What's Kitzbuhl like?

A snowHead

A friend is doing a season in Kitzbuhl, and we were planning on skiing there to see her; however, we know nothing about Kitzbuhl, having only ever skied in France. We normally do catered or s/c chalet, and drive, not using big tour ops, and not being keen on hotelzs.
Having had a brief look online, chalets don't seem to be a very big thing in Austria, Kitzbuhl looks to be very low, and it's considerably further to drive than most of France, so we're not very enthusiastic!
Can anyone on here enlighten us somewhat about the resort, please?

A snowHead

Erm pretty classic mediaeval walled town, iconic ski race venue, Tirolean apres vibe. Easy access by road to lots of other places on the same lift ticket, Skiwelt, Skicircus etc

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Next to St.Anton Kitzbühel is probably my favourite resort in Austria.
Totally different experience to French skiing. Don't worry about the altitude, it's a lot further east than the French resorts and the underlying terrain is mostly alpine meadow, meaning that you don't need more than 10cm of snow to be able to ski reasonably. Kitz usually keeps at least some lifts open right into May ( it certainly did this year ).
You have an enormous skiable area. Not as enormous as some of the French Mega resorts, but big enough to keep anyone happy for a week. You have a large range of pistes for all levels, and an even larger area of lift accessible off piste.
What's not to like?

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Certainly one of the most famous/classic resorts in the Alps. For a reason - and not because it's too low. If you watch ski racing at all you should be very familiar with it wink

Chalets will be hard to find, but there are plenty of self catering apartments.

Also, Kitzbühel wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steilhung. Can you please describe the differnent skiing experiences between Austria & France?
I've only skied Jungfrau area in Switzerland. We are looking to also try something else.

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@ozibird, IMO the French resorts tend to be custom built villages that hardly existed before the skiing arrived. So in the biggest areas like 3V (Meribel/ValThorens/Les Menuires/Courchevel) and Espace Killy (Val D'Isere / Tignes) you have some architectural monstrosities slapped bang in the middle of the French Alps. On the other hand the skiing is very extensive and generally pretty good. Also those areas are very snow sure. *
Austrian ski areas OTOH tend to be villages that have been there since the beginning of time and have added skiing over the course of the last century. Hence a much more quaint and pleasant atmosphere in the village and generally also in the places you can eat and drink on the hill. As far as snow is concerned, the resorts are not as high as in France, but they are a lot further east and the terrain generally allows skiing with much thinner snow cover. You really can't compare the two in that respect I think.
I generally prefer skiing in Austria, which is not say that I will not go back to Val D'Isere one of these days (last time was 15 years ago).

*I realise that this does not apply to all French ski areas and that the French also have some organically grown ski villages.

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Just to add to the excellent description by Steilhang....A downside of the traditional Austrian resort, is that everybody has to go up the mountain, which can lead to bigger queues. There is often more busing to and from lifts, as well.

I gave up up chocolate box charm for convenience, some years ago.

After all it is free

Kitz is just fantastic, Although I haven't been for about 20 years, it still remains my favourite resort.

I want my ashes to be scattered at the steps of the "Sonnbuhel". Please!

And if there is a queue for the lift just sit on a deck chair with a glass of champagne and wait for the line to shorten.
I think the long queues were very historic or when there is a problem with the Fleckalm Bahn.

The most grown up alpine destination, except the "Londoner".

I wonder if the "Bosna Van Man" is still selling those curry sausages at 3am still.

My apologies to the "Londoner" .. I do love it still.
Or at least I think I would, it was a very "Peter Pan" place 20 years ago, where you saw the same faces serving you drinks
as you fell in love with ten years before.

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@ozibird, tossing every cliche and generalisation at that question, tongue firmly in cheek, apologies in advance for any offense caused

French mega resorts of the Tarentaise: lots of small ski in/out villages of chalets and apartments mid way up pointy, rocky mountains
Joined by lots of fast lifts and long runs
Mammoth areas, unless you ski all day every day, you won't ever get to some connected ski runs even over a season
Need lots of snow to cover the rocks
Some runs just getting you from A to B, often boring, narrow, flat or all 3
Designed post war so lots of concrete and nasty architecture
Not lived in year round
Tiny hotel rooms
Tinier apartments
Expensive food on mountains
Very expensive beer so quiet bars
Good, busy restaurants in villages, no one is in the bars or their tiny bedrooms
Grumpy French service, they are doing you a favour trying to understand your pidgin French after all
At least half the skiers on the blue runs are from the Home Counties
No trees at 2300m and no shelter in a storm

Big Austrian ski areas: traditional pretty village at base of slightly smaller mountain
Year round village where people actually live so some shops
Lifts at base of mountain, anything from edge of village to 5 mins by car away so not much ski in/out
Fewer cat tracks - get a bus from 1 village to the next rather than poling
So smaller linked areas, max 200kms rather than 600kms
Little snow needed to cover meadows
Super lifts - gondolas with soft seats, 8-man detachable chairlifts with soft heated seats and covers
Traditional mountain huts - smoky, atmospheric and full of drunk Germans by 3pm
Everyone drunk enough to not mind the terrible music by 4pm
Austrian twin beds-neither 1 thing or the other
Expensive nice hotels
Cheap beer, busy bars on the way down and heaving in town from 4-8pm
Dodgy wine
Lots of pork
No snow at 800m, but plenty of trees
Roads along valleys so no hairpins
Some lifts geared for people driving so will have a big carpark at the base

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Pretty town.

Good atmosphere.

Average skiing.

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If you suffer from any altitude related insomnia then you will find most of Austria a dream.

@karin, Kitzbühel was voted world ski resort of the year 2015; you can probably take that with a gentle piece of salt. However, we spent an incredible few days there last March. The skiing on and off piste was excellent, busy skiing back down into the resort and not for the faint hearted. The town is amongst the prettiest I have visited in Austria. Lots of high end boutiques and restaurants but also some great places for us mortals. I would certainly go back. Much easier to fly to Munich and hire than drive from the UK. I don't think you will be disappointed but I would not go early or late season as it is low lying.

More info here https://www.kitzbuehel.com/de

You know it makes sense.

Thankyou, that is a great cover of the differences, I had no idea, so different. Drunk Germans by 3pm I hope they dont then drive! their driving is already dubious, as is their inability to queue ( but the Swiss don't queue straight either).

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

I did say I was writing every cliche. Have enjoyed many fine glasses of Zweigelt and Blaufrankish. Austrian wine is actually pretty good. It's just that wine is fine and plentiful in France, beer less so. There are places to get good beers e.g. Bar Robinson happy hour but overpriced Kronenbourg is more likely. And it's always more fun to write the myth than the reality.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Can't disagree with most of the comments.

Remember that Austria requires winter tyres. Kitz is on the railway so flying into Salzburg and bus to rail station or Munich and sbahn and railway are feasible as well. Also for a reasonable sized group good transfer prices from Salzburg are often available.

Although kitz own area is 200kms the additional pass covers a load of other resorts - Skiwelt is sort of nearly linked and you can bus from Kitz to Brixen and a day out in St Johann can be a bit of fun. With a car there are places like Zell and Saalbach as well.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

On the drunk People thing, Kitz and Ishgl are the only places where I have had issues.

Kitzbuhel sees a lot of blokes bussed in from Munich for the day on Saturday, and they like to have a few beers on the coach. I was wearing a top with a British flag on it. Some folk took exception to this leading to someone throwing a punch at me in a lift queue after pushing and shoving. It was not pleasant.

Other incident was in Ishgl, where a bunch of Austrian men on a gondola were, after hearing me speaking in English, speculating amongst them selves in German as to what "a monkey was doing skiing". They did not realise that I speak German half decently, which turned out to be embarrassing for both them and me.

I am of Indian subcontinent descent, so most skiers are unlikely to have these issues. But be under no illusions - Austria is a country where racial tolerance is at a low ebb.

I still love skiing there - a minority of cavemen does not condemn an entire country. Most other people I have met out in both places have been great. Sadly these two incidents have stuck in memory.

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@Harry Flashman, sorry to hear that. It really doesn't represent the norm. At least not in my experience.

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I know - I have posted about the incidents before. Austria is an odd place though - very right wing and openly so in places. The drunk Bavarians that invaded Kitzbuhel on that Saturday were of a similar mindset, I think.

I ski in Austria every year - so in a decade of going, 2 incidents is not exactly the norm, as you say.

In terms of Kitzbuhel, I thought the skiing was OK if not great - not terribly challenging on most pistes, pretty and accessible with decent lifts, but it is pretty crowded and the village, whilst pretty, is a little boring in the evenings.

After all it is free

@Harry Flashman, An Austrian friend told me they are experiencing more under age drinking as well, leading to bad behaviour in the towns and villages, apparently alcopops are now a problem.

@Swissie, it's anarchy Laughing

@Harry Flashman, sorry to hear that. I've never come across attitudes like that here.

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Thankyou for all the information. You must all have been thinking I was very rude not responding, but I haven't had a chance to come back and look since I made the original post. Kind of too many comments to make individual responses, but I do have a slightly better idea of what to expect now.
Very Happy

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Love it so much, I got married there!

A few bottlenecks that have queues but these areas now all have the big 8-seater chairlifts so queuing doesn't take long.

If you get up for first gondola or within 15-20mins of it, usually not much of a queue at the bottom.

I love skiing there but can't be described as challenging, on piste anyway. Exception being the Streif. I don't go off piste so can't comment.

Catered for every budget as far as refreshments go. Most budgets catered for with regards to accommodation also.

We always drive. Last year was an average trip, leaving Saturday mid-afternoon, 2pm ish, arriving at Kitz around 5:30am with a couple of short toilet/snack breaks. Didn't gun it particularly and not really very busy anywhere.

Other words to describe Kitzbühel: beautiful, picturesque, friendly.

Rarely on forum recently since no skiing for me this season AT ALL so trying for cold-turkey approach. Sad

Hope you enjoy it.

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Great place, great skiing, love Kitzbühel

You know it makes sense.

@Drammeister, Fleckalmbahn is scheduled for replacement in 2017. They will be putting in 10 man gondolas. Definitely about time!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Used to ski France and Suisse now stick with Austria. Kitzbuhel, St Anton and Zell am See/Kaprun Glacier are my favourites also the Glemertal Saabach is good and joining to Zell am See soon. Love the people and mixture of nationalities; food good and beer reasonable price. Very easy to fly and drive, good value rental cars that give real flexibility to exploring resorts around an area. The passes usually cover the whole region. Easy drives to Kitz from either Munich or Salzburg.
Don't be concerned about the altitude. The further east you go the snow comes in at lower altitudes because of the Siberian High pressure cold air mass that dominates the Eastern Alps. The western Alps are more influenced by the warmer Atlantic air so need to be higher to preserve the snow. The lower elevation means that the Austrian Alps have far more trees and prettier. Like in the Dolomites I love the last week of the season skiing through meadows on well preserved and groomed pistes. In fact, if you have never skied the Dolomites you have missed a treat. I love Arraba Corvara etc perfect for families and the north facing slopes in Arraba with fantastic lifts make a great trip in April too.

A snowHead

Any specific hotel recommendations in Kitzbühel? I've just booked flights to Innsbruck (and a car) on 1st Jan.

It's for me and Mrs L: we prefer to stay in town rather than ski-in/out (though both is fine, of course). We prefer a decent room size. And half-board if the food is good.

Thanks in advance!

A snowHead

Hotel Kaiserhof.

Hotel A-Rosa.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I have skied both Kitzbuhel & the Terentaise for over 25 years. We stay in a friends hut in the hills around Jochberg so no experience of hotels - if I were staying in Kb I would follow Whitegolds advice - the Kaiserhof is a short walk from the town centre and its close to the Hannenkammbahn lift.
The head of the ski school in Jochberg, who we know quite well sums it up well- In Tignes they ski,and ski, and ski, in Austria they ski, and drink and sing and ski. Not quite right but I understand what he means. The area is great with some great places on the mountain from the newish Toni Alm at Pass Turn, to the Bruggeralm Jochberg Sonnenbuhel in Kb, the Restaurant at the bottom of the run to Aschau - well a visit on a sunny day even if you have get a taxi or bus to the Pengelstein 1 lift.
By the way the restaurant above the top of the Hannenkammbahn is worth a visit - its run by the previous owner of the Sonnenbuhel.
Kb is just a great ski area I love to ski as much as Tignes where I am fortunate enough to have my own apartment
:

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I have skied both Kitzbuhel & the Terentaise for over 25 years. We stay in a friends hut in the hills around Jochberg so no experience of hotels - if I were staying in Kb I would follow Whitegolds advice - the Kaiserhof is a short walk from the town centre and its close to the Hannenkammbahn lift.
The head of the ski school in Jochberg, who we know quite well sums it up well- In Tignes they ski,and ski, and ski, in Austria they ski, and drink and sing and ski. Not quite right but I understand what he means. The area is great with some great places on the mountain from the newish Toni Alm at Pass Turn, to the Bruggeralm Jochberg Sonnenbuhel in Kb, the Restaurant at the bottom of the run to Aschau - well a visit on a sunny day even if you have get a taxi or bus to the Pengelstein 1 lift.
By the way the restaurant above the top of the Hannenkammbahn is worth a visit - its run by the previous owner of the Sonnenbuhel.
Kb is just a great ski area I love to ski as much as Tignes where I am fortunate enough to have my own apartment
:

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@Whitegold, @Neilski, thanks.

Kaiserhof was booked out, so gone for the Resch, about 400m from Hahnenkamm station.

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Lovely town. I've done a week in Soll next door to Kitzbuhel and a week in the Kitzbuhel ski area. Maybe I was unlucky but both times were in January and both times I had very poor conditions.

After all it is free

Very rarely is Kitzbuhel out of sink with the rest of Europe when it comes to snow conditions. If its good or bad, its just as likely to be the same all over. It has no micro climate that makes it unique. What it has got going for it is that its now central for nearly 3,000km of skiing on the one pass

We stayed in the Tiefenbrunner in the summer which was great but for this Winter we chose the Resch as its closer to the lifts and has better food reviews. We chose rooms at the back as its opposite the Londoner bar which is likely to be a bit noisy.

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What's Kitzbuhl like?

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