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Spanning four mountains and two valleys, the Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau is one of the most beautiful ski areas in the Tirol. The highest peak is the 2,128m Wiedersberger Horn in Alpbach, while the Schatzberg, at 1,903m, is the summit of the Wildschönau. These two mountains form the core of the ski area.
Thanks to its diversity of long and wide slopes as well as challenging runs and freeride zones the ski area is attractive to both beginners and experienced winter sports lovers. It was voted top Tirolean skiing area for families and children, and the region's 10 ski schools, plus attractions such as the Alpbachtaler Lauser-Sauser roller coaster, thrilling toboggan runs, piste-basher rides or building your own igloo ensure that the whole family enjoys their winter holidays both on and off-piste.
Plus, there's a brand new chairlift to enjoy in Alpbachtal this season! In celebration of the Ski Juwel turning 10 years old in 2022, the new Hornbahn 2000 chairlift will open and whisk visitors up to a brand new viewing platform - the Top of Alpbachtal - at the ski area's highest point, offering spectacular views.
Unlike many monolithic ski resorts, the Ski Juwel contains a string of Tirolean gems. In the Alpbachtal, nine villages and one picturesque town enchant with their individual character, including the smallest town in Austria, Rattenberg, with just 400 inhabitants. Over in the Wildschönau, you'll discover four more little villages, such as Thierbach with its church, two inns and only a few houses.
Five reasons to visit the Ski Juwel this winter
Diverse slopes
113km of pistes, 90% of which are supplemented by snow cannons, served by 45 ski lifts, including nine gondolas, seven chairlifts and 28 T-bars. Racetracks and excellent freeride for experienced skiers, great cruising for intermediates and easily accessed nursery slopes, plus two snow parks.
Fantastic for families
Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau has received several awards as a top family ski area. and with 25 ski huts, rustic and authentic, with fantastic views and culinary delights, you won't go hungry either! Numerous attractive family offers on ski passes and great family highlights off the slopes for young and old winter fans!
Beautiful villages
With so many charming, pretty villages, the Ski Juwel is one of the most attractive places to ski, offering peace and quiet and lively après in well-balanced measures.
Adventurous activities
The Ski Juwel resorts offer plenty to do off the slopes as well. Whether it's speedy rides on the Alpbachtaler Lauser-Sauser, spectacular rides as a piste-basher co-pilot, building an igloo or a tandem paragliding flight at lofty heights - fun and action is guaranteed!
Easy to get to
The airports in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Munich can be reached within 90 minutes hours.
A comfortable journey from the airports is made possible by many competent partners in the region.
The four main resorts of the Ski Juwel are Niederau, Oberau, Auffach and Alpbach. Here's your guide to these four resort centres:
Alpbach
Repeatedly voted 'Austria´s most beautiful village', Alpbach epitomises most people's imagined image of what an idyllic Austrian ski resort village should look like, radiating Tirolean charm and dotted with fabulously romantic old buildings. Yet it also offers all the modern amenities and facilities that should be expected of a top-class Alpine resort. Alpbach is good resort choice for skiing and snowboarding beginners, and perfect for intermediates.
The local Alpbach ski area is focused on the Wiedersberger Horn above Inneralpbach, the uppermost reaches of which give splendid vistas over the surrounding peaks of the Alpbachtal, the Rofan Range and the Ziller Valley. Facing this, on the opposite side of Inneralpbach, are the slopes of the Schatzberg, linking into the Auffach-Wildschönau ski area.
Both sectors offer a good selection of intermediate pistes, plenty of which are on attractive tree-clad slopes. Experts also have the option of exploring the considerable off-piste potential on the other non-lift-served flanks of the Wiedersberger Horn.
Alpbach also offers 20 km of immaculate cross-country ski trails in scenic surroundings, untracked powder slopes for ski touring lovers and cleared winter hiking trails. Other popular winter activities include tobogganing and paragliding.
For more information about Alpbach, go to alpbachtal.at
Auffach
Boasting the greatest vertical drop and the highest, sunniest slopes in the Wildschönau region, rustic Auffach retains the peaceful, quaint village character with which it has been charming its visitors for decades. As with most ski resort villages in Austria, there's always a bit of jovial apres-ski to be found just after the lifts close in the afternoon until early evening, but the real appeal of Auffach is that it offers its guests a relaxing Alpine bolthole away from the often raucous apres-ski action for which many other Austrian resorts are renowned. Perfect for more reserved, perhaps more mature visitors, and for families with young children.
The beginners' slopes and children's zones are situated on a sunny plateau, together with a few undemanding blue pistes, overlooked by a couple of pleasant mountain restaurants. From winter 2022, you can visit the new Schatzberg Zwergenland at the mid-station of the lift in Auffach, with loads of fun features for children, including a kid's ski area and fun zone with a snowball playground, igloo, magic carpets, the beginning of a toboggan run into the valley and much more!.
The upper sector of the mountain is a playground for intermediates, with a wide selection of good red-graded runs from the lift-served ridges on both shoulders of the Schatzberg peak.
Alternative daytime activities available locally include toboggan runs, horse-drawn sleigh rides, horse riding treks, and scenic walking routes; Auffach also houses an interesting museum of Tirolean woodcrafts.
For more details about Auffach, go to wildschoenau.com
Niederau
Niederau is immediately recognisable by its pointed church steeple and the Markbachjoch mountain behind it. Very family-friendly, it has both easy beginners slopes and demanding valley runs, making Niederau a small but popular ski resort. One particular highlight is the black run on the Hochberg.
Beginners slopes are within easy reach of the village centre, and the ski school here has an excellent reputation, especially among beginners. You can also take a snow-shoe trek across the snowfields, or whizz down a thrilling toboggan run stretching 6 km from the Lanerköpfl to the village. Ski touring is another opportunity with a ski school guide.
Niederau village is compact, with several family-run hotels handily located next to the beginner slopes. Many of these are ski-in-ski-out too.
Go to wildschoenau.com for more details about Niederau
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Oberau
This picturesque village lies in the centre of the Wildschönau at 936m. The landmark of Oberau is the 250-year-old baroque church, sometimes known as the Cathedral because of its size. The views are of the Schatzberg with its ski slopes to the south and the Wilder Kaiser mountains to the north.
The Schiesshüttl lifts in Oberau are ideal for beginners and children. The location directly in the village centre couldn’t be better for parents watching their little ones take their first turns on skis. Two further practice lifts are at Roggenboden. Oberau is just a few minutes drive away from the Schatzberg and Markbachjoch ski areas. Winter walkers will love St Francis Path is a romantic path to Niederau, and is lit up in the winter evenings. The Drachental Family Park offers year-round fun for the whole family. The heart of the park is the Drachenflitzer, a modern Alpine coaster.
For more info about Oberau, go to wildschoenau.com
To find out more about the beautiful Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau region, go to skijuwel.com
