Kitzbühel: A place for all seasons

Kitzbühel: undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest ski destinations but also quite probably one of the world’s loveliest summer mountain locations. Throughout winter, skiers carve down the pistes when the slopes are coated in powder, from the gold medal winners to ski novices. Then summer returns, and with it, flower-speckled meadows and glittering lakes. Kitzbühel is beautiful all year round. Here's what you can do throughout the seasons in this Austrian town...

Winter

Skiing

Kitzbühel’s status as a legendary ski area has been cemented for 130 years when Franz Reisch flung himself down the Kitzbühler Horn. Today, it’s home to the formidable Streif Hahnenkamm racecourse, the world’s most demanding ski run. But variety is key to Kitzbühel’s fabled pistes. There are 233km of slopes, 57 cable cars and ski lifts and more than 60 mountain huts and restaurants dotted around Hahnenkamm and Kitzbühler Horn mountains. There are also numerous ski schools in Kitzbühel, catering for confident skiers who want to build up their technique to those whose first taste of the slopes may just be in the world’s best place to ski.

Cross-country skiers will also find more than 70 kilometres of groomed trails, including the famed City Trail, the perfect way to explore the region's nature at a slightly slower speed.

Winter hiking and snowshoeing

If you’re looking for a break from seeing trees blur past at 32km an hour (perhaps ambitiously), or your much more accomplished skiing friends have just gone a little too high, take to the trails on foot. The alpine scenery of Tyrol – about as satisfyingly snowy and pointy as mountains get – is best absorbed slowly and mindfully. Focus on your immediate surroundings, and it’s the snow crystals refracting the sunlight that stay in the memory as much as the peaks around. But for most, high in the mountains, it’s the meditative sound of the crunching snow that lingers longest. Well, that and the many Alpine huts you can link up for warming hot chocolate or sweet Tyrolean specialities such as the pancake-like Kaiserschmarrn. The Kitzbühel Tourism Board website lists some of the best hikes, from summiting Stuckkogel to a relaxed walk around the farmhouses of the Wilde Kaiser mountain.

Other winter activities

To really immerse yourself into the alpine culture of Kitzbühel, take some time away from skiing and replace it with other classic winter activities. Kitzbühel is home to Austria’s only curling hall. International tournaments are commonplace throughout the winter, but there’s always time for some trial lessons. Bavarian curling, also known as 'ice stock sport', is more traditional, where the wooden stocks are aimed at a target or for a distance. 

Most fun for the family, however, is tobogganing, where pretty much all you need is a bit of nerve and an enormous sense of humour. There are several dedicated runs down the mountains around Kitzbühel, all at least a 3.5km long; for example the Trattenbachalm run is 5.5km. Even better, the Rodelbahn am Gaisberg run is illuminated for night-time fun.

Fuel up for the adventure

A glance at any menu in the restaurants, inns and mountain huts in Kitzbühel will have you planning your eating out as much as the ski runs. Kasspatzln is a hearty mixture of noodles with grated cheese and crispy fried onions. It’s mac and cheese the Alpine way. Then there’s the ubiquitous Tiroler Speckknödel dumplings served in a broth and with sauerkraut, and the ludicrously moreish Kaspressknödel, a flat bread dumpling with, yup, cheese. The food here is seasonal, locally produced and primarily cheesy… no bad thing in our books. As one of Austria's most exclusive ski resorts, Kitzbühel has a range of gourmet restaurants elevating the region's ingredients. Chef de Cuisine Marco Gatterer at Berggericht, for example, offers a six-course menu adding a moment of surprise to the best products, while Tennerhof has thirty years of refining traditional food to international standards.

Summer

Summer hiking and cycling

Unsurprisingly, the Alpine mountains that offer the best skiing in the world in winter should also provide some of the most ‘it’s-good-to-be-alive’ scenery in summer. Once the snow melts, the deep green grass appears across the mountainsides, soon to be painted in the glorious technicolour of the wildflowers of Alpine meadows. Nor is it a surprise that speeding down the pistes on slippery sticks is equally as fun on two wheels. Yep, summer in Kitzbühel is every bit as exhilarating as in winter. 

The Bergbahn Kitzbühel summer cable cars and lifts make it easy for everyone to reach the summits, including those wanting to explore over 800km of cycling routes. The best way to plan a hike is to link up the mountain huts, stopping for a Weissbier and local delicacies en route. 

See its lovely lakes

‘When I see the lake, I no longer need the sea,’ goes an old Tirolean saying. It’s an understandable sentiment. At altitude, lakes glisten more. Just walk by the sparkling waters of the Ehrenbachhöhesee Lake, the deep blue of Brunnsee Lake, or the turquoise waters of Blaue Lacke, and you’ll discover some of the richest views around Kitzbühel. One relatively gentle 14-kilometre walk, known as the Four Lakes Hike, offers a resting walk with the region's best views. Pass by Lake Schwarzsee on a summer’s day, and you’ll find it hard not to change into your trunks and take a dip. It’s become a bit of a swimming destination, given its reputation as one of the warmest lakes in the Alps and most picturesque, with the Wilder Kaiser mountain chain providing a spectacular backdrop.

Explore the old town 

Since at least the 12th century, people have been living, farming and trading in Kitzbühel, although perhaps not operating a bustling ski town. The evidence of Kitzbühel as a medieval town still towers over the area in the form of St. Catherine’s Church, built in 1360-65. And at 11am and 5pm every day, the sound of its carillon bells ring around the old town. The Museum Kitzbühel displays an insight into the history of the region from the Bronze Age to its explosion as a winter sports destination in the 1950s. Kitzbühel painter Alfons Walde, known for his winter landscapes, unsurprisingly, has a floor dedicated to him. Music will likely drift around the streets on any evening throughout the summer. 

These days, the streets of Kitzbühel are lined with galleries, wineries, craft studios and fashion boutiques, many of the items designed and made in the town itself.

Fuel up for the adventure

Remote mountain towns had to be self-sufficient. Farmers made bread, cheeses, butter, milk, and jams. They tended to orchards, cured bacon, foraged for mushrooms, and kept bees, cattle, lamb, sheep, geese, and ducks. The results, honed over hundreds of years, have meant that the produce in towns such as Kitzbühel is some of the best anywhere. Today, these are the celebrated ingredients used across Kitzbühel’s restaurants and inns, whether served in the delectable traditional dishes or elevated in gourmet restaurants.

Take Bichlhof’s menu as a mouthwatering example. It includes trout from the hotel’s pond, vegetables and herbs from its garden and cheese made from animals on its own pasture. And at s’Pfandl, you need to try the Pfandlgulasch, a beef filet with spaetzle, or the roast veal knuckle. But no matter where you lift your fork, you’ll be guaranteed that famous Tyrolean hospitality. 

Feeling inspired?

For more information, visit the official Kitzbühel Tourist Board website.

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