Austria’s Biggest Ski Resorts

St Anton’s King of the Arlberg ski area, an almighty expanse of 350km of pistes and 200km of heavenly powder terrain. Après ski doesn’t get bigger or better than Krazy Kangruh and Mooserwirt, with the latter pouring out 2500 litres of beer every afternoon (more per sq. metre than anywhere else in the Motherland). Back at base, the village is big enough to dwarf other Austrian resorts but small enough to feel homely - the walk from end to end takes about 40 minutes. Tyrolean through and through, the traditional timber buildings house 90 bars and restaurants and 11,200 guest beds. There’s even room for the 30,000m2 Arlberg wellness centre, and after powder and parties like these, a spot of pampering comes high on the menu.

Nigh on 500 million people tune in to watch the Hahnenkamm race each year, but Kitz’s status as one of the big boys isn’t ALL about the scariest downhill race on the World Cup circuit. This is also one of the most beautiful resorts you’ll come across: look up and you’ve got 360 panoramas of the Kitzbühel Alps, look around and you’ll see colourful coaching inns and gothic churches lining medieval cobbled streets. There are around 500 hotels in the region, many housing all manner of luxuries, and shops sell everything from Dirndl to Channel sunnies. Activities range from tennis, to the 3 ice rinks to the ‘waterworld’ and spa at the Aquarena. And that’s before we get to the skiing: lifts carry more than 95,000 people an hour around the 170km ski area, which contains a brilliantly mixed bag of terrain. If you exhaust the local slopes, the All Star Card opens up a gigantic 1087km of pistes (and 24 snow parks) across 10 different areas - including SkiWelt, Fieberbrunn, and Alpbach.

Declared a city in the late twenties, then a spa resort in the sixties, Zell now has a population of around 10,000 and the capacity to host thousands more guests. The whole place is wonderfully scenic, with Mother Nature displaying her finest Alpine artwork in the form of peaks, forests and lakes, and streets lined with elegant Victorian buildings. There’s lots going on, with a weekly market, congress centre, and tons of shops. As for the skiing, the local pass gives access to THREE different areas: The Schmitten’s you’re local mountain, with a 77km mix of runs including five fabulous valley descents. Then there’s the Maiskogel over by Kaprun, a 20km family-friendly ski area. And last but FAR from least, you’ve got the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, where 41km of snow sure pistes and never-ending powder trails await. Actually that’s just the start of it: get the Salzburger Superski pass and Saalbach, Kitzbühel and many more resorts are included in a gobsmacking 2500km of terrain.

136km of pistes grace Mayrhofen’s two local mountains, and staggeringly all of them are covered by snowmaking. But as the gateway to five valleys, this is just a smidgeon of what’s skiable if you’re based here: The slopes of Egglam, Rastkogel and the snow sure Hintertux Glacier are within easy driving or bussing distance, and the Zillertaler Superskipass unlocks a mighty 487km of runs altogether. The resort itself has real town feel, with shops, hotels and après spots constantly buzzing. Its capacity for a party is immense: the Altitude and Snowbombing Festivals comes to town every April, bringing crowds in their thousands to see comedy and music superstars.

Head up to the top of Hohe Salve for overwhelming sights of seventy 3000m peaks that’ll make you feel like a speck on the horizon. With the whole area pass up your sleeve, this is your access point to Austria’s largest linked ski area, where you can reach 8 other resorts via 280km of blues and reds. As the largest of the Wilder Kaiser villages, Soll’s seen as the ‘unofficial capital’ of the mighty SkiWelt, giving some weighty claims to the local area alone. It has Austria’s biggest night ski area with 10km of floodlit slopes for after-dark practice. For somewhere with the highest density of hotel beds in the region, 30-something restaurants and a stonking 60 schnapps distilleries, the village itself feels fairly uncrowded – unless you find yourself in Whisky Mühle after the lifts close…

Everything you’d expect of a big city seems to fit rather nicely into Ischgl - posh shops, big-name night clubs, gourmet restaurants and even the giant Silvretta Centre with its adventure pool and bowling alley. Most resorts have nothing on the après scene here, with Trofana Alm and Pacha rocking every evening. Ischgl turns up the heat even more at the season’s beginning, middle and end, when it hosts huge music concerts: headliners like Elton John and Rihanna bring crowds of 24,000 strong, with thousands more here just for the slopes. Which alone are a massive attraction: This is one of Austria’s highest ski areas with 240km of awesome corduroy, an award winning snow park, and the chance to cross the border into Switzerland’s Samnaun region (worth a stop-off, if only for the duty-free shopping…). There’s more to ski on the Austrian side, too, with the Silvretta pass extending to another 71 lifts in Galtur, Kappl and See - and if that’s not big enough for a wonderful week on the mountains, we’ll eat our helmets.

While the village itself is small and cosy, it’s long had a big position on the world stage. Local pistes cover 117km, a hefty chunk of the legendary Arlberg’s 350km area. They also include 21 ungroomed ski routes, 7 high touring runs and the White Ring circuit, where a thousand participants come to race every January. Most years the area sees more snow than anywhere else in Europe, and it also has a seriously high density of gourmet restaurants compared to other resorts – so whether you spend the day freeriding or feasting, there’s plenty to go around. Last time we checked, there were 300 hotels and chalets between Lech and its tiny neighbour Zurs – many having hosted high-profile guests including world leaders and European Royals.

Saalbach has a healthy dose of everything: classic character, rocking après ski and oodles of skiing. With its smaller neighbour Hinterglemm (they’re often seen as one resort) there’s the capacity to sleep around 20,000 guests, and most digs come in the form of chalets and hotels. The après scene is huge in all departments, with over 40 bars on and off the mountain, restaurants from traditional to Mexican and activities like ice karting and the highest tree top path in Europe. As well as linking it with Hinterglemm, the SkiCircus area includes the slopes of Leogang and Fieberbrunn, and at 270km they form one of Austria’s biggest ski areas. A huge bonus of staying here is that there are so many other resorts nearby if you fancy skiing somewhere different for a day: The Salzburg Super Ski Card unlocks 2500km of pistes in and around the Salzburg region, and the Alpen All Star Card extends to areas like Kitzbühel and SkiWelt.

Home to 146km2 of glaciers and 321km2 of peaks, pastures and woodland, this region’s no tiddler. But with only 1km2 of built-up area, the resort itself feels wonderfully snug. It still manages to squeeze in a whopping great spa centre - the 50,000m² Aqua Dome, where the outdoor pools ogle the surrounding peaks. Sölden’s après scene’s pretty sizeable too, with umbrella bars, mountain huts, discos and a big piste-side party every week. The Sölden Ötztal Ski Pass pins down two glaciers (Rettenbach and Tiefenbach) and three mountains higher than 3000m (Gaislachkogl, Tiefenbachkogl, Schwarze Schneide) in its 145km blueprint. Not only does this make for varied skiing and glorious vistas, but it also enables a super long season from October through till May.

It’s completely surrounded by mountains and feels far, far away from noisy traffic. But Hopfgarten’s just moments from the mammoth SkiWelt - Austria’s largest ski circuit with 280km of the good stuff. For further mileage, the Ki-West gondola and an on-piste link to Kirchberg puts Kitzbühel within reach, tallying on another 160km. There are 77 mountain restaurants to munch in but whilst the choice is big, prices certainly aren’t (especially compared to French resorts). Hopf itself is one of the country’s oldest market towns, complete with cobbled streets, a big old baroque church and a rail station. These days it has hotel beds for around 2600 skiers, with most hotels only five minutes from the lifts. As are many of the pubs and restaurants - we like English-themed Six Pence for a beer and Gasthof Post for traditional Austrian nosh. For a bigger town feel, Worgl’s only twenty minutes’ drive away - one of Austria’s finest shopping cities.