Zillertal Arena Ski Resort Austria
A vast area linking the Ziller valley (Tyrol) & Pinzgau (Salzburgerland), Zillertal Arena ski resort offers a wonderful Austrian Alps feast of skiing & snowboarding. Its massive network of lifts & trails, one of the longest skiable verticals in Austria, plus diversity of villages put it squarely in the ‘gotta check it out’ category.
Connecting the villages of Zell am Ziller, Gerlos, Königsleiten and Hochkrimml; Zillertal Arena also benefits by being part of the Zillertaler Superskipass region, adding another layer of fun & adventure to an already quality offering.
Pros & Cons for Zillertal Arena Ski Resort
Pros
- Can receive loads of snow in the right weather conditions.
- Most terrain is snow-sure above 1,600m altitude.
- Long skiable vertical of over 1,920m, all of which is skiable on piste in one very long 10km run!
- Vast network of lifts & ski trails.
- Quality on-piste trails for beginner & intermediate skiers & snowboarders.
- Great value multi-day lift pass valid in all ski resort in the Zillertal including Hintertux Glacier.
- Several fabulous sidecountry freeride descents available, plus loads of diverse off-piste terrain discoverable with a little bit of reconnaissance effort!
- Wonderful on-mountain restaurants throughout the resort.
- Public transport access by train & bus is excellent. Once there, local ski buses serve an incredibly conclusive of routes covering all the local accommodation options.
- Loads of convenient free car parking near the main ski lifts.
Cons
- Generally busy, particularly above Gerlos.
- Snow quality in some lower sectors can be surprisingly poor (i.e. above Gerlos!).
- Zell is a low elevation village that may not have natural snow for much of winter (though the valley trail down to it will!).
- relatively limited advanced on-piste terrain.
Pro or Con (depending on your perspective!)
- Close to Innsbruck, which may be good or bad!
- Ever improving ski lifts.
- Wide diversity of accommodation types & village vibe depending on where one stays.
- Limited ski-in ski-out accommodation but does depend heavily on where one is lodging.
- Après ski can be fun at specific locations, but the resort lacks the overall 'pumping vibes' of some other Austrian destinations (like nearby Mayrhofen), mainly due to the disconnection of the ski lifts to the towns (like Zell).
Skiing & Snowboarding, Lift & Terrain
If its 154km of trails (incl. marked ski routes) & 52 major ski lifts are not enough, Zillertal Arena has a knee-blowing 1,920m of skiable vertical, all which can be completed in one super long 10km run linking trails from the fantastically named summit of Übergangsjoch (2,500m) all the way to the valley at Zell am Ziller (580m). The lower portion of the descent is a hairy ride at speed for more advanced riders only, but that is unusual in a ski resort with over 85km of trails rated as intermediate. Despite its one valley descent to low altitude, most of the resort’s terrain is above the 1,300 to 1,600m mark. The highest lifted point is the Übergangsjoch at 2,500m. Whilst fully lift interlinked across the entire resort, there are effectively four separate sectors - Zell, Gerlos, Koenigsleiten & Hochkrimml.
Check out the ski trail map for Zillertal Arena below.
The Zillertal Arena’s sprawling lift & piste network will particularly appeal to beginner & intermediate skiers & boarders. Kilometre after kilometre of piste are available, all connected by (mostly) modern lifts. Beginners are best off at the Hochkrimml end of the resort lapping the many runs on the Plattenkogel summit. Intermediates will adore the multitude of groomed slopes Rosenalm (in the Zell sector) and around the Koenigsleitenspitze (in the Koenigsleiten sector). For advanced on-piste challenges, the best of them is the afore mentioned full 1,920m vertical descent from the Übergangsjoch summit (2,500m) into the Zell am Ziller base (580m). Anyone that can do it without stopping is a way stronger skier than us!
From a powder hounds’ point of view the best off-piste freeride zones in the resort include anything off the Übergangsjoch summit (including off the peak to the south and then a traversing exit to the Kreuzwiesen chair), the many variations into the Krummbachtal from Isskogel or further down the ridge, and the Falschbach side of the 2,315m Königsleitenspitze.
New lifts at the resort are steadily being brought online. For season 22/23 the old Kapauns double chair was replaced with a brand spanking monster 8-seater hooded chair that nearly doubles the skiable vertical in the sector from 340m to 600m. By extending the vertical, it opens up some very interesting off-piste possibilities. In the 23/24 season a new linking gondola (between Zell and Gerlos), the Krimml-X-Press, replaced a perfectly good quad chair, and the Duxer chair at Hochkrimml was upgraded to a 6-seater. For season 24/25, the perfectly fine Teufeltal quad chair was replaced by an 8-seater, and the second Duxer quad chair at Jochkrimml was replaced by another 6-seater. And so it goes into the future. The increasing in uphill lifting capacity will assist is alleviating any perceived lift line issues, but we never noted any in these zones!
Lift Pass Linked with Wildkogel & Zillertaler SuperSki
All Zillertal Arena multi-day lift passes are also valid in the nearby Wildkogel Arena (Neukirchen & Bramberg)(past Krimml in the Pinzgau valley), but not the other way around! If you are skiing Wildkogel you will have to pay extra on your lift pass to include Zillertal Arena. Wildkogel has 75km of trails and the longest illuminated sled trail in the world at 14km. Free buses connect Hochzillertal to Wildkogel. We have not been there, so cannot comment on its worth.
The Zillertal Arena ski area has a multi-day lift pass valid for all the other Ziller (& Tuxer) valley ski resorts via the Zillertaler Super Ski Pass. All lift passes of 2-days or more are a Zillertaler Superskipass allowing unfettered access to Zillertal Arena, Hintertux Glacier, Mayrhofen and Hochzillertal. The valley’s massive 544km+ of ski trails & 180 ski lifts are covered by the pass, as are the buses and trains that connect it all up!
See the Zillertal Super Ski Pass Resorts Map.
Where is Zillertal Arena Austria?
Located not far from Innsbruck, Zillertal Arena is easy to get to by train, bus & car. The closest gateway airports are Innsbruck (INN) (for travellers from within Europe or the UK) and Munich (MUC). Each has excellent bus and/or train connections to the Ziller valley via Jenbach train station and hence on the local Zillertalbahn.
The closest major train station to Zillertal Arena is Jenbach from where the Zillertalbahn chugs its way up the valley to the stop at Zell am Ziller. The 32km long Zillertal Railway (Zillertalbahn) runs regularly on every day of the ski season from Jenbach railway station all the way through to Mayrhofen. Public buses also make the journey, but less regularly & with less style!
Search & book all train tickets to Jenbach & Zell am Ziller.
Anyone travelling to the region by rental car should contemplate a journey on the Gerlos Alpine Road, which links the Zillertal to the Pinzgau. Normally a tolled road, travel by car in winter is free for anyone with a valid Zillertal Ski Pass.
Once in the region, the local train and buses are included on all multi-day ski passes. The uplands on both sides of the Ziller valley around Zell-am-Ziller township (like Zellberg & Rohrberg et al) are well connected by bus to the two gondola lift stations (Rosenalm & Karspitz) allowing stress-free access up into the resort from all kinds of lodging locations. 10 different bus routes (both numbered & colour coded so you can’t go wrong) run at least 2-3 times in the morning and 2-3 times in the afternoon connecting the valley villages & hamlets to the ski lifts. See the Zillertal ski bus and train route map for the broad overview of transport in the Zillertal.
For hints, tips & warnings about getting to Austrian ski resorts in winter, see our Travel in Austria page.
Zillertal Arena Accommodation
Spread across the valleys and mountains from the Zillertal to the Pinzgau, accommodation options are certainly not in short supply when contemplating a visit to Zillertal Arena. From Zell (a.k.a. Zell-im-Zillertal) the ski lifts & the Gerlos Alpine Road wind through the mountains to link with villages at Gerlos, Königsleiten and Hochkrimml. Whilst the ski lifts and pistes stop at Hochkrimml, the road continues down into the Pinzgau region and the village of Krimml.
Search & book here for all Zillertal Arena ski accommodation.
In the Ziller valley, the low elevation town (580m) of Zell-am-Ziller provides probably the most lively and convenient accommodation from which to not only explore the ski resort, but also all of the other resorts in the valley. Plus it has a station on the Zillertalbahn train line. Note that there may not be snow in the valley early & late in the season.
The higher elevation villages of Gerlos (1,300m elevation), Königsleiten (1,600m) & Hochkrimml (1,640m) provide quieter accommodations but with excellent lift & piste access, plus fantastic Austrian Alps hospitality.
In the Pinzgau valley, Krimml (1,076m) & its famous waterfall feels delightfully isolated and is not lift connected into the resort but requires a short bus journey up to Hochkrimml.
Search & book here for all Krimml ski accommodation.
Ski Rentals, Lessons & Guiding
Ski rentals are available near the ski lifts throughout Zillertal Arena via our local partners in Zell am Ziller , Gerlos & Königsleiten. Receive a discount when you search & book via our Zillertal Arena Ski & Snowboard Rental page.
Some off-piste ski lessons & guiding can make all the difference to a stay at Zillertal Arena. For more info & options, compare search & book via our Zillertal Arena Ski Lessons & Guiding page.
Review
The Powderhounds reviewed Zillertal Arena in late January 2022, and whilst we did our best to ski every part of the resort, we failed simply because it is too big and we needed to move on! We will return again in the near future. Click on the review link in the left column (or top of the page if on a mobile) to read all the reviews.
See how Zillertal Arena compares to the rest of the Austrian ski resorts 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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