- The village350m below the median of 1,350m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 1,000m
- Top of the skiing397m below the median of 2,697m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 2,300m
- Lift-linked from the village63km below the median of 146km across the 24 resorts we have a connected figure for. That is piste you can reach from the village without a bus, not what the pass covers.
- 83km
- SeasonThe standard Alpine season, shared by 42 of the 55 resorts we cover.
- December to April
Is Bad Gastein right for you?
Bad Gastein is unlike anywhere else in the Alps, a dramatic belle époque spa town built into a gorge around a waterfall, now enjoying a stylish revival. The village sits at 1,000m and the skiing tops out at 2,300m, and the season runs December to April. On the piste it is a real strength for improvers moving from blue into red and confident intermediates.
Bad Gastein at a glance
- Ski area
- Ski amadé
- Best for
- Couples · Non skiers · Off piste
- Fly to
- Salzburg, Munich or Innsbruck
- Transfer
- About 1h20 by road from Salzburg
- Doorstep skiing
- Limited, use lifts
Who Bad Gastein suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Couples. Belle Époque hotels climb the slopes above a waterfall that runs right through the centre, and the spas and cultural scene make it a characterful week for two.
- Non skiers. The Felsentherme and the Alpentherme are thermal spas, the Healing Gallery works deep inside the mountain, and there are cross country trails, sleighs and husky rides.
- Off piste. Sportgastein, up the valley beside the Hohe Tauern National Park, has three official freeride routes and a Freeride Info Base at the top of the Goldbergbahn.
- Après. Bad Gastein has what its tourist office calls legendary venues and bars, and the season opens with concerts across the valley in December.
Less good for
- Mileage chasers. The biggest area, linking Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein, has about 83 kilometres, and the valley's other ski areas are a ski bus ride away.
- Families with young children. The town is built on a steep slope with hills and steps between hotels and lifts, hard work with small children, so Bad Hofgastein or Dorfgastein may suit better.
Skiing from 860m to 2,300m, village at 1,000m.
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 860mBad Hofgastein (860m), bottom of Schlossalm to Angertal to Stubnerkogel.
- Village
- 1,000m
- Top of the skiing
- 2,300mThe top of the area linked on skis from Bad Gastein, about 2,300m. Sportgastein, a separate area reached by bus, goes higher, to 2,644m.
- 41km blue39%
- 57km red54%
- 8km black8%
We found no official split by colour for Bad Gastein, so this is our own measurement of the marked runs around it, from the piste map.
No green: Austrian pistes are graded from blue.
- Black piste
- 8km, 8% of the pisteThe tenth smallest share of black of the 55 resorts we cover.
- Ski area
- Skigastein, 180kmThree areas, joined by ski bus.
- Lift pass
- Ski amadé, 760km
- Cross country
- 40km of trailsGastein valley network (Bad Gastein, Bad Hofgastein, Dorfgastein, Böckstein). Combined classic and skating.
Sources
- Lowest skiing: skiamade.com
- Lowest skiing: skiamade.com
- Cross country: gastein.com
- Ski area: skigastein.com
- Top of the skiing: our research, the top of the area linked on skis from the village
- Piste by colour and the steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
83km from the village. The pass says 760km.
- 41km blue39%
- 57km red54%
- 8km black8%
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength
- Confident intermediatesA real strength
- Strong skiersThin
The spreadA resort that knows what it is. 54% of the piste is red, and it scores 0.82 for evenness, where 1 is a perfect three way split between blue, red and black. Wonderful if that is your speed, and worth knowing if your group is mixed.
Longest pistePiste H31, 3.1km of blue with 358m of vertical.
The Ski amadé pass covers 760km across five separate areas that are not all joined to each other. From Bad Gastein you can ski 83km without getting on a bus, train or car.
Our own measurement of the run geometry around Bad Gastein comes to 107km of graded piste, and that is what the profile below is drawn from.
Five regions on one pass, not all of them joined to each other. Dorfgastein and Grossarl are lift-linked, most of the rest are not. Roughly 51 of the 260 lifts are magic carpets. The largest genuinely linked domain inside the pass is the 12 Peaks run from Zauchensee through Flachau to Alpendorf, at over 210km since the Panorama Link opened. Schladming's four-mountain Skischaukel is a separate 123km domain, seamlessly linked end to end but not joined to the 12 Peaks. Wikipedia's 860km body text contradicts its own infobox; discard it.
Sources: skiresort.com
Bad Gastein among its Austrian peers
Of these five, Bad Gastein has the third highest village, 1,000m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 1,350m.
Gentle and forgiving, which is why improvers love it and why strong skiers run out of road by Thursday.
The pass covers 760km. From the village you can ski 83km without getting on a bus.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
The ski area is spread across several mountains in the Gastein valley, with a good mix of terrain for intermediates and a scenic, varied feel. The thermal springs are the perfect way to end a day.
The village and the evenings
The grand old buildings give the town a cinematic quality, and a wave of new hotels and bars has brought fresh energy. It is atmospheric and quite different.
Getting there
Salzburg is about an hour and a half away, with a direct railway into the town.
- Salzburgabout 1h20 by road
- Munichabout 2h55 by road
- Innsbruckabout 3h by road