Austria’s spectacular Zillertal region, located in the heart of Tirol, is an area of stunning natural beauty, fabulous skiing, and winter joy for all visitors. Home to 548km of ski slopes, the numbers include ski slopes for everyone, including wonderful long descents as well as exciting freeride and ski touring opportunities.
There’s lots to do in winter here besides skiing though, from winter hikes in stunning nature to wonderful wellness facilities where you can fully recharge, the Zillertal is the perfect place for any kind of winter holiday.
Zillertal is home to four main regions, Fügen-Kaltenbach, Zell-Gerlos, Mayrhofen-Hippach and Tux-Finkenberg, all renowned for their warm hospitality, making you feel like a guest among friends. In fact, the Zillertal way of life is a combination of the joy of living in and with nature, warm hospitality, customs and a commitment to enjoyment. It’s a way of being known as ‘Lebensgefühl’ to the Austrians when everything is right and it’s something we can all benefit from.
The Ski Areas
© Zillertal Tourism, Tom Klocke
With 548km of ski slopes served by 180 fast, modern, comfortable lifts located between the altitudes of 630 and 3,250m, the Zillertal is one of Austria and the world’s largest ski regions with so much choice there’s something for everyone.
The region is home to four larger ski areas and several smaller centres, including the Hintertux Glacier.
The individual ski areas are Hochzillertal-Hochfügen-Spieljoch, Zillertal Arena, Mayrhofner Bergbahnen – Mountopolis and Ski & Gletscherwelt Zillertal 3000.
The Zillertal Superskipass covers everything, an all-in-one ticket for unlimited fun on the slopes. Holding it means that you can use all ski buses and most public transport in the valley for free.
Look out for special options to make your ski holiday even better, such as early morning sessions when you get on the freshly groomed slopes before everyone else to carve the pristine slopes, then heady for a scrummy breakfast in a mountain hut as everyone else arrives! That’s offered in the Hochzillertal ski area with the valley station opening at 07:30, then also on the Ahorn in Mayrhofen and in March as well, twice a week, in the Zillertal Arena even from 06:55.
© Zillertal Tourism, Tom Klocker
The Arena Champions Challenge in the Zillertal Arena is great fun too. There are five SkiMovie routes and four Speed Check routes as well as five photo points throughout the ski area. Everyone who completes at least six of the 14 Arena Champions stations receives their personal Champions Book.
There are terrain parks for all ability levels in Zillertall but Mayrhofen’s PenkenPark with perfectly shaped lines is a standout and one of the 5 best parks in the world.. There’s a Pro Area, Advanced Area, Medium Area, MediumJib Area and a KidsPark to enjoy depending on your taste and ability.
© Zillertal Tourism, Christoph Johann
For powder fans, Hochfügen has built a particular reputation as a freeride Mecca. Cat skiing there is a special highlight allowing you to access untouched slopes without having to hike up!
There are also special learning areas at each of the Zillertal’s ski centres and an incredible total of 25 ski schools and around 500 instructors all ready to help you learn or improve your skills.
Activities
There’s a huge range of things to do when you’re not on the slopes, or if you’re a non-skier.
Outdoors you have lots of toboggan trails to whizz down, ice rinks to skate on and an incredible 460km of cleared winter hiking tracks.
You can reach various high-altitude viewpoints and photo spots using the lifts, even if you are not a skier. The Photo points at Hochfügen are a particular attraction, where, with your lift pass, a photo is taken automatically with the spectacular backdrop, free of charge to be downloaded later.
© Zillertal Tourism, Flo Smith
You can also take the cable cars up to the highest point in the Zillertal, at 3,250m up above Hintertux, where the spacious Panorama Terrace viewing platform offers spectacular views.
Hintertux is also home to Spannagel Cave, a marble cave, located right next to the Spannagelhaus restaurant. Cave visitors are given rubber boots, helmets and raincoats before entering. From the top of another lift, high above Hintertux, you can reach Nature’s Ice Palace on the glacier where you get indoors within the glacier. Caves in the ice are filled with natural and carved ice features and you can even take a boat ride on a stream through a tunnel in the ice.
© Zillertal Tourism, Tom Klocker
The Albert Adler World of Games from Ravensburger is located in the top station of the Ahornbahn above Mayrhofen. There’s game fun here for young and old in the 140 m² indoor play world which includes a large climbing wall, playhouses, books, colouring pages, play tables and much more.
Cross-country skiers are well catered for too with 113 kilometres of perfectly groomed cross-country trails for both classic and skating styles and with different challenge levels from complete beginners (who can easily rent the equipment needed and take lessons in technique) to experts.
For a little more adrenaline, you could try a different toboggan run every day, there are 48 kilometres of toboggan runs in total. The 5.5km long snow-covered toboggan run on the Spieljoch is a particular highlight, starting at the top station and ends at the middle station of the Spieljochbahn. Or perhaps try ice skating or paragliding?
There are plenty of indoor attractions to visit too, perfect for bad weather days, including the AlbertAdler PlayWorld by Ravensburger, where children can enjoy interactive games and adventures in a creative and educational environment.
The main resort towns of the valley also offer great spa, wellness and indoor swimming facilities, as well as a good range of shopping for a little retail therapy, perhaps buying locally produced artisan goods or food products.
Dining
There are award-winning traditional inns, gourmet mark-awarded restaurants, romantic mountain huts and stylish restaurants galore in the Zillertal, all making great use of the fabulous food produced in the valley.
Regional cuisine includes cheese made from pure hay milk, traditionally baked bread and meat from the village butcher or even from their own farm – refined and seasoned with forest fruits and meadow herbs.
Traditional, home-cooked regional dishes are a speciality of course, but you’ll also find dishes from all around the world available in the valley.
© Zillertal Tourism, Flo Smith
As food and wonderful winter holidays go together perfectly in the Zillertal, so we shouldn’t be surprised that there is even an unusual two-day ski opening festival aimed especially at food lovers! The Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach ski area hosts the Ski Food Festival which brings food from all over the world as well as local specialities and there are free tastings right on the slopes.
As well as the hundreds of restaurants in the valleys, there are around 80 huts high in the mountains across the Zillertal where you can enjoy this wonderful food.
The Spannagelhaus on the Hintertux Glacier serves regional Tirolean and international delicacies and is also well worth a visit, especially if you’re heading to the adjacent marble cave.
The Mountain Loft on the Spieljoch is another great choice. Located right at the top station, there are culinary delights here for the whole family. There is a casual bistro on the ground floor, fresh pizzas (a house speciality) on the sun terrace and the award-winning gourmet “Il Ristorante” on the second floor too.
The Wiesenalm in the Zillertal Arena is situated at the foot of the sports slope, close to the two of the Rosenalmbahn and Karspitzbahn mid-stations. Besides a great sun terrace, they serve up original homemade culinary creations such as the Wiesenbier or the Wiesenfleck.
If you like a cool vibe and great views, the WhiteLounge on the Ahorn above Mayrhofen is a top choice. Sit in a deck chair by the slopes, and enjoy the music and the fabulous food.
© Zillertal Tourism, Jan Hanser
To really understand just why the local cuisine is so wonderful, one idea is to visit Austria’s first show dairy, the Erlebnissennerei Zillertal in Mayrhofen. Here you’ll learn all about Zillertal hay-milk and the scrumptious products made from it and after your tour of the facility, there are yoghurt and cheese samples to try!
You can also visit the BrauKunstHaus private Zillertal Bier brewery spread over 5,000 m² in Zall am Ziller. It offers visitors an exciting multimedia insight into the brewing and bottling process and of course, you can taste their wonderful beer and juice specialities.
Events
There’s always some event going on either on the slopes or in one of the Zillertal’s resort villages.
The Zillertal Välley Rälley is a freestyle snowboard tour that serves as a platform for young and up-and-coming snowboarders from all over Europe. There are several competitions staged throughout the season in the Zillertal snow parks in Hochzillertal, the Zillertal Arena, on the Penken and on the Hintertux Glacier.
Then the annual Hintertux Glacier Open Air staged in the Sommerberg Arena is always an exciting event, taking place again in March 2025.
Later in the spring though musical events become prominent and if you love your house, then the Alpicon music festival taking in the Hochzillertal ski area and in the valley is for you.
Snowbombing, a great mix of electro music and on-snow fun that’s been running each spring for over two decades now returns to Mayrhofen from April 5 to 12, 2025.
The Lederhosen Wedel days in the Zillertal Arena will see male skiers hitting the slopes in lederhosen and the ladies in traditional Tirolean dirndl dress from April 11 to 13, 2025.
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Main Image © – Zillertal Tourism Tom Klocker