Innsbruck Ski Holidays 2024 2025 | Skiing Innsbruck

Innsbruck Ski Resort

City life, old traditions and a huge love of sport come together in Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol which is surrounded by the Nordkette mountains.

Head into the heart of the city and you’re met by the historic centre – with its grand baroque buildings along Maria-Theresien-Straße, painted pastel pinks and oranges with beautiful frescoes. Famous parts of the city include the gothic Golden Roof and the Hofburg Imperial palace built by Emperor Maximilian I in 1500. Elsewhere, you’ll find more innovative builds, with striking structures like the Bergisel ski jump and the BTV-Stadtforum. Together they create a wonderful mix of old and new that works, rather than feeling disjointed: tour a Renaissance Castle or Christmas market in the morning, then clip into your skis for a high-speed lift ride up a glacier in the afternoon - Tyrol’s your oyster.

A short ride on the ‘Scibus’ from the centre lands you in the midst of the mountains, where nine ski resorts provide more than enough skiing for a week. Find your favourite and stick to that, or visit a different one each day – even skiing more than one each day is doable. The Olympia Skiworld Innsbruck area is so named because the ‘64 and ‘76 Winter Games took place around here – it covers the resorts of Axamer Lizum, Kühtai, Igls and Patscherkofel, Muttereralm, Nordkette, Rangger Köpfl, Fulpmes-Schlick 2000, Glungezer and the snow sure Stubai Glacier.

Stats & FAQ

Location: Tyrol, Austria

Established:

Open: December - April

Downhill: 298km

View our detailed Innsbruck snow forecast or snow report and see all live webcams, piste maps, road and travel maps and lift pass prices. For a picture of historic snow conditions see the snow depths month by month with our Innsbruck snow history.

Nearest Airport & Transfer Time:
Innsbruck Airport (INN)	5km, 15 mins
Beginner Intermediate Advanced 103km 35% 147km 49% 48km 16%
Top Altitude:	3210m
Bottom Altitude:	820m
Resort Altitude:	574m (Innsbruck city)
Longest run:	15km
Slope Orientation:	N, S, E, W
Vertical Drop:
Skiable Vertical:
Night Skiing:	Yes
Glacier:	Yes
Snow Report Top N/Acm Base N/Acm Forecast 16cm Web Cam
Downhill Runs:	298km
Beginner slopes:	35%
Intermediate:	49%
Advanced slopes:	16%
Lift Pass Price:	€222 (adult 6 day for Olympia Skiworld Innsbruck)
Nearby resorts: Kuhtai, Axamer Lizum, Neustift, Fulpmes, Stubai Glacier

Skiing/BoardingSkiing in Innsbruck

The Nordkette ski area is the smallest, with 15km of slopes, mostly reds, served by five lifts. Muttereralm pips it to the post size-wise, with an extra kilometre of terrain – it’s also a slightly better bet for beginners with more by way of blue runs.

There are 17km of slopes in Rangger Köpfl, including 2km of expert terrain and the majority of slopes (8km) graded blue. The Patscherkofel totals 18km of terrain, with no black runs for experts but a decent amount for beginners and intermediates.

Next up, Fulpmes and Schlick 2000 have a decent amount of skiing for all levels, thanks to the presence of unpisted ski routes on top of a kilometre of black-graded piste. Glungezer’s seven lifts serve 23km of pistes, most blue and red.

Kuhtai and Axamar Lizum are considerably bigger, each with around 40km of terrain including a good amount of groomed and ungroomed slopes for experts. Kuhtai’s slopes reach up to 2520m, making it a good choice if you’re skiing here towards the end of the season. The snowpark is amazing too.

But the biggest and snowiest of them all is the Stubai Glacier area. It’s Austria’s biggest glacier resort, with 60km of pistes for every level, including a whopping 20km of ski routes for experts and 21km of terrain for beginners. Pistes flow down from as high as 3210m, and the snow usually remains from October until June.

Innsbruck Apres Ski

Mountain bars and restaurants can be found around all of the individual ski resorts – though none of them are known for being big party towns, there are still some good options like Kuhtai’s Graf Ferdinandhaus, Leo’s Stadlbar in Fulpmes and the Schirmbar in Axamer Lizum.

Back in Innsbruck there are bars of all shapes and sizes, from Tribaun with its craft beers to 360o in the Old Town for fine wines. Later on, Gossers has a cracking menu of beers and cocktails and Couch Club stays open until 4am for dancing to live music and DJ’s. M+M is a favourite for cocktails.

There’s no end to the activities on offer here, from shopping and sightseeing to Olympic sports like bobsleighing, ski jumping and ice skating. Indoor activities range from bowling to billiards, not forgetting the swimming pools at Axams Leisure centre and Amraser Straße.

Innsbruck's heritage of Olympic winter sports installations means that there is an ongoing program of competitive events such as ski jumping, bob-sledding, figure skating, and ice hockey. All these facilities are also open to the public, the guest bob-sled ride (appointments on request) being a particular attraction. In addition, virtually every ski resort in Tirol (there are over a hundred with at least a 600m / 2000 ft vertical ) can be accessed within one hour from Innsbruck for ski sampling. Even hardcore skiers can rarely resist Innsbruck's cultural and historic attractions. Innsbruck is the perfect jumping-off point for day explorations, and scheduled sightseeing buses run to St Moritz, Salzburg, Munich, the Bavarian Castles, and even to Venice. As may be expected in a European city, Innsbruck has a continual performance program of opera, symphony, exhibitions and festivals. The Christmas Holiday season is particularly inviting with Advent concerts, a giant Christmas Tree surmounting a Christkindl Market, and an active outdoor New Year Eve celebration with drink stands, entertainment, fireworks and laser displays.

Best time to go

Best time to ski Innsbruck

Best time to visit & ski Innsbruck

The brilliant thing about skiing from Innsbruck is that you can pick where you ski depending on the time of year and current snow conditions. If you visit in the middle of the season, you’ll usually have all nine resorts to choose between thanks to a good build-up of natural snow and artificial stuff created by dozens of snow cannons. Later in the season, the highest resort is the Stubai Glacier, where slopes go over 3000m and stay skiable into the summer months. Kuhtai usually stays in good nick, with the highest slopes at 2520m and there’s also Axamer Lizum’s ski area from 2340m and Glungezer which peaks at 2304m.

Peak Dates

We love Christmas in Innsbruck – Krampus takes over the streets in the build-up, with awesome markets in the city and the “Christmas in the Mountains” event in Igls.

There’s oodles going on over New Year in Innsbruck. Look out for the early firework celebrations for children before the big event around 9pm in the city centre. Midnight mass takes place in the local churches and the Postkutscherhof in Axams usually hosts a big party.

The nine surrounding ski areas tend to be in peak condition when you spend Half Term in Innsbruck – head to the smaller ones for nigh on empty pistes, or spend the week skiing some of Europe’s best snow up on the glacier.

It’s not only beautiful views that can be enjoyed at Easter in Innsbruck. The city usually hosts an Easter Market, with palm processions and Sunday Mass. Most of the ski resorts put on Easter egg hunts too.

Innsbruck Ski Holidays