Hopfgarten ski resort

Overview

Hopfgarten is an attractive small traditional Tyrolean market village that sits at the western end of the main SkiWelt domain, at the foot of the area's highest peak: Hohe Salve (1829 m). This is still very much a working market valley community, not a purpose-built ski resort; in many ways the adjacent ski area is secondary to the day-to-day business of the village, and that's the principal appeal of Hopfgarten for the discerning visitors who choose this authentic and friendly village as a winter holiday base.

Nevertheless, with its fast gondola link to the summit of Hohe Salve, Hopfgarten presents a compelling gateway into the SkiWelt for keen intermediate- and advanced-level skiers and snowboarders, offering speedy access to the region's steepest and most snow-sure slopes, with onward links towards the other resorts in this expansive linked ski area.

Ski area

Given favourable snow conditions, Hopfgarten can offer a couple of compact nursery slopes at valley level, but this isn't really a suitable resort for beginners because the steep slopes of the main local ski area on the Hohe Salve mountain offer very little in the way of natural progression routes for novices once they're ready to move on to the main pistes.

The fast 8-seater Salvenbahn gondola based at the south-eastern end of the village links with a similar second-stage gondola that rises to the summit of the Hohe Salve; together with two chairlifts that serve the upper slopes of this sector, including the Rigi area that links with the neighbouring ski sectors above the resort villages of Itter and Soll.

At 1,829metres, the Hohe Salve summit is the highest point in the core SkiWelt domain, and its slopes can generally be relied on to offer the best snow conditions in the region; the summit sector runs are also some of the SkiWelt's steepest, all either red or black, although none are extreme.

From the Hohe Salve summit, a black run leads off for links towards the Zinsberg sector at the core of the SkiWelt, and towards Brixen im Thale for links to Westendorf, Kirchberg, and Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuheler Alpen All Star Card area lift pass required). There's also an epic red home-run route all the way from the summit down to the base station at Hopfgarten, the biggest non-stop on-piste vertical drop in the entire SkiWelt domain.

Off the slopes and apres ski

Hopfgarten's attractive cobblestoned central market quarter around its impressive twin-steeple baroque church is a lovely place for a stroll, plus there's a beautiful riverside walk and Nordic ski trail out to Horbrunn in the Kelchsau Valley to the west of the village.

Ice skating and curling are also possible on the frozen lake at the Freizeitpark Salvenaland recreation area a short way out along that same route. Horse-drawn sleigh rides and snowshoe trekking are other options for sightseeing around the Hopfgarten area.

Off-slope recreation facilities in the village itself are limited to the indoor pools, saunas, and spa suites at a couple of the leading hotels; alternatively Hopfgarten has good train and bus connections with the town of Worgl, a popular local shopping town, which has an excellent big aqua-leisure and spa complex. Salzburg, Innsbruck and Kitzbuhel are also all easily accessible by train.

The Rundell bar by the gondola base station offers a bit of informal apres-ski jolliness, and there's a handful of friendly bars dotted around the village, but nightlife in Hopfgarten is pretty much confined to leisurely dinners followed by a relaxing nightcap.