Salzburgerland Ski Resorts Austria

Salzburgerland may not be as well-known as its neighbour to the west, the Tyrol, but it deserves a place as one of the best Austrian ski regions. Whilst there are over 60 ski areas in the state, around 20 or so are definitely worth a look. And regardless of anything to do with skiing, its capital, the gorgeous Salzburg, is worth a visit in and of itself.

Stretching from the border with Germany in the north & Carinthia state to the south and bookended by the states of Tyrol in the west and Upper Austria & Styria to the east, Salzburgerland contains a myriad of mountain and lake landscapes. The highest mountains are to the south, with the peak & glacier of Kitzsteinhorn above Kaprun having the highest lifted point of any ski resort in the state at a lofty 3,029m.

Salzburgerland Skiing & Snowboarding

If size matters to you, the three largest ski areas in the state of Salzburgerland all share their ski terrain with the neighbouring Tyrol state, with each straddling the border of the two.

• Skicircus combining Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang & Fieberbrunn is the largest of the Salzburgerland ski resorts. Unlike the two resorts below, the majority of the terrain is in Salzburgerland, with only the Fieberbrunn sector being in Tirol, but hey it’s just a line on a map! The resort's 270km of trails dwarf most of its rivals. We rate it highly when the snow is fresh.
• Kitzski combines Salzburg’s Hollersbach-Mittersill sector with Kitzbuhel & Kirchberg in the Tirol to come second in size but is just as much fun.
• Zillertal Arena combines the Tyrolean Zell am Ziller, Gerlos & Königsleiten with Salzburg’s Hochkrimml. It has some great terrain, huge diversity and an amazing lift system. We have skied it from the Tyrol side, but not from the Salzburg side.

Outside of the three biggest, the ski resorts wholly in Salzburgerland include (in no particular order):

• Snow Space Salzburg is an interconnected amalgam of Flachau, Wagrain and St. Johann-Alpendorf in the centre of the state. This is a piste skiers delight schooming down its 120km+ of highway-like trails.
• Gastein Ski Region is a fabulous combo of old spa town with grand hotels and spanking new lifts and great terrain over several different mountains, some of which are not lift connected. The free riders will want to hit up Sportgastein, whilst the more traditional skiers will prefer the Bad Gastein-Bad Hofgastein combo. Access by train is first class.
• Dorfgastein-Grossarl, whilst part of the Gastein ski region, includes another valley on its backside into Grossarltal. It is an all-round fun ski resort.
• Zell am See is a perennial favourite for its long perfect groomers of all colours and exceptional lifts. The lakeside location, a fun ‘old town’ centre and superb access by train make it a worthy location for a ski safari base.
• Kaprun-Kitzsteinhorn is a reliable favourite and the highest in Salzburgerland. In a low snow year the skiing on Kitzsteinhorn always provides the goods.
• Hochkönig is of a similar size and style to Snow Space Salzburg, but in the northern half of the state. It spans across a length of over 20km of the landscape from just outside Saalfelden (not far from Zell am See) at Maria Alm east to Muhlbach. We have never skied here and may not ever, but it does look like a nice full-day ski safari on piste! Other resorts in the north nearby include the smaller Werfenwang & Almenwelt Lofer, both close to the German border.
• Obertauern is a high-altitude, reliable beauty that has some great skiing & snow on 100km of trails, plus of the most iconic chairlifts in the world, the Gamsleitenbahn.
• Grosseck/Speiereck is south of Obertauern between the villages of Mauterndorf & St. Michael im Lungau toward the Carinthia/Styrian border. It’s massive 1,400m skiable vertical makes it worth a visit for some muscle liquefying descents, however we have not skied here.
• Fanningberg is near Grosseck Speiereck and actually looks quite good. We have not skied here, but one day might. Could be a secret stash…
• Katschberg is another border straddler, but in the south with Carinthia (Kärnten) state. It has significant terrain (80km+ of pistes & and over 1,100m of vertical) is one of the larger resorts that we need to check out at some stage.
• Rauris near Kaprun has a hefty skiable vertical of over 1,200m and always been on our ‘list of places to ski but never have’ list!
• Wildkogel in the Pinzgau between Zillertal Arena’s Krimml sector & KitzSki’s Hollersbach sector amongst some fine skiing, holds the record for the longest sledding trail in Austria (14km over 1,300m vertical) and we all MUST try it. Skiing be damned, we are going sledding…..
• Weissee, also in the Pinzgau but along the states southern border, west of Kitzsteinhorn has an appealing combo of lift accessed piste & high alpine touring & freeride that is perfect for the likes of a powder hound!
• Filzmoos gets a lot of interest from perusers of Powderhounds.com, but we are not sure why. Its low elevation (everything is below 1,600m) and limited pistes and freeride terrain hold little appeal for us. We say skip it, even though we have never been there, we can sniff out a dud from many kilometres away. Of course remember that everywhere is good on its day.
• Radstadt-Altenmarkt, small low elevation ski area that is quiet mid-week, but like Filzmoos, not worth a specific journey. We skied here because we were close and had a free ticket! It was pleasant, but Zauchensee up the road was the real juice.
• Fageralm - one of many similar ‘day-tripper’ ski areas in the immediate region (but more so in nearby Styria), it has a single massive top to bottom run/lift and a small amount of skiable terrain of surface tows in the high alpine sector. Would be very pleasant during the week.
• Zauchensee (& Flachauwinkl) - lastly, we will mention one of our secret stash locations in Salzburgerland. Near the lovely town of Radstadt and intrinsically connected to Snow Space Salzburg, it is a powder riders delight on a snowy day, but sshhh, don’t tell anyone.

Review & More Info

The Powderhounds have skied numerous resorts in Salzburgerland, but there are always more to explore. We will add more info to this page once we have visited additional ski resorts in the state. Click on the various ski resort links via this overview or our website menu to read all the reviews.

See how the Austrian ski resorts compare on the Austria ski resort ratings page, or compare to the rest of Europe on the European ski resort ratings page.

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