Kitzbühel: the back story

About Kitzbühel: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Kitzbühel is a real town before it is a ski resort: the old streets of the Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, a market every Saturday, and a cable car that lifts you from the centre straight into 233 km of pistes. Above it runs the Streif.

A town first

Kitzbühel combines a historic town centre with mountain sport. Fashion houses, jewellers, galleries and traditional craftsmen line the Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, the town market runs every Saturday, and the Hahnenkamm cable car takes you straight from the historic centre into the ski area.

The Streif

The Hahnenkamm organisers call the Streif one of the most difficult downhills in the world. It was first raced in 1937, when Thaddäus Schwabl won in 3:53.1; the record, 1:51.58, has stood to Fritz Strobl since 1997. The official figures: start at 1,665 metres, finish at 805 metres, 860 metres of vertical, 3,315 metres long, averaging 27% and reaching 85% at the Mausefalle, where racers fly up to 80 metres only 8.5 seconds after the start.

“The most difficult downhill in the world”: that is how the Hahnenkamm organisers describe the Streif.

Race week

The Hahnenkamm races bring the whole town out every January. The 87th edition runs from 18 to 24 January 2027, with the downhill on the Streif, the Super-G on the Streifalm and the slalom on the Ganslern. Book early.

The KitzSki area

KitzSki has 233 km of pistes. The Hahnenkamm links over Pengelstein to Jochberg and the Resterhöhe by the 3S cable car, and across the valley the Kitzbüheler Horn offers sunny, quieter slopes. Families start on the practice lifts in the valley, which cost nothing to use, and on the learning areas up the mountain.

Every budget

Next to the five-star hotels, Kitzbühel Tourism lists family pensions a few minutes’ walk from the Hahnenkamm, and the ski bus, as the tourist office notes, runs to all the surrounding areas. Lift prices vary with three seasons, so the Super Saver weeks at the start and end of winter are the best value.

Our advice: ski the Streif’s tourist route on a quiet weekday morning, take lunch at a hut on the Horn, and come back in race week only if you have booked a year ahead.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Kitzbühel: the back story before you go.