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A ski trip to Austria needn’t cost mountains: Lift passes, ski lessons and mountain lunches tend to be quite a bit cheaper than you’d find in France and Switzerland.
If you’re on a budget, these ten resorts will see you with a weeks’ worth of great skiing, hearty food and comfy lodging - with plenty of pennies to spare.
Austria: Top 10 Cheap Ski Resorts
Declared a city in the twenties, Zell’s packed with all sorts of restaurants, shops and accommodation – and low cost stuff’s no exception. Sure there’s the legendary 5* Grand Hotel, but you’ve also got plenty of small 3 star numbers and self-catered apartments within easy reach… + more
Less on the radar than the bigger Austrian resorts, Niderau’s kept prices nice and low. It’s a fabulous option for cheap family ski holidays, with recent years seeing free ski passes for under 16’s at the end of the season. And the freebies don’t end there, with free WiFi on the… + more
Just 6km to the west, Kirchberg’s the way to ski Kitzbühel without a big-ski-town-budget. Both resorts are lift linked and share a fabulous 170km of the good stuff. But you’ve more than one world-class ski area on the doorstep – Kirch also acts as the gateway the Ski Welt,… + more
Mayrhofen’s a bit of a chameleon: There’s top shelf luxury if you want it, but also plenty of scope to ski on a shoestring. You’ll find a lovely bundle of self-catered apartments, where homemade meals and packed lunches will stretch the budget further. There are also some… + more
You’d expect the officially ‘prettiest village in Austria’ to be riddled with posh restaurants and hotels by now, but it’s actually rather cheap to ski here. The costs for eating out are more high-street than high-mountain, with Gasthof Jakober and Pizzeria Messners dishing up… + more
Soll’s no more than an hour away from Innsbruck - so if you’re arranging your own travel the transfers shouldn’t cost mountains. Once you’re in resort, the lift access to the ski area is ace. And what a ski area: The SkiWelt has 280km across nine interconnected resorts. Look out… + more
You don’t have to fork out a fortune to ski this alpine legend. If you’re happy without the bells and whistles, cheap catered chalets come with a room and six days of meals, saving you from spending on restaurants in resort. Staying in neighbouring villages like St Jacob or… + more
Though Ellmau’s accommodation comes with low price tags, it still holds onto good star ratings – a canny choice if you don’t fancy slumming it. Wallet friendly supermarkets like Billa and MPreis keep cooking cheap, but eating out isn’t too pricey either: Memory Bar has cracking… + more
On top of its own 40km of slopes, Snow Park and 300 hectares of freeride terrain, Axamer Lizum has terrific access to more ski resorts all over the region. If you’re content with commuting, you’ll have a smashing time here: The Olympia Pass covers nine local resorts and 300km of… + more
The SkiWelt’s super – it’s Austria’s biggest linked ski area, covering a whacking great 280km of pistes in nine resorts. See if the ticket office are still dishing out their famous special offers (like free off peak passes for under 15’s) to save even more euros. Westendorf has… + more
If you're looking for a cheap ski resort, Austria has a lot more to offer than you might think...
Admittedly, the cheap Austrian ski resorts aren't all pumping out the bargain basement ski deals that we're used to in eastern Europe - but if you want a high standard of on-slope and in-town facilities, they offer great quality holidays that are a less pricey alternative to skiing in France or Switzerland.
In fact many of austria's cheapest ski resorts are also its best, because they're so big that they often include both exclusive and budget accommodation in different parts of the same mountain town.
This is the definitive list of the best cheap ski resorts in Austria, but if you'd like to include other countries in your search, our ultimate list of the world's cheapest ski resorts might be just the ticket.
Austria - cheapest ski resorts
| Resort | Ski area size | Rough prices in resort |
|---|---|---|
| Zell am See | 3 ski areas totalling 138km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €10, burger & fries €9 |
| Niederau | 109km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €9, burger & fries €7 |
| Kirchberg | 170km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €10, burger & fries €10 |
| Mayrhofen | 136km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €9, burger & fries €10 |
| Alpbach | 109km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €9, burger & fries €10 |
| Soll | 280km | Coffee €3, beer €3, pizza €10, burger & fries €9 |
| St Anton | 350km | Coffee €4, beer €5, pizza €12, burger & fries €12 |
| Ellmau | 280km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €10, burger & fries €13 |
| Axamer Lizum | 40km | Coffee €3, beer €4, pizza €9, burger & fries €12 |
| Westendorf | 280km | Coffee €4, beer €4, pizza €10, burger & fries €15 |
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