Kitzbühel or Mayrhofen: the famous town, or the higher skiing
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Kitzbühel and Mayrhofen are two lively Austrian towns with the same season, December to April, and the same airports, Innsbruck or Salzburg. Both sit low in their valleys, both have a name for nights out, and our matching puts each one near the top of the other's list of closest resorts. On paper they are close.
Underneath, they are built the opposite way round. Kitzbühel is a real medieval town with a big, low, cruising ski area and more black run than anywhere we cover. Mayrhofen sleeps even lower, but its skiing climbs a good deal higher. So the question is whether you want the famous old town and the bigger mountain, or the better odds on the snow. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Kitzbühel | Mayrhofen |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 800 m | 630 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 1,968 m | 2,412 m |
| Linked ski area | Quoted at 230 km, not classified by us | 142 km across its own domain; more of the Zillertal by bus |
| Piste we measure around the town | 135 km | 90.5 km |
| Blue and easier | 63 km, 46% of the piste | 28.5 km, 31% of the piste |
| Black | 34 km | 14.1 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 0.6 km | None that we measure |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 29% | 32% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 29% | 32% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 11% | 55% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Innsbruck or Salzburg | Innsbruck or Salzburg |
Two sets of rows pull in opposite directions. The kilometre rows favour Kitzbühel on every count. The height rows favour Mayrhofen just as clearly.
Altitude: Mayrhofen sleeps lower and skis higher
Mayrhofen's town is at 630 metres, the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover, 170 metres below Kitzbühel's 800. Then the mountain turns it round. Mayrhofen's skiing reaches 2,412 metres on our measure, 444 metres above Kitzbühel's 1,968, which is the third lowest top of the 55 resorts we cover.
The middle of the skiing tells the same story. Half of Mayrhofen's piste is above 1,829 metres, and 55 percent of it is at or above 1,800. At Kitzbühel, half is above 1,482 metres, and only 11 percent reaches 1,800.
Neither is snow sure on our measure: Mayrhofen's skiing stops short of the 2,500 metre line we use, and Kitzbühel's well short. Nobody can promise snow anywhere. Our Kitzbühel guide is straight about it: the low base makes early December and late April hit and miss, and extensive snowmaking keeps the main runs open through the core of the winter, which is why January and February are the weeks to book. If your dates are at either end of the season, Mayrhofen's height is worth a lot.
Size: Kitzbühel has more, however you count it
Kitzbühel's area is quoted at 230 kilometres, a figure we have not yet classified. Mayrhofen's domain, across Penken, Ahorn, Rastkogel and Eggalm, is 142 kilometres, and that one we are confident in. Our own measurement of the piste around each town is 135 kilometres at Kitzbühel and 90.5 at Mayrhofen, 45 more. Whichever ruler you use, Kitzbühel is the bigger week.
Mayrhofen's pass covers more of the Zillertal, the Hintertux glacier included, but those areas are a bus ride away, not a lift.
The skiing: Kitzbühel is broader at both ends
Kitzbühel has the more complete mountain. It has 63 kilometres of blue and easier piste, more than twice Mayrhofen's 28.5, and 34 kilometres of black, the most of the 55 resorts we cover and well over twice Mayrhofen's 14.1. Its piste splits more evenly between easy, red and black than at any other Austrian resort we cover, and only two of the 55 resorts we cover are more even.
Mayrhofen is a red mountain. More than half its piste is red, and it has the least blue and easier piste of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. What blue it has is kind, though. The gradients are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels. On that basis Mayrhofen's blues are the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, averaging 12.7 percent against an Austrian average of 16.4. Kitzbühel's average 16.7.
Measured overall, Mayrhofen is a shade steeper: 32 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 29 at Kitzbühel and 26 at a typical resort we cover. Its reds average 23.3 percent, close to the Austrian 23.4, while Kitzbühel's 20.3 are the gentlest reds of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. Mayrhofen has a steep signature run, and the longest piste we measure there is a 4.3 kilometre red with 1,161 metres of vertical. Kitzbühel's longest is a 4.1 kilometre black with 1,068.
Who each one actually suits
Kitzbühel suits people who want the holiday to be more than the skiing. It is a walled medieval town with cobbled streets, proper shops, spas and a casino, and the nightlife runs from loud bars to quiet cocktail corners across the town rather than along one strip. Couples, families and multi generational groups all do well, and so do friends who want a big night. Then there is the racing: the Hahnenkamm and the Streif each January, and the Streif is open to the rest of us in its recreational form. Kirchberg, on the same ski area, is a calmer base, and the town has its own railway station on a main line.
Mayrhofen suits groups who want a lively, welcoming town and are happy to spend most of the week on red. Nightlife, families and the snow park are its strong suits on our own list, so it works for a group of friends, and for a family whose children want the park as much as the piste. If your lot are mostly confident skiers and your dates are early or late, it has the edge.
The bit nobody tells you
Kitzbühel's fearsome name comes from one race course. The mountain as a whole is much kinder. It has more black than any resort we cover, a quarter of its piste, but its blacks average 25.9 percent, the second gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and well under the Austrian average for a black of 30.3. Mayrhofen's average 27.5.
That changes who Kitzbühel is for. A confident intermediate who wants to try a first black, then a second, then a tenth, has more of them here than anywhere we cover, and on gentler gradients than most. If that is the step your group is ready for, Kitzbühel is a better place to take it than its reputation suggests.
So, which one
you want the town as much as the mountain, a mixed group needs both blue to cruise and black to aim at, and you can travel in January or February.
your dates are early or late in the season, your group is happy on red all week, the snow park matters, or you want a glacier in reach by bus.
It has more piste, more easy running and more black, and a town worth the trip on its own. Book the heart of the winter and its low altitude matters far less. Mayrhofen is the right answer when the calendar, not the town, is making the decision.