Where to eat and drink in Kitzbühel: huts by day, the town by night
Lunch in a hut, dinner in town, and a wider range than a ski resort usually runs to. Mocking is the dinner to book first, Huberbräu-Stüberl is the one you queue for, the Gipfelhaus on the Kitzbüheler Horn is the lunch worth a separate trip, and Das Steghaus at the Schwarzsee is the afternoon drink.
Kitzbühel eats like a town rather than a resort. On the mountain the huts do the Tyrolean classics, Kaiserschmarrn, goulash and dumplings, with a terrace and a view, and lunch runs long because nobody hurries you. In town the range goes well past schnitzel, and much of it is a short walk from the main square.
The lunch worth a separate trip is the Gipfelhaus at the top of the Kitzbüheler Horn, the highest table on our list and our only one on the Horn. It takes a deliberate ride up the Hornbahn and repays it: a kitchen that would earn its place lower down, a clear soup with real beef in it, and strudel with a rum laced hot chocolate in the afternoon. Shade is short on the terrace, so take it when you see it.
Mocking is the dinner to book first, with an open kitchen in the middle of the room, local produce and a long evening; lunch there is easier to get into. Huberbräu-Stüberl is the opposite: no bookings, cash only and a queue at the door. Leave your name, take a turn round the old town and come back; that is how the room works, and prams are no trouble. When the table has had enough of Austrian cooking, Pizzeria el Moro de Venezia is family run, just out of the centre, and the specials board is where to look.
The town is lively after dark, and the evening spreads across the streets rather than along one strip. For the afternoon, Das Steghaus is out at the Schwarzsee, far enough from town to feel away from it, with Aperol hot or on ice and blankets outside. Schatzi, a small room near the main square, is for Kaiserschmarrn and coffee, and only at breakfast and lunch. Carry cash, and book everything that takes bookings in the peak weeks.
Mountain lunch
The highest table on our list, on the Horn rather than the Hahnenkamm, and worth the separate trip for the kitchen, not just the height.
Gipfelhaus am Kitzbüheler Horn
The highest thing on this list and the only one on the Horn rather than the Hahnenkamm side, so it takes a deliberate trip up the Hornbahn rather than turning up on the way past. The kitchen is better than the position needs it to be: the clear soup arrives with real beef and vegetables in it and the puddings are made on site. Strudel with a hot chocolate that has rum in it is the afternoon order, and the beer is good. There are far more tables outside than there are parasols, so on a bright day take a shaded one the moment you see it. Live music turns up on some days and the staff work in Tracht, in an old wooden building that has been left as it was.
Dinner
An open kitchen worth booking first, an old town room that takes no bookings at all, and a family run Italian for the night off schnitzel.
Mocking Das Wirtshaus
The most interesting cooking in the town and the one to book first. An open kitchen sits in the middle of the room, the produce is local and so is most of what the room itself is built from. Mushrooms, gnocchi and lamb are the plates people name first, with beef tartare, a meatloaf and an onion soup behind them. It is the top of the price range on this list and it is a long dinner rather than a quick one, so give it the whole evening. Reserve well ahead, and note that it does lunch too, which is the easier table to get.
Huberbräu-Stüberl
Take cash and do not try to book, because they do not take reservations and there is usually a queue at the door. Give your name, walk a lap of the old town and come back, which is what the room expects and what it will do for you. Boiled beef, Cordon Bleu, venison with Käsespätzle and the apple strudel are the orders, the portions are generous and the bill is the fairest in the centre for cooking of this standard. Wooden rooms, traditional to the point that the tradition is the reason people come, and prams and small children are ordinary here rather than tolerated. It is a hundred metres from the main square, which makes it easy to find.
Pizzeria el Moro de Venezia
The Italian four hundred metres out of the centre, family run and noticeably cheaper than the Austrian rooms on the same walk. The specials board is where the cooking shows itself, and truffle gnocchi and butternut squash ravioli have both come off it. Tiramisu after. Book in the busy weeks, because the kitchen is small and works at its own pace, which is the trade you make for the price. It is the sort of room people regret not going back to.
Bars
Out at the Schwarzsee and away from the town, with Aperol hot or on ice and blankets for sitting outside.
Das Steghaus am Schwarzsee
Out at the Schwarzsee, two kilometres from the town and away from all of it, which is the whole point of going. Aperol on ice or hot is the house drink and there are blankets, so an afternoon outside works even when it is not warm. Ice curling on the lake, music low enough to talk over and the sun going down over the water. If you eat, the truffle pasta is the plate to order. It takes big tables well and the room inside is more elegant than the setting leads you to expect.
Cafes and quick bites
A small room near the main square with one host doing everything, and Kaiserschmarrn with a caramel latte macchiato.
Schatzi
Hannes is the host, the barista and the waiter, which tells you the size of the room and a good deal about why people come back on consecutive days. Kaiserschmarrn is the order and a caramel latte macchiato is what to drink with it. The apple cake is the other thing to know about and there is a proper afternoon tea. Breakfast and lunch only, so this is a morning or an afternoon rather than an evening. It is two hundred metres from the main square and small enough to fill, so go early or go late.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.