Things to do in Kitzbühel: the town as much as the mountain
A real medieval town with skiing attached, so much of the best of it is free: the walled old town, ten valley practice lifts and seventy kilometres of cross country track with no pass. For an evening, night tobogganing on the Gaisberg; for a wet afternoon, the town museum and its Alfons Walde paintings; for race week, Hahnenkamm tickets bought before you fly.
Kitzbühel is a town first and a ski resort second, and it shows as soon as the skis come off. The walled centre is two parallel streets of painted houses, Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, with the churches, the museum and the galleries a few minutes apart, and the pavements are mostly clear of snow. Plenty of people spend as much time there as on the pistes.
A good deal of it is free. The old town and the seven churches cost nothing, the ten practice lifts down in the valleys are free to use, which matters to any family with a beginner, and the cross country tracks need no pass, with a floodlit stretch on the golf course for after dinner. In race week, the downhill training on the Streif is free to watch, and both hills are a walk from town.
For somebody not skiing, the Bichlalm is the mountain to go up: the quiet one, kept for huts and views rather than pistes, and its chairlift takes people on foot. When the weather turns, the town museum in the Hinterstadt runs from the bronze age through the silver mines to skiing, holds the Alfons Walde collection, and lets anyone under eighteen in free. The Sportpark has an indoor curling hall with instruction for beginners, and a public rink beside it.
The evening to plan is the Gaisberg, the floodlit toboggan run with a chairlift up rather than a long walk, and two huts on the way down. The valley station is in Kirchberg, so sort the ride over first. For something slower, a horse drawn sleigh from the Henntalhof goes out to the Schwarzsee, booked by telephone. For the races, buy Hahnenkamm tickets online before you fly, because none are sold at the gate, and leave the car behind: the road to the race area closes and the shuttle train is free.
Free, and worth knowing
Eleven with no charge of their own, from the walled old town to ten valley practice lifts, seventy kilometres of cross country and three days of Streif training to watch.
The walled old town, Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt
This is the thing Kitzbuhel has that a purpose built resort cannot build. The medieval core is two parallel streets, Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, lined with painted burgher houses, and walking it costs nothing at all. The casino, the museum, the parish church and most of the galleries sit inside it within about four minutes of each other, so a guest who is not skiing can fill a morning without a lift, a bus or a ticket.
Kitzbuhel town
The seven churches
Seven across the four Kitzbuhel Tourismus villages and no admission charge published for any of them. In the town, the late gothic Pfarrkirche St. Andreas of 1506 with renaissance work inside, the fourteenth century Liebfrauenkirche on the rise beside it, the late classical Spitalskirche, and the high gothic Katharinenkirche wedged between the two main streets. Out in the villages, the baroque eighteenth century parish churches at Jochberg, Aurach and Reith bei Kitzbuhel.
Kitzbuhel, Jochberg, Aurach and Reith
Ten free practice lifts down in the valleys
The best free thing in this ski area and it is barely marketed in English at all. Bergbahn AG Kitzbuhel runs ten beginner lifts and magic carpets in the valleys and every one of them is free to use. The regional board puts it plainly: in every village of the Kitzbuhel and Kirchberg ski area, the valley practice lifts cost nothing.
They are spread right across the resort. A2 Mocking, A3 Rasmusleiten and A4 Ministreif at Kitzbuhel, E2 Schatzerlift at Kirchberg, the Sunkid and the practice lift at Aschau, the practice lift and the Sun Cord at Reith, F2 Hausleiten at Jochberg and the drag lift at Pass Thurn. A family with a beginner in it has a week of practice for nothing.
Kitzbuhel, Kirchberg, Aschau, Reith, Jochberg and Pass Thurn
Seventy kilometres of cross country track, and no Loipenpass
Sixteen groomed loipen totalling seventy kilometres, and the tourist board states they are free to use with no Loipenpass at all. That is worth saying out loud, because the Paznaun a valley over charges for exactly the same thing. The Stadtloipe runs almost eighteen kilometres from Kitzbuhel through Aurach to Jochberg, the Lisa Hauser Loipe is eleven and a half from the golf course over to Reith, and a stretch of the Sportloipe on the golf course is floodlit until nine at night, which is the one to send somebody on after dinner.
Kitzbuhel, Reith, Aurach, Jochberg, Pass Thurn and Kirchberg
Thirty five winter walking paths, and which ones need a ticket
The tourist board counts more than thirty five marked winter walking paths and four or more snowshoe routes. The valley paths cost nothing and are often snow free underfoot, and the Schwarzsee circuit is the easy one to walk to straight out of town. The ones with the views sit above a lift: the Kitzbuheler Horn path off the gondola, the Hahnenkamm panorama ridge past five traditional huts, and the kilometre of Walk and Fly down to Pengelstein all need a pedestrian ticket to reach.
Kitzbuhel, Kirchberg, Mittersill and Reith
Two free toboggan runs, walked up
Both runs cost nothing and both have a hut at the top, which is the classic Austrian version of this. The Kelchalm run starts at the chapel in Aurach and climbs through switchbacks to the Bochumer Hutte, which does hot food and Gluhwein and hires sledges on site, so nobody has to carry one up the hill. The Trattenbachalm run in the Jochbergtal is the long one at five and a half kilometres with a two and a half hour walk up, so treat that one as a half day out.
Take a head torch for the Kelchalm if the light is going, because the run is not floodlit.
Aurach bei Kitzbuhel, and the Jochbergtal between Kitzbuhel and Jochberg
Kitzbueheler Advent
From 18 November to 27 December 2026 in the Hinterstadt and the Stadtpark, free to walk into, with live music every day between six and seven in the evening. Stalls, punch and Gluhwein, regional food, woodturning and felt making demonstrations, a children's carousel and pony rides from Friday to Sunday, storytelling on Thursday afternoons, a St Nicholas procession on 6 December and a nativity postbox. Bergadvent moves the whole thing up to the Hahnenkamm valley station on two December Saturdays.
Hinterstadt and Stadtpark, Kitzbuhel, and the Hahnenkamm valley station for Bergadvent
The Hahnenkamm training days, free to everybody
The organisers say it directly: admission to the downhill training sessions and the juniors race is free for everyone. That is three days of World Cup downhill training on the Streif at no cost, on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of race week, which are 19, 20 and 21 January 2027, plus both runs of the Longines Future Hahnenkamm Champions juniors slalom on the Ganslern on the Wednesday.
For anybody who wants the Streif without a ticket price or the weekend crowd, this is the answer, and both hills are a walk from the town.
Streif and Ganslern, Kitzbuhel, both reachable on foot from the town
The Starthaus at the top of the Streif
The start hut of the most famous downhill in the world, and you can walk into it. In summer it is staffed daily from ten until four, and in winter the tourist board lists it as open but unstaffed. It is run by the Kitzbuheler Ski Club and no admission fee is published for either season.
Top of the Hahnenkamm, above Kitzbuhel
The KitzCard, and what it is worth in winter
It comes free with accommodation in Kitzbuhel, Reith, Aurach and Jochberg, it cannot be bought, and in winter it is a discount card. Roughly five per cent off lift tickets, which takes a full pedestrian return from thirty five euros to thirty three, five per cent off a single ticket at the Aquarena, two euros off adult skating at the Sportpark and ten per cent at selected restaurants and shops. Take it, use it at the till, and plan the transport separately.
Issued with accommodation in Kitzbuhel, Reith, Aurach and Jochberg
The ski bus, and who actually travels free on it
Three routes and no fare for anybody holding a Bergbahn AG Kitzbuhel ski pass or carrying ski equipment. The long line runs from Aschau through Kirchberg, Kitzbuhel, Aurach, Jochberg and Pass Thurn to Mittersill, a town loop runs from Kitzbuhel by way of Siedlung Frieden to Staudach, and a third connects Reith with the Fleckalmbahn. Anybody skiing has the run of the valley for nothing, so carry the pass even on a day off the slopes.
All villages
On the mountain
A floodlit toboggan evening with a chairlift up instead of a long walk, and the quiet mountain, kept for its huts and its views.
Night tobogganing on the Gaisberg
The proper Austrian floodlit toboggan evening with a hut on the way down, and the only one in this ski area with a lift rather than a two hour walk up. Three and a half kilometres with 435 m of vertical, carrying the Tyrolean quality seal for natural toboggan runs, and the Gaisberg four seat chairlift runs the evening shift from six until half past eight. Sledges are hired at the valley station, and there are two huts on the run, the Gaisbergstuberl and Ober Gaisberg.
20 to 50 euros · Sportberg Gaisberg, and the valley station is in Kirchberg rather than Kitzbuhel · Their page
The Bichlalm
KitzSki's quiet mountain, marketed as a Genussberg rather than a piste area, and the chairlift is approved to carry pedestrians. It is the one to send somebody up who wants a hut lunch and a view without the Hahnenkamm crowds, and there is a middle station if a shorter ride suits better.
20 to 50 euros · Bichlalm, above Kitzbuhel · Their page
In the village
The museum for a wet afternoon, curling under a roof with a public rink beside it, a sleigh out to the Schwarzsee, and Hahnenkamm tickets bought before you fly.
Museum Kitzbuhel and the Alfons Walde collection
Hinterstadt 32, in a building that was part of the medieval town wall. The town from the bronze age through the silver mining to the invention of alpine skiing here, plus the Alfons Walde collection, Walde being the painter whose snow scenes are on half the postcards in the valley. Nine euros for an adult and nothing at all for anybody under eighteen makes this the default wet afternoon answer for a family.
Under 20 euros · Hinterstadt 32, Kitzbuhel town · Their page
Sportpark Kitzbuhel, skating and curling
Austria's only indoor curling hall according to the tourist board, with nine ice stock lanes and instruction for beginners, alongside a public skating rink and the home ice of the town's second division hockey club. Eight euros puts an adult on the ice, six with the guest card, five for anybody under eighteen, and skate hire is four.
Under 20 euros · Kitzbuhel town · Their page
Horse drawn sleigh rides from the Henntalhof
Franz Gasteiger junior runs sleighs and carriages out of the Henntalhof and will do anything from a short circuit of the town to a five hour day. The standard winter runs go out to the Schwarzsee and to Gundhabing and take about two hours. Book by telephone, because that is the only way it is sold, and ask for the hotel collection if the group is not staying in the centre.
Over 50 euros · Kitzbuhel town, with pickup available · Their page
Hahnenkamm race tickets, and what race week does to the town
The 87th Hahnenkamm runs 18 to 24 January 2027, with the super G on the Friday, the downhill on the Saturday and the slalom on the Sunday. Adult tickets start at thirty five euros in three categories: a general spectator ticket covering the finish area and the marked viewing zones with no catering, a Special Zone ticket adding an exclusive standing area at the finish with snacks, drinks and a souvenir, and a grandstand seat in the finish stadium.
20 to 50 euros · Streif finish area, Kitzbuhel · Their page
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.