Austria in Winter 2026-27: 12 Things to Do If You Don’t Ski

You do not need a lift pass to fill a week in Austria in winter, and the 12 things below are what I actually did on a January trip through Tyrol without spending a day on the pistes. Austria in winter is sold as a ski country, so the non-ski half of it goes undescribed: the husky ranch, the cleared valley walks, the biathlon range, the toboggan run that ends at a restaurant. This guide covers those 12 activities, what a 2026-27 lift pass costs if the rest of your group does ski, which resort suits which ability, and what is on month by month from November 2026 to March 2027.

Top tip: GetYourGuide lists tours and winter activities across Austria if you are heading somewhere I did not go, or want something that is not on this list.

When winter starts in Austria in 2026-27

The Austrian winter season starts in the last week of November 2026 and runs to April 2027, and the lift companies’ own calendars are the most reliable guide to it. Ischgl opens on 26 November 2026. The Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn runs 27 November 2026 to 4 April 2027. The Zillertal Arena and the Tux valley lifts run 4 December 2026 to 11 April 2027, and the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental runs 5 December 2026 to 29 March 2027, with Ellmau carrying on to 4 April 2027.

Those dates tell you something the temperature charts do not. Valley snow before Christmas is not something anyone guarantees, which is why the same lift companies price early December as their cheapest week of the season and why the Hintertux Glacier, which runs lifts through the year, is the one place in Austria where the snow is not in question. The resorts all treat roughly 19 December to 13 March as peak season, and that is the window they believe in.

For a non-ski trip the season matters less, because husky sleds, thermal spas, Christmas markets and mountain villages work from late November onwards. January is the month I would pick. It has snow in the valleys, it is past the Christmas-market crowds, and it is low season at the quieter sights.

Whatever month you choose, pack for it properly so that the cold is not the thing you remember.

What a lift pass costs in Austria in 2026-27

An adult day pass at a major Austrian ski area costs between €69.00 (about $80, £59) and €83.00 (about $96, £71) in 2026-27, depending on the resort and on how close you are to Christmas. The four areas below have published their 2026-27 tariffs, and the figures are the peak-season, full-day, adult and child rates.

Going outside peak season is the single biggest saving. The SkiWelt drops to €71.50 (about $83, £61) for an adult day in the 5 to 18 December and 13 to 29 March windows. KitzSki charges €69.00 (about $80, £59) in its Super Saver period, which covers the start of the season to 5 December 2026 and everything from 30 March 2027. Saalbach sells a winter-start and bonus-season day pass from 11:30 for €63.00 (about $73, £54) between 27 November and 18 December 2026.

Ski Arlberg, the St. Anton, Lech, Zürs, Stuben, St. Christoph and Warth-Schröcken group, had not published its 2026-27 tariff at the time of writing and says the prices are being finalised. Budget from the Kitzbühel and Saalbach numbers until it does.

Children born in 2021 or later ski free in the SkiWelt, and every area runs a youth band between the child and adult price, so a family total is rarely four adult tickets.

Which Austrian ski area suits which ability

The five ski areas that suit the widest range of abilities are ranked below, ordered by who they are easiest for.

1. SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental: beginners and families. The SkiWelt has 275 km (170.9 mi) of slopes and 81 lifts spread over nine valley villages, Brixen, Ellmau, Going, Hopfgarten, Itter, Kirchberg, Scheffau, Söll and Westendorf, so a group can split up in the morning and still meet for lunch. Wide, gentle terrain and nine separate ways back down to a bed make it the least intimidating of the big Austrian areas.
2. Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis: children who are learning. Three linked villages on a sunny terrace above the Inn valley, built around children’s areas and an underground village train, and covered in our Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis guide.
3. Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn: confident intermediates. One pass covers Saalbach, Leogang, Fieberbrunn, the Schmitten in Zell am See and the Kitzsteinhorn and Maiskogel in Kaprun, which is a great deal of cruising on red runs for people who want distance rather than difficulty.
4. Kitzbühel: strong intermediates who want the famous runs. The Streif on the Hahnenkamm is a race course rather than a holiday piste, but the rest of KitzSki is a sociable, low-altitude area with a real town attached.
5. St. Anton am Arlberg: advanced skiers and off-piste. The five linked Arlberg villages plus Warth-Schröcken form the country’s most demanding mainstream terrain, and it is not where a nervous skier should book a first week.

If snow cover is the deciding factor rather than difficulty, the Hintertux Glacier runs lifts through the whole year and is the earliest and latest skiing in Austria.

12 things to do in Austria in winter without skiing

The 12 activities below are the ones I did on a three-day January trip in Tyrol with 14 other bloggers, split into groups so that each group tried something different, and they are ordered from the easiest to arrange to the most planned.

1. Play in the snow

Playing in the snow is the activity nobody books and everybody remembers. Snow turned all 15 of us back into children: we pushed each other over, cut across deep drifts instead of using the cleared paths, fell down and laughed about it. It cost nothing and it filled an hour.

Valley snow arrives later than most people expect, so do not plan a snow-dependent trip for the first half of December. Go in January if you want the guaranteed version.

2. Visit a husky ranch

A husky ranch is the one winter activity I would tell a non-skier to book first. I am not much of an animal person, and the dogs at the Husky Ranch in Angerberg still got me completely. They were calm and quiet right up until they worked out that a sled was coming out, and then they turned into energy bombs.

Owner Martin Eigentler has built the pack up on an 8,000 m² (86,100 sq ft) enclosure in the Kitzbühel Alps, and he leaves them once a year, to travel to Canada and Alaska looking for new pups. The ranch runs sled rides and full days with the pack through the winter.

3. Go winter hiking

Winter hiking works in Austria because the villages clear and mark their paths, not because the mountain trails stay open. Plenty of summer routes are under snow, but the valley-floor and village networks are walkable all winter, and the views are better than in summer because the trees are bare.

We walked from Hotel Kraftquelle Schlossblick up to the pilgrimage church of Mariastein after the husky ranch, which is the kind of afternoon this country is good at. I have hiked Vorarlberg in summer and the winter version is quieter and shorter, not worse. If you want to stay at the same place we ate at, Hotel Kraftquelle Schlossblick sits in Angerberg looking straight at the church.

4. Climb the tower at Mariastein

Mariastein is a 14th-century castle tower with a chapel at the top of it, and the climb is 150 steps. The Gnadenkapelle at the top holds the image of the Virgin that pilgrims come for, and there are rooms to rest in on the way up, one of them a small museum. Entry is free and the church is open daily from 09:00 to 17:00.

January is the church’s quiet month, because pilgrims mostly come when the weather is warmer. That makes it one of the few Austrian sights that is easier in winter than in summer.

5. Try off-track cross-country skiing

Off-track cross-country skiing is harder than the groomed-track version, and the difference is in the ski. I had been on tracked cross-country skis once before, in Quebec in Canada, and had never gone off-track. At the Nordic Academy in Hochfilzen I did both, and the guide explained the difference before we started: regular cross-country skis are slicker, off-track skis are not.

Sizing surprised me. Cross-country skis are sized on your weight, not your height. We managed the flat sections and enjoyed sliding down the one hill; getting back up that hill on cross-country skis was a different sport entirely, and not all of us stayed upright.

6. Eat the food of Austria

Austrian mountain food is rich, buttery, meaty and filling, and it is built for people who are outside burning calories all day. That is worth knowing if your day is a village walk rather than a ski day, because the portions assume otherwise.

My favourite thing I ate was the Austrian take on pancakes. Yes, a dessert. You can read more about the food of Austria in a separate guide.

7. Shoot a biathlon target

Biathlon combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, and the targets are nothing like the round bullseyes you are picturing. The ones we practised on were a box with six holes, and a small flap closed over a hole when you hit it, so you could see your own score without a spotter.

We shot children’s targets at 10 m (32.8 ft). The professionals shoot at 50 m (164 ft). This was probably my favourite thing I did all trip.

8. Wander a mountain village

Wandering a mountain village is the correct plan for the day your legs have given up. Sankt Johann in Tirol, where we stayed, is a large village by mountain standards, with enough shops and a couple of bars to fill an afternoon, and you can walk straight out of it into the white fields.

Villages are also where the non-ski economy lives: the bakeries, the ski-hire shops that also rent snowshoes, the tourist office that knows which paths are cleared today.

9. Take a horse carriage ride in Sankt Johann

A horse carriage ride is the most restful winter activity in Austria and the coldest one to photograph. We piled under blankets in the carriage and watched the white landscape go past. It was my first activity of the trip and it turned out to be a good way to get to know everyone else on it.

One warning from doing it: if you climb out to take photos, you will be noticeably colder for the rest of the ride. Take the photo from under the blanket.

10. Sit through a schnapps tasting

A schnapps tasting is how Austrians hand over their drinking culture, and schnapps is roughly 40% alcohol, so pace it. Eating and drinking is a large part of Austrian winter tourism, which is what the whole après-ski economy is built on, and you do not have to ski to join that half of it.

I very rarely drink, and when I do it is something that tastes like lemonade. Schnapps is not that. Edelbrandsommelier Leo Trixl ran ours, and he started by making us guess a series of scents before any actual tasting began, which is a good way to get a non-drinker through the evening.

11. Toboggan down the Gaisberg in Kirchberg

The Gaisberg toboggan run in Kirchberg is 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long, it is floodlit, and it finishes at the door of the Gasthaus Obergaisberg. A lift takes you from the edge of Kirchberg up to the 1,264 m (4,148 ft) summit, which was the part I was nervous about, because I have a fear of heights. In the dark it bothered me much less than it usually does.

Night tobogganing runs Tuesday to Saturday from 18:00 to 20:30, with evening runs every day during the Christmas holidays. I sledded down with Lisa from TVB Hohe Salve and we giggled the whole way. Because the restaurant sits beside the track, you can sled part-way, stop for food, and carry on down afterwards. The Gaisberg works in summer too, when you can hike and mountain bike on it.

12. Read a book in your hotel

Reading indoors is a legitimate winter plan and the one nobody admits to. If the cold gets to you, take a book to the hotel bar with a pot of tea and some cake, and write the afternoon off.

Austria’s accommodation makes this easy, from small bed and breakfasts to half-board and full-board mountain hotels, and our guide to hotels in Austria sorts them by region. To stay on theme, these books about Austria will teach you something about the country you are sitting in.

Other people on our trip went snowshoeing and fat biking. In the cities the winter is a cultural season rather than a sporting one, and you can spend it learning the Viennese Waltz or working through the museums of Vienna, neither of which depends on snow.

What to do in Austria in winter, month by month

Austria’s winter calendar runs from the season-opening concerts in late November to the spring music festivals in late March, and the confirmed 2026-27 fixtures are set out by month below.

November 2026

November is when the lifts open and the Christmas markets start, in that order. Ischgl opens its season on 26 November 2026 and follows it two days later with the Top of the Mountain Opening Concert on 28 November, an open-air show at 18:00 on the P1 car park at the foot of the Silvrettabahn, with Westlife playing the 2026 edition. The Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn starts the next day, 27 November 2026.

Vienna gets into Christmas earlier than the mountains do. The Schönbrunn Palace Christmas market opens on 6 November 2026 and runs to 6 January 2027, daily 10:00 to 21:00. The Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkt opens on 13 November 2026 and runs to 26 December, daily 10:00 to 22:00. November weather in Austria is already winter weather, so pack as though it were January.

December 2026

December is Christmas-market month everywhere, and ski-season-proper month in the mountains. The Vienna markets are in full swing, and the markets in Innsbruck, ringed by mountains, and in Salzburg are the two most worth a detour from the ski valleys. Schönbrunn keeps going past Christmas to 6 January 2027, which makes it the one to aim for if you are travelling between the holidays.

The lifts fill in through the month. The Zillertal Arena and the Tux valley open on 4 December 2026, the SkiWelt on 5 December. Peak-season pricing starts on 19 or 20 December depending on the area, so the first two weeks of the month are the cheapest skiing of the winter.

Vienna’s Silvesterpfad turns the city centre into an open-air New Year’s Eve party on 31 December, with stages across the inner districts and the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert shown on a screen at Stephansplatz the following morning.

January 2027

January is the month to come for snow, for the ski-racing calendar and for classical music. The Hahnenkamm Races in Kitzbühel run from 18 to 24 January 2027, the 87th edition: Super-G on Friday 22 January, the downhill on the Streif on Saturday 23 January, and the slalom on Sunday 24 January. It is the loudest week of the Austrian winter and the town is full, so book accommodation months out or watch from a neighbouring valley.

Salzburg answers with the Mozart Week from 21 to 31 January 2027, built around Mozart’s birthday on 27 January and running every year since 1956. The 2027 programme is themed “Mozart and ‘Mozarts'” and centres on a new staging of Così fan tutte under Rolando Villazón.

January is also when the quieter sights are at their emptiest, which is the argument for a non-ski January: Mariastein, the village walks and the museums all have room.

February 2027

February holds peak-season prices and peak-season crowds, because it carries the school holidays of half of Europe. Expect the top price band at every ski area, roughly €79.50 to €83.00 (about $92 to $96, £68 to £71) for an adult day pass, and expect the tobogganing, snowshoeing and spa alternatives to be busy as well.

The compensation is daylight. February gives you appreciably longer afternoons than December at the same snow depth, which matters if your plan involves walking rather than riding lifts.

March 2027

March is when the prices drop and the season winds down. KitzSki returns to its cheapest band from 30 March 2027, the SkiWelt from 13 March, and Saalbach runs its bonus season from 13 March to 4 April 2027. Peak pricing ends on 12 or 13 March, so the second half of the month is the value window of the winter.

The Tanzcafé Arlberg Music Festival closes the season in Lech Zürs with outdoor performances, ski-hut sets and hotel-bar concerts across the end of March and into April; the organiser publishes the exact 2027 dates on its own site. If March is too late for you, our guide to places to visit in Austria in summer covers the other half of the year.

Tours and winter activities in Austria

Guided winter activities in Austria change availability week by week, so live listings beat anything written into a page. Husky rides, snowshoe walks, Christmas-market tours and day trips from Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck all appear below.

How to get to Austria in winter

How you get to Austria depends on whether you are heading for a city or a valley. Vienna and Salzburg have direct flights and direct trains from most of Europe. Mountain villages need a last leg by transfer, bus or car, and in winter that last leg is the part that goes wrong.

Flights into Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Munich are worth comparing side by side, and Trip.com shows them together. Rail is often the better option to the cities, and you can find timetables and prices through Omio, which covers Austrian trains and long-distance buses. For a car, which is what most mountain valleys really need, DiscoverCars compares more than 900 suppliers in one search. Winter tyres are a legal requirement in Austria in wintry conditions, so check they are included rather than sold as an extra at the desk.

Travel insurance for a winter trip to Austria

Winter trips carry more ways to claim than summer ones, between weather cancellations, injury on snow and damaged kit. Cover matters more here than on a city break, because a cancelled flight in January has fewer alternatives.

Flexible cover you can start after you have already left is worth knowing about, and SafetyWing sells plans you can sign up for mid-trip. They were the first travel insurer to cover COVID, and when I caught it they reimbursed my costs without an argument.

Austria in winter FAQ

When does the ski season start in Austria in 2026-27? In the last week of November. Ischgl opens on 26 November 2026 and Saalbach on 27 November, with most Tyrolean areas following on 4 or 5 December and closing between 12 March and 11 April 2027.

What does a day ski pass cost in Austria in 2026-27? Between €69.00 (about $80, £59) and €83.00 (about $96, £71) for an adult, depending on the resort and the date. Peak season runs roughly 19 December 2026 to 13 March 2027 and is the most expensive band at every area.

What is there to do in Austria in winter if you do not ski? Husky sledding, winter hiking on cleared village paths, tobogganing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, Christmas markets, schnapps tastings, horse carriage rides and city museums. None of the 12 activities on this page requires a lift pass, though the Gaisberg toboggan run uses a lift to get up.

Which month is snowiest in Austria? January and February. The lift companies price 19 or 20 December to 12 or 13 March as their peak band, and the middle of that window is where valley snow is most reliable.

Can you ski in Austria outside the winter season? Yes, on the Hintertux Glacier, which runs lifts through the year. Its summer season ran 9 May to 2 October in 2026, with an adult full-day pass at €68.00 (about $79, £58).

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Five things worth knowing before an Austrian winter trip are listed below, four of them learned the hard way on the ground.

1. Take your photos from under the carriage blanket. Climbing out of a horse carriage to shoot the landscape left me colder for the entire rest of the ride, and there is no getting that warmth back once the blanket has been off.
2. Book a window table at the Gasthaus Obergaisberg before you toboggan. The restaurant sits directly on the Gaisberg run, so you can sled part-way down, eat, and finish the descent, and night tobogganing only runs Tuesday to Saturday 18:00 to 20:30 outside the Christmas holidays.
3. Give your weight, not your height, when you hire cross-country skis. Cross-country sizing works off body weight, which the Nordic Academy guide had to explain to all of us, and an off-track ski is deliberately less slick than a track ski.
4. Aim for the first two weeks of December or the second half of March if the price matters. The SkiWelt drops from €79.50 to €71.50 and KitzSki from €83.00 to €69.00 outside the peak band, which is a bigger saving than any accommodation deal.
5. Put Mariastein in a January itinerary rather than a summer one. Entry is free, it is open daily 09:00 to 17:00, and January is its low season because pilgrims come when the weather is warmer.

I was invited on the #inAustria trip by iambassador in partnership with the Austrian National Tourist Office. As always, anything I write about the trip is my opinion only.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her January trip through Tyrol, from Sankt Johann and Angerberg to Hochfilzen and Kirchberg. The team covers Austria for independent travellers, including the tours, the hotels, the car hire and the travel insurance worth booking for a winter trip, and updates this page when season dates, lift pass prices and event calendars change.