- The village, HopfgartenThe lowest village of the 55 resorts we cover.
- 620m
- Top of the skiingThe lowest top of the skiing of the 55 resorts we cover.
- 1,892m
- SeasonThe standard Alpine season, shared by 42 of the 55 resorts we cover.
- December to April
Is SkiWelt right for you?
The SkiWelt links a string of pretty Tyrolean villages such as Söll and Ellmau into one of the largest connected ski areas in the world. The village sits at 620m and the skiing tops out at 1,892m, 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.
SkiWelt at a glance
- Area
- Wilder Kaiser
- Best for
- Mileage chasers · Food lovers · Value for money
- Fly to
- Innsbruck, Salzburg or Munich
- Transfer
- About 1h by road from Innsbruck
- Doorstep skiing
- Limited, use lifts
Who SkiWelt suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Mileage chasers. The SkiWelt joins eight villages into one area of 275 kilometres and 81 lifts, with more than 20 valley runs back down to the villages.
- Food lovers. Lunch is the SkiWelt's great strength, with 80 family run huts in winter serving Kaiserschmarrn, Gröstl and Kaspressknödel.
- Value for money. Easy access from three airports, a wide choice of villages and SkiWeeks with lower prices in early December and late March make it a sensible budget week.
- Families with young children. There are practice lifts in the villages, fun parks and adventure slopes, and a Young Family pass lets parents of children under three share one ticket.
Less good for
- Snow sure. The lowest slopes start at about 620 metres and we measure almost none of the piste above 1,800 metres, so cover depends more on the weather.
- Off piste. Strong skiers who want steep, high terrain will find the rolling, wooded mountains gentle, with reds and blues making up most of the area.
Skiing from 620m to 1,892m, village at 620m (Hopfgarten).
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 620mHopfgarten, in the Brixental.
- Village
- 620mHopfgarten.
- Top of the skiing
- 1,892mThe top of the Fleidingbahn above Westendorf, the SkiWelt's highest point.
- 115km blue47%
- 121km red49%
- 10km black4%
The resort's own figures, covering SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser Brixental, the whole area.
Plus 29km of ski routes, kept out of the colours.
No green: Austrian pistes are graded from blue.
- Black piste
- 20km, 8% of the pisteThe tenth smallest share of black of the 55 resorts we cover.
- Of which double black
- 2.3km
- Off piste itinerary
- 11kmMarked routes, not pistes, and never added to the piste figures.
- Ski area
- SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser Brixental, 275km
- Cross country
- 148.1km of trailsThe whole SkiWelt region, in three networks: Ellmau, Going, Scheffau and Söll; Hopfgarten, Itter and Kelchsau to Wörgl; and Brixen im Thale, Westendorf and Kirchberg. Classic and skating together.
Sources
- Lowest skiing: kitzbueheler-alpen.com
- Top of the skiing: media.skiwelt.at
- Piste by colour: tirol.at
- Cross country: skiwelt.at
- Cross country: wilderkaiser.info
- Ski area: skiwelt.at
- The steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
258km of graded piste, measured ourselves.
- 133km blue51%
- 106km red41%
- 20km black8%
Plus 11km of off-piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total. The longest is Moderer Route, 3.3km with 915m of vertical. It is an itinerary, not a piste.
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength
- Confident intermediatesA real strength
- Strong skiersFine
The spreadA resort that knows what it is. 51% of the piste is blue, 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 pisteHagstein, 4.3km of blue with 639m of vertical.
Measured from the run geometry, SkiWelt has 258km of graded piste: 133km blue, 106km red and 20km black. We do not print the resort's published kilometres until we have checked what they count.
The lowest village of its Austrian peers
Of these five, SkiWelt has the lowest village, 620m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 1,350m.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
The terrain is almost all easy and intermediate, ideal for building confidence and racking up the miles, with strong snowmaking to cover the low altitude. Experts will want somewhere higher, but everyone else has a ball.
The village and the evenings
The villages are traditional and welcoming, with cosy huts on the mountain and a friendly after ski scene. It feels authentically Tyrolean.
Getting there
Innsbruck and Salzburg are both about an hour away.
- Innsbruckabout 1h by road
- Salzburgabout 1h15 by road
- Munichabout 1h30 by road