchberg, 3.5 kilometres, chairlift around CHF 15, toboggan hire CHF 8. Floodlit in the evening, the hut at the top makes Kaiserschmarrn. Two hours, 10 minutes from Kitzbühel by bus or train.
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Kitzbühel cooks in two leagues: award-winning restaurants in the hotels and on the mountain that charge Zurich prices, and inns and huts where dumplings, Gröstl and Kaiserschmarrn are still tavern food. The honest choice lies in between: taverns in the Hinterstadt and in Kirchberg, huts away from the Hahnenkamm.
The shredded pancake with raisins and stewed plums is the hut meal of Kitzbühel, fluffy and caramelised. CHF 14 to 18 (about EUR 15 to 19), more expensive in the Hahnenkamm huts.
Tip:Share it in the huts; the portion is made for two and comes just right after a morning on skis.
Fried potatoes with beef, bacon and a fried egg from the pan. In Kitzbühel usually with cabbage salad, CHF 15 to 19.
Tip:As a weekday lunch plate it is usually cheaper than in the evening.
Two bacon dumplings in clear beef broth with chives, the starter of every hut lunch. CHF 7 to 10.
Tip:There the soup costs CHF 2 less than on the Hahnenkamm and tastes the same.
Beaten thin, fried in clarified butter, with cranberries and potato salad. In Kitzbühel a test of any kitchen. CHF 24 to 32 from veal, from pork from CHF 16.
Tip:Ask whether it is veal or pork; the menu likes to keep quiet about it.
Bacon, house sausages, mountain cheese and the low-fat grey cheese with onions and vinegar, served with farmhouse bread. CHF 14 to 20, enough for two.
Tip:In the afternoon after 2 pm, when the kitchen is closed, the Jause is often the only offer, but the best.
Spätzle baked with mountain cheese and crispy onions, the Tyrolean answer to Käsespätzle. Heavy, good, CHF 13 to 16.
Tip:Order it with a green salad, otherwise it is just cheese.
Coffee and cake in the pastry shops of the Vorderstadt; the house specialities are nut cakes and strudel. Coffee and a slice CHF 9 to 12.
Tip:In the afternoon after 4 pm, when the skiers are back, it is busy; before that it is quiet.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Kitzbühel was raised to town status in 1271 by the Bavarian dukes as a border fortress against the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and only came to Tyrol in 1504 under Emperor Maximilian. The town grew rich in the 16th century on copper and silver: the mines on the Schattberg and the Sinnwell were among the most productive in the Alps, and the colourful burgher houses of the Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, which today form the old town, date from this period. When mining dried up in the 18th century, a sleepy little town remained, until in 1893 Franz Reisch, mayor and merchant, ordered skis from Norway and dared the first descent in Tyrol on the Kitzbüheler Horn. Reisch founded the ski club, the first races were held in 1895, and in 1931 the first Hahnenkamm race was run on the Streif. After the Second World War Toni Sailer, the son of a Kitzbühel plumber, made the town world-famous with three gold medals at Cortina in 1956. With him came the jet set: Gunter Sachs, industrialists from Munich and Hamburg, later Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turns up every January in Streif week. In 1928 the first Hahnenkammbahn ran, one of the first passenger cable cars in Austria. Today Kitzbühel has around 8,000 inhabitants and, on a race weekend in January, ten times that in guests. The town's wealth is visible: land prices like Zurich, fur shops in the Vorderstadt and one golf course more than necessary. Behind it lies a mountain village that still lives from farmers, ski instructors and mountain guides.
Kitzbühel has its own station on the Wörgl to Salzburg line, which makes the journey pleasant: from Zurich take the Railjet to Innsbruck or Wörgl, change there to the regional train or the direct train towards Salzburg, around 5 hours in total. The fare is around CHF 90 (about EUR 96) each way, from CHF 45 with Sparschiene and Half Fare Card. From Munich the train takes 2 hours with a change in Wörgl or Kufstein, from Vienna direct by Railjet in 4 hours 30 minutes. Kitzbühel station is 10 minutes on foot from the old town, Hahnenkamm station right at the valley station of the cable car. By car from Zurich it is 4 hours via Innsbruck and the Inntal motorway to Wörgl, then along the main road into the Brixental, or from Basel 4 hours 30 minutes via Munich and Kufstein. Vignette CHF 12 for 10 days, no extra tunnel on this route. Once there you only need the car if you are staying in Reith, Aurach or Jochberg and do not want to wait for the ski bus; in Kitzbühel itself parking costs CHF 15 to 25 a day, and with the guest card ski buses and local buses are free. For day trips to the Wilder Kaiser, the Krimml Waterfalls or Salzburg, however, a car is practical, as bus connections are thin.
KitzSki links Kitzbühel, Kirchberg, Jochberg, Pass Thurn and Mittersill: around 230 kilometres of piste, 57 lifts, between 800 and 2,000 metres. The area has been named best ski resort in the world for years, and rightly so: modern lifts, wide carving pistes, hardly any queues outside the holidays, and with the 3S cable car across the Saukasergraben a spectacular link to Jochberg. The weakness is the altitude: below 1,000 metres the snow is soft from March onwards and often thin in December, even if the snowmaking is good. Prices 2025/26: day pass around CHF 72 (about EUR 77) in high season, 6 days around CHF 400 to 430, 5 to 10 per cent cheaper in online advance sales. Children up to 6 ski free, young people up to 18 pay half. In the early season until mid-December and from the end of March, passes are around 20 per cent cheaper. What you should not skimp on is ski servicing: the slopes on the Hahnenkamm and the Ehrenbachhöhe are long and get hard in the afternoon. Ski hire costs CHF 35 to 50 a day, a little less in Kirchberg. And the Streif: as the Familienstreif the race course is a blue piste that skirts the Mausefalle; the real course is open after the race and as steep as a wall. Looking at it from the start house (freely accessible next to the top station) is worthwhile for everyone, skiing it only for very good skiers.
A mid-range double room in Kitzbühel costs CHF 200 to 280 (about EUR 214 to 300) in winter, CHF 400 and more in Hahnenkamm week and over Christmas, and even guesthouses charge CHF 150. That is Swiss level, sometimes above. The solution is simple: stay two kilometres further away. Kirchberg has the same linked ski area, its own valley stations (Fleckalmbahn, Maierlbahn) and rooms for 30 to 40 per cent less, plus a more honest village atmosphere. Reith and Aurach are quiet neighbouring villages with guesthouses from CHF 100, 10 minutes by ski bus. Jochberg lies right at the southern end of the ski area, is sunny and cheaper. St. Johann in Tirol, 10 minutes by train, has its own pistes and hotels for half the price. If you want to stay in Kitzbühel itself: the old town is small, everything is walkable, only the rooms above the bars are noisy. The hotels at the Hahnenkamm valley station and at the Schwarzsee are quieter. Booking: for February and Christmas week, book in early summer; minimum stays of seven nights are usual in high season. In summer the same mid-range costs CHF 140 to 180, in May and November half that, but then many houses are closed. The local tax of around CHF 4 per night comes on top and funds the guest card.
You get the Kitzbühel Card from your accommodation from one night onwards, and it is worth more than elsewhere: free travel on all buses and the regional trains between Wörgl and Hochfilzen, in summer with the summer card all the region's cable cars once up and down daily, admission to the swimming pool and discounts at the museum. If you come in summer, you hardly need any transport budget. It gets expensive in the huts on the Hahnenkamm: a Wiener Schnitzel costs CHF 25 to 30 (about EUR 27 to 32) there, a Kaiserschmarrn CHF 16 to 18, a beer CHF 6. The huts in the Jochberg and Pass Thurn area are noticeably cheaper and often better, and a sandwich from your rucksack is no problem on the terraces as long as you order a drink. Après-ski at the Hahnenkamm valley station is a price shock: an Aperol costs CHF 10, a bottle of wine from CHF 60. The old town has cheaper bars one lane further on. Shopping in the Vorderstadt is window-shopping; the supermarket by the station has normal prices. And for the race: if you want to see the Hahnenkamm race live, you pay around CHF 30 to 40 for a standing ticket at the Streif, nothing for the spots along the lower course, and you have to book your accommodation a year ahead or sleep in Kirchberg.
Kitzbühel's year has four faces. Hahnenkamm week in January, usually the third or fourth weekend, is a spectacle with 80,000 visitors, parties and helicopters, but unsuitable as a ski holiday: the Hahnenkamm is partly closed and prices double. February is the classic ski high season with the holidays from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland; the pistes are full but good, and prices at their highest. March is our recommendation for winter: light for longer, sun on the terraces, prices falling, and until Easter the north-facing slopes on the Hahnenkamm hold the snow well. The season ends in early April. Summer, from mid-June to mid-September, is Kitzbühel's underrated side: hikes on the Horn and the Hahnenkamm, cable cars free with the summer card, swimming in the Schwarzsee, road cycling over the passes of the Kitzbühel Alps, hotel prices 30 per cent below winter. In July there is golf, tennis (Generali Open) and the triathlon, and then it is busy. The quiet weeks are May and November: many hotels and all cable cars closed, but the old town to yourself and rock-bottom prices. Weather: Kitzbühel lies in the grassy mountains, with more precipitation than the Inn valley; rainy days in summer are normal.
Everyone goes up the Hahnenkamm, hardly anyone up the Kitzbüheler Horn. The local mountain on the other side of the valley is 1,996 metres high, has a small, sunny ski area with no queues in winter and in summer the Alpine flower garden with over 400 plant species at 1,880 metres, free, from June to September. The cable car costs CHF 30 (about EUR 32) return, nothing with the summer card. At the top stands the transmitter mast, and the view stretches from the Wilder Kaiser to the Grossglockner. The Schwarzsee, 20 minutes on foot from the centre, is a moorland lake at 20 to 24 degrees in summer, one of the warmest bathing lakes in Tyrol, admission to the lido around CHF 7, reduced with the guest card. The Bichlalm above Kitzbühel is in winter a small freeride and touring area with just one chairlift and a hut where you eat in peace after a ski tour or toboggan run. For a day trip: the Wilder Kaiser with Ellmau and Going is 20 minutes away, with the Hintersteiner See, the circular route around the massif and the SkiWelt, which in winter can be skied together with KitzSki on the Kitzbüheler Alpen AllStarCard. The Krimml Waterfalls, the highest in Europe, are an hour away over the Pass Thurn (admission CHF 10). And Salzburg can be done by train in 2 hours, as a city day when it rains.
By train from Zurich in around 5 hours: Railjet to Innsbruck or Wörgl, change there towards Salzburg; Kitzbühel has two stations, one right at the Hahnenkammbahn. Fare around CHF 90 (about EUR 96) each way, from CHF 45 with Sparschiene. By car 4 hours via Innsbruck and Wörgl, vignette CHF 12. Once there, ski bus and local bus are free with the guest card; you only need the car for trips to the Wilder Kaiser or Salzburg.
Reckon per person for seven nights mid-range in a double room CHF 700 to 1,000 (about EUR 749 to 1,070), 6-day ski pass around CHF 420, food CHF 60 a day, ski hire CHF 250 for the week: together CHF 1,800 to 2,300 plus travel. In Kirchberg or Reith you stay for 30 to 40 per cent less in the same ski area. That makes Kitzbühel as expensive as Davos or Engelberg, but cheaper than Zermatt and St. Moritz.
Yes, after the race from the end of January the Streif is open as piste 21; the Mausefalle and the Steilhang are black and are closed as needed. For normal skiers there is the Familienstreif, a blue variant around the key sections. You can enter the start house at the Hahnenkamm top station at any time and look down into the Mausefalle. Our advice: Streif yes, but in the morning while the piste is still grippy.
Yes, and more than most people think. With the Kitzbühel Card from your accommodation you ride the cable cars on the Hahnenkamm, the Horn and in Kirchberg free every day, and buses and regional trains are included. Hiking on the Horn with the Alpine flower garden, swimming in the Schwarzsee, road cycling over the Pass Thurn, golf on four courses. Hotels cost 30 per cent less than in winter. Only July, with the tennis tournament and triathlon, is busy.
March: long days, sun, prices below February levels, snow good on the Hahnenkamm and at Pass Thurn until Easter. January after race week is cold, snow-sure and quiet, with the cheapest passes of the high season. February is busy and the most expensive; December before Christmas is often short of natural snow. Hahnenkamm week is an event, not a ski holiday.
Kirchberg in Tirol, 5 minutes by train or bus, has its own access to the KitzSki area via the Fleckalmbahn and Maierlbahn and rooms for CHF 120 to 160 (about EUR 128 to 171) instead of CHF 200 to 280. Reith and Aurach are quiet villages with guesthouses from CHF 100 and a ski bus. Jochberg lies at the southern end of the area and is sunnier. St. Johann in Tirol has its own smaller ski area and hotels for half the price, 10 minutes by train to Kitzbühel.
St. Anton · Ischgl · Innsbruck · Kitzbühel · Mayrhofen
Five ski areas in ten days, a new mountain every second day, never more than two hours in the car: the winter route for anyone who finds a week at the same lift too little.
Innsbruck · Ötztal · Zillertal · Kitzbühel
Four valleys, day hikes instead of hut-to-hut marches, cable cars included with the guest card and a bed with a shower in the evening: the hiking route for anyone who wants Tyrol on foot and by train.
The Streif is the most notorious downhill in the world: the Mausefalle with an 85 per cent gradient, the Steilhang, the Hausbergkante and a final schuss in which racers fly over a roller at 140 km/h. Race weekend brings around 90,000 visitors to a town of 8,000, plus celebrities, sponsor tents and a party that runs into Sunday morning. Standing places in the finish area cost from around CHF 25 (EUR 25 to 30), grandstand seats a lot more, and they sell out in autumn. Hotels in Kitzbühel charge three times the usual rate and demand four-night minimum stays; Kirchberg and St. Johann are a little more relaxed. If you want peace and quiet, avoid this weekend: some pistes around the Hahnenkamm are closed and the town centre is loud.
For travellers: Arrive by train (Kitzbühel has a station on the Wörgl to Salzburg line) as the roads are closed or jammed; if you just want to watch, the Friday super-G is far less crowded.
What a weekend in the city with a cable car from the centre really costs, when the Innsbruck Card pays off and why you can have skiing and city life on the same day here.
What a week in the best-known ski valley in Tyrol really costs, which of the four valley sections suits you, when the glacier is the best choice and how the guest card lets you travel almost free in summer.
What a week in the loudest ski resort in the Zillertal really costs, where you can sleep despite the après-ski, when the Harakiri is a good idea and why summer here is another world.
