Austria · Tyrol · Travel guide
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.
Photo: Jonas Horsch / 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
Bed and breakfast hotel in a side street near the Penkenbahn, rooms with balconies, breakfast buffet, sauna, no dinner. Quiet enough to sleep, close enough for the first lift. For skiers who want to eat out in the evening.
Traditional inn on Ahornstrasse with a tavern, simple rooms, a small spa and half board at prices that are rare in Mayrhofen. Ahornbahn and Penkenbahn right next door, free parking. For anyone who prefers a real Tyrolean inn to a hotel block.
Family-run guesthouse with breakfast buffet on Edergasse, central yet quiet, rooms with balconies and views of the Penken or Ahorn, free parking. Simple, clean, friendly. For couples and families on a small budget.
Mid-range
Large traditional hotel in the middle of the main street with spa, indoor pool and half board, three minutes to the Penkenbahn. Rooms facing the street hear the evening, rooms facing the courtyard do not. For anyone who wants to be in the thick of it.
Right at the valley station of the Penkenbahn, with spa, gym and an après-ski bar in the building. If you want it any closer to the lift, you would have to sleep up the mountain. Loud in the evening, perfect in the morning, take a room at the back.
Four-star hotel with indoor pool, sauna and half board, a few minutes from both cable cars but away from the loudest corner. Large rooms, many with balconies. For families who want Mayrhofen but not the Ice Bar outside the window.
Luxury
Adults-only five-star hotel with a large spa, gourmet cooking and calm in the middle of the village, five minutes to the Penkenbahn. Elegant rooms, personal service. For couples who want to enjoy Mayrhofen's noise from a soundproofed distance.
Traditional house since the 17th century, today four-star superior with spa, pools, several parlours and a kitchen with Zillertal roots. Central location, rooms facing the garden quiet. For guests who want to combine tradition and comfort.
Four-star superior hotel on the quiet edge of the village near the Ahornbahn, with a large spa, outdoor pool and high-quality half board. Ski bus and centre within walking distance. For families and anyone who wants comfort together with sleep.
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By 3S cable car from the centre in 8 minutes up to 1,800 metres, Superskipass around CHF 72 (about EUR 77) a day. Around 140 kilometres of piste to Finkenberg and Lanersbach, snowpark, the Harakiri in the morning. Take the cable car down before 3 pm, otherwise there is a queue.
The largest aerial tramway in Austria, up to 2,000 metres, summer ticket around CHF 33 return or included with the Activcard. At the top the circular walk around the Filzenboden and the Adlerbühne birds of prey show, daily except Friday, free. Three hours with children.
Bus from the bus station in 40 minutes, free with a ski pass, then three cable cars up to 3,250 metres, snow all year round. Pedestrian ticket around CHF 60, Natur Eis Palast around CHF 25 extra. A whole day, warm clothing.
With the Zillergrund bus from Mayrhofen (around CHF 15 return) to the reservoir at 1,850 metres, the dam, hike to the Plauener Hütte in 90 minutes. May to October, half a day to a full day, almost no people.
Taxi bus to the reservoir and the Gasthaus Wasserfall, from there 2 hours flat up the valley to the Grüne-Wand-Hütte, past waterfalls. Bus around CHF 12 return. Half a day, suitable for children too, bathing spots by the stream.
From Breitlahner or Ginzling 3 hours to the listed Alpine Club hut from 1879 at 2,042 metres, a night in the dormitory CHF 25 to 40. A day there and back, or with a night up top, June to September.
Bus from Mayrhofen in 40 minutes (around CHF 10 with the guest card), ascent to the Olpererhütte with its suspension bridge 2 hours, 600 metres of climbing. Be at the top before 9 am, otherwise there is a queue for the photo. 5 hours in total, June to October.
Show dairy on the edge of the village with a tour, tasting and restaurant, admission around CHF 9, 90 minutes. All the valley's cheeses in one place and the Graukäse to try. The best rainy-day place in Mayrhofen.
Tandem flight from the Penken or Ahorn over Mayrhofen, 15 to 30 minutes in the air, from CHF 120 including the cable car ride. Summer and winter in good weather, the calmest air early in the morning. Two hours including preparation.
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By Zillertal standards Mayrhofen eats internationally: pizza, burgers and steak alongside Gröstl and dumplings, because the guests from Britain and the Netherlands want it that way. You find Tyrolean cooking in the old inns, in the huts on the Ahorn and at the dairy. In the evening Mayrhofen is expensive, at midday on the mountain it is fair.
Two flat cheese dumplings in clear beef broth, the hut meal of the upper Zillertal. Pungent with Graukäse, mild with mountain cheese. CHF 9 to 13 (about EUR 10 to 14).
Tip:On the Ahorn the huts are quieter and two francs cheaper than on the Penken.
Fried potatoes, beef, bacon and a fried egg from the iron pan, just the thing after a cold day on skis. CHF 14 to 18.
Tip:In the old inns on the Ziller it is better than in the hotel restaurants on the main street.
Mountain cheese, Graukäse and camembert made from Zillertal hay milk, on show and to taste at the show dairy. Cheese plate CHF 12 to 16, to take away from CHF 3 per 100 grams.
Tip:The dairy restaurant serves Tyrolean dishes at fair prices at lunchtime and has a terrace with a view of the Ahorn.
Fresh from the pan in the huts on the Ahorn, with stewed plums, fluffy and plentiful. CHF 13 to 17.
Tip:Order one between two, with a view of the Grosser Möseler.
Half-moon pasta pockets with a spinach and quark filling, with brown butter and parmesan, South Tyrolean in origin, everywhere in Mayrhofen. CHF 13 to 16.
Tip:As a starter for two, then something hearty.
Black tea with rum and spices, hot, the currency of après-ski. CHF 6 to 7 a glass, beer CHF 5 to 6, Flügerl CHF 7 to 8.
Tip:The Jagertee has more alcohol than you can taste; two before the run down to the valley is one too many.
Yeast dough fried in clarified butter, with cranberries or sauerkraut, on the Alpine pastures and on feast days. CHF 5 to 8 each.
Tip:Fresh or not at all, and in the sauerkraut version a full meal.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Mayrhofen lies where the Zillertal splits into four valleys: Zemmgrund, Stillupgrund, Zillergrund and Tuxertal meet here at 630 metres, which is why the place was the gathering point of the upper valley as early as the Middle Ages. "Mayrhoven" is first mentioned in 1300 as a fief of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, which ruled this part of the valley until 1816. The farmers lived from the cattle they drove up to the pastures of the side valleys in summer, and from peddling, which took Zillertalers as far as Russia in winter. In the 19th century the first Alpinists came: from 1879 the German and Austrian Alpine Club built the Berliner Hütte in the Zemmgrund, a house with a dining hall, chandelier and darkroom that is listed to this day and marks the beginning of mountain tourism in the valley. In 1902 the Zillertalbahn reached the village, in 1954 the Penkenbahn opened, in 1968 the Ahornbahn. In the 1970s and 1980s Mayrhofen became the ski resort where Britons, Dutch and Germans learned après-ski, and since 2005 every spring brings Snowbombing, a British electro and indie festival with concerts in igloos, forest clearings and on the Penken that turns the village into a festival site for a week. In 2008 the Harakiri opened, at 78 per cent the steepest groomed piste in Austria, and in 2015 the new Penkenbahn, a 3S cable car that carries 3,840 people an hour from the village centre up the mountain. Today Mayrhofen has around 4,000 inhabitants, more than 10,000 guest beds and is the place where the Zillertal earns the most money and sleeps the least.
Mayrhofen is the terminus of the Zillertalbahn: from Zurich by Railjet to Jenbach in 4 hours, then 55 minutes by narrow-gauge railway, around 5 hours in total and CHF 85 to 90 (about EUR 91 to 96) each way, from CHF 45 with Sparschiene. The station is on the edge of the village, 10 minutes on foot to the Penkenbahn, and many hotels pick you up. From Munich it takes 3 hours, from Vienna 5. By car from Zurich 3 hours 45 minutes via Innsbruck and Jenbach, vignette CHF 12, Arlberg tunnel around CHF 12. The valley road is jammed on Saturdays in winter, up to two hours for the 30 kilometres from Jenbach. Once there, Mayrhofen is the bus hub of the upper valley: from the bus station next to the Penkenbahn, lines run to Hintertux (40 minutes, free with a ski pass, every quarter of an hour in season), to Finkenberg, into the Tuxertal and in summer into the Zillergrund, Stillup and to the Schlegeis reservoir. The ski buses in the village itself are free, but the place is so compact that you are faster on foot. Parking costs CHF 10 to 20 a day, hotel garages are often included. In Mayrhofen you only need a car for trips out of the valley; for everything else train and bus are enough, and for the side valleys in summer the taxi buses are the only permitted access anyway.
Mayrhofen has two local mountains with opposite characters. The Penken is the main area: by Penkenbahn from the centre in 8 minutes up to 1,800 metres, then around 140 kilometres of piste via Horberg, Rastkogel and Eggalm to Finkenberg and Lanersbach. Red and blue pistes dominate, plus the Vans Penken Park, one of the best snowparks in the Alps, and the Harakiri: a 78 per cent gradient over 400 metres, groomed, black, bumpy from 11 am. If you want to ski it, ski it at 9 am when it is hard and grippy; it is more a matter of nerve than of technique, and the rest of the day is not worth it there. The Penken's drawback: the run down to the valley is narrow and often closed as far as Finkenberg, so everyone takes the cable car down, which between 3.30 and 4.30 pm means half an hour of waiting. Go down at 3 pm or eat at the top. The Ahorn opposite is the family mountain: by the largest aerial tramway in Austria (160 people) up to 2,000 metres, a wide, sunny plateau with six pistes, a practice area and one of the most beautiful valley runs in the valley at 5.5 kilometres, which is only open when snow conditions are good, though. For beginners, children and anyone who finds the Penken too crowded. Superskipass around CHF 72 (about EUR 77) a day, 6 days around CHF 390, valid throughout the valley including Hintertux.
Mayrhofen is the most expensive place in the Zillertal: mid-range double room with half board CHF 180 to 260 (about EUR 193 to 278) in winter, CHF 300 and more over Christmas, in the February holidays and in Snowbombing week, guesthouses from CHF 110. The village is one long main street with hotels on both sides, and the location decides your sleep. The zone around the Penkenbahn, the bus station and the main street between the Ice Bar and the Brück'n Stadl is loud until 11 pm, longer at weekends. You sleep more quietly on the western edge of the village towards the Ahornbahn, in Hollenzen and Schwendau north of the centre or in Hippach opposite, all with a ski bus. Finkenberg above has its own access to the Penken area, is quiet and 15 per cent cheaper. If you want après-ski and still want to sleep, take a room facing the courtyard or in the rear building and ask for it explicitly when booking. Half board makes particular sense here: restaurants in the evening cost CHF 25 to 35 for a main course and a drink, and hotel kitchens are often good. Booking: February and Christmas the year before, minimum stay seven nights Saturday to Saturday. In January after Epiphany and from mid-March prices fall by 20 to 30 per cent; in summer the same mid-range costs CHF 120 to 170, and then the village is surprisingly quiet.
Après-ski in Mayrhofen begins at 3 pm at the valley station of the Penkenbahn and ends when the bars close. The Ice Bar and the Brück'n Stadl are the institutions, plus huts on the Penken such as the Grillhof Alm, where dancing starts at 2 pm. Prices: beer CHF 5 to 6 (about EUR 5 to 6), Jagertee CHF 6 to 7, Flügerl (vodka Red Bull) CHF 7 to 8; an evening with four drinks costs CHF 30 to 40 per person. That is cheaper than Ischgl or St. Anton and considerably cheaper than Switzerland, but louder and more British. If you do not want après-ski, avoid the main street between 4 and 7 pm and eat in Hippach or Schwendau. Snowbombing, early to mid-April, is a category of its own: around 5,000 British festival guests, concerts on the Penken, parties in the forest and on the race course, festival pass around CHF 300 to 400 without a hotel, package with hotel from CHF 700 per person. Skiing is good then, because the festival guests do not get up until midday, but hotels are full months in advance and twice as expensive. If that is not for you, avoid the week. Saving tricks: book ski pass and hire online in advance, have the hut lunch menu for CHF 14 to 16 at midday, buy drinks in the supermarket rather than at the hotel bar. Not worth it: taxis to Hintertux (CHF 60 to 80) when the bus is free.
Mayrhofen's winter season runs from early December to mid-April, and the week matters more than the month. Christmas and New Year are full and expensive, but with fireworks over the Penken. The first half of January after Epiphany is our recommendation: cold, usually good snow, empty pistes, prices 30 per cent below February. The February holidays from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Britain follow one another and make the month a permanent high season with a queue at the Penkenbahn from 8.30 am. March brings sun, long days and spring snow in the afternoon, with soft snow on the valley run. Snowbombing week in April is a festival, not a ski week. After that the Penken closes around Easter, the Ahorn often earlier, and Hintertux keeps going. Summer, June to September, is the other world: Mayrhofen becomes a hiking village with families and older guests, the Penken and Ahorn cable cars run daily, the Activcard makes cable cars and buses free, and in the evening it is quiet. July and August are busy but not loud, September the most beautiful month with stable weather and the cattle drives. The gaps are mid-April to the end of May and November, when many hotels are closed and the village feels empty; if you only want Hintertux, that is when you find the lowest prices.
Summer in Mayrhofen means the side valleys, and they are closed to cars or subject to a toll, which keeps them quiet. The Zillergrund runs 20 kilometres east to the Zillergründl reservoir at 1,850 metres, reachable with the Zillergrund bus from Mayrhofen (around CHF 15, about EUR 16, return, cheaper with the guest card); at the top a walk across the dam, the hike to the Plauener Hütte (1 hour 30 minutes) and views of the Reichenspitze group. The Stillupgrund is shorter and wilder: taxi bus to the Stillup reservoir and on to the Gasthaus Wasserfall, from there flat up the valley to the Grüne-Wand-Hütte, 2 hours, with waterfalls left and right and almost no people. The Zemmgrund is the classic mountaineers' valley: from Ginzling or the Gasthaus Breitlahner (bus from Mayrhofen) in 3 hours to the Berliner Hütte, the listed Alpine Club house from 1879 with its dining hall and wooden staircase, a night in the dormitory from CHF 25 for members, CHF 40 for non-members. If you stay a night up there, you see the Grosser Möseler in the first light in the morning. Then the local mountains: in summer the Ahorn is the family mountain with the circular walk around the Filzenboden and the Adlerbühne birds of prey show (free, daily except Friday), the Penken the sports mountain with the high trail to the Penkenjochhütte and the mountain bike trails. Both cable cars are included with the Activcard, CHF 30 to 35 each otherwise. And the Schlegeis reservoir with the Olpererhütte is 40 minutes away by bus; get up early for the suspension bridge.
By Railjet from Zurich via Innsbruck to Jenbach, then by Zillertalbahn to the terminus Mayrhofen, around 5 hours in total and CHF 85 to 90 (about EUR 91 to 96) each way, from CHF 45 with Sparschiene. By car 3 hours 45 minutes via Innsbruck and Jenbach, vignette CHF 12 and Arlberg tunnel CHF 12, with traffic jams in the valley on Saturdays in winter. Once there you do not need a car: Penkenbahn in the centre, buses to Hintertux and into the side valleys from the bus station, free with a ski pass or guest card.
Along the main street between the Penkenbahn and the Ice Bar, yes, until about 11 pm. On the edge of the village towards the Ahornbahn, in Hollenzen, Schwendau, Hippach or Finkenberg you sleep quietly and are at the cable car in 10 minutes by ski bus. In summer the whole village is quiet. Families ski on the Ahorn, where the practice area and the pistes are a long way from the après-ski.
If you are confident on black pistes, yes, but in the morning. The Harakiri has a 78 per cent gradient over 400 metres, is groomed and grippy at 9 am, bumpy and icy from 11 am. It is a short test of nerve, not a long slope, and a fall there slides all the way to the bottom. A red piste runs alongside from which you can watch. Children and intermediate skiers can skip it without missing anything.
A British music festival in early to mid-April with concerts on the Penken, in the forest and in the village, around 5,000 guests, pass around CHF 300 to 400 (about EUR 321 to 428). If you want to combine festival and skiing it is unique, and the pistes are empty in the morning. If not, avoid the week: hotels are twice as expensive and booked out months ahead, and the village gets little sleep. The exact dates are fixed each autumn.
Per person for seven nights mid-range with half board CHF 900 to 1,300 (about EUR 963 to 1,391), 6-day Superskipass around CHF 390, ski hire CHF 250, lunch and après-ski CHF 40 to 60 a day: together CHF 1,800 to 2,400 plus travel. That is 20 per cent above Zell am Ziller or Fügen in the same ski area and about the level of Davos. January after Epiphany and the second half of March are cheapest.
Yes, and it is a different place then: quiet, family-friendly, with the side valleys Zillergrund, Stillup and Zemmgrund, the Berliner Hütte, the Schlegeis reservoir and two cable cars that are free with the Zillertal Activcard. Hotels cost CHF 120 to 170 (about EUR 128 to 182) with half board. The glacier in Hintertux is 40 minutes away by bus, for snow in July. July and August have afternoon thunderstorms, September is the most stable.
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 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.
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.
