Skiing at Hochkönig

jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-094

We had attempted to ski on Saturday. The sky was bright blue, the snow conditions perfect. But sometimes best laid plans... the traffic was busy so we only pulled up to Saalbach-Hinterglemm around 10:30am and then spent a solid hour and a half looking for parking to no avail and by the time noon rolled around we didn't think buying lift passes or my partner renting ski gear was worth it anymore.

Instead, we headed to Zell am See, a gorgeous lake nearby, for a lunch of käsespätzle instead followed by a little walk in the snowy sunshine lakeside.

Check out all my favourite lakes to visit near Salzburg!

jana meerman zell am see austria-19
jana meerman zell am see austria-19
jana meerman zell am see austria-19

On our drive home from Zell am See, I wanted to see what the Hochkönig region looked like in its winter blanket of snow, having hiked there in the summer of 2022.

Check out my detailed guide to hiking Stage 2 of the Salzburger Almenweg along the Hochkönig mountains!

As our luck would have it, we stumbled upon the Hochkönig ski resort, a ski area just an hour away from my home in Salzburg that I had no idea existed! One of my favourite things about living in Salzburg, where I can see the mountains from my balcony, is that I can take the train or the car for an hour or two to any of the hundreds of ski hills around me for a day of skiing, and still make it home in time for dinner.

I learned to ski in 2015, at the age of nineteen, and felt hugely behind in picking up this skill set, especially living in Canada where it seems like kids are born and raised on skis! I spent the next three years after that honing my skills but then, long-term traveling and ultimately moving to Europe, meant leaving my skis, along with everything else I owned, behind. Firstly in a storage unit in Canada and later with my parents in California, my boxes waited patiently for me to one day (three years later!) to come and claim them again. When the US border finally reopened at the end of 2021 after nearly two years of COVID-related closures, I was finally able to make the trip back to California for the holidays. It was an ideal opportunity to go through all my stuff and decide what to bring back to Austria, including my boots and skis!

Check out everywhere I've skiied around the world so far!

And so we decided that the next day, on an equally beautiful Sunday, that we would return to Hochkönig for a day on the slopes. I can honestly say that it might have cinched the spot for my new favourite ski resort in Austria. Yep, it's that great here.

How to Get to Hochkönig

By flight: The closest international airport to Hochkönig is in Salzburg.

By car: Of course, the easiest way to get to Hochkönig with all your ski gear in tow is to travel with your own wheels. Hochkönig is about one hour drive south from Salzburg. There are small parking lots along the road at each chair lift in the region. The main parking garage is at Dienten, from where you can simply take an elevator up one level to the kassa to buy ski passes and rent gear if needed, before taking it one level higher straight to the hill!

If you don't have your own car, you can rent one in Salzburg.

By train: You can reach Hochkönig from Salzburg by train and bus, a popular option if you don't have your own car. The train takes 1.25 hours from Salzburg Hbf to Lend from where you transfer to bus 631 to reach Dienten. Tickets can be purchased on ÖBB.

Check out my guide to hiking Stage 2 of the Salzburger Almenweg in the summer alongside Hochkönig.

jana meerman hochkonig snow austria winter-3
Skiing at Hochkönig

The main place to buy ski passes is at the Kassa in Dienten, although you can also buy them at any of the other Hochkönig ticket machines:

  • Maria Alm - Natrun and Aberg lifts
  • Hintermoos - ski centre
  • Hinterthal - Hochmais and Fasching lifts
  • Mühlbach - Scheppal Alm parking lot and Karbachalm lift

There are a few different options depending on if you want to ski for a half-day, full-day, multiple days or the whole season, all with different pricing. You can also purchase your tickets online in advance. You'll be issued with a ski pass which you can tuck into your ski jacket for easy scanning through the chair lifts.

Check out the different ticket options at Hochkönig.

I truly loved the resort at Hochkönig. It felt like how a small city feels compared to a big city; really peaceful, relaxed, quiet and with chill slopes. There was a brilliant variety of pistes for all different levels from super flat easy blue forest trails to steep blacks and multiple lifts and gondolas across the region. It's also seriously beautiful, looking over the Hochkönig mountains. It might have cinched the top spot for my favourite ski resort in Austria!

jana meerman Hochkönig ski piste map

Hochkönig Piste Map via skiresort.at

jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-092
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jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-075
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jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-094
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-094
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jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-065
Where to Eat at Hochkönig

As with all ski resorts in Austria, you'll find that the best food to be had on a ski day is in a mountain hut - and I can say hand-on-heart that when you're skiing, there is just nothing better than hut food! My typical favourite traditional Austrian dishes - most of which are found in mountain huts - are:

  • käsespätzle - cheesy baked noodle-like balls, usually topped with crispy onions
  • kaiserschmarrn - shredded pancakes served with marmelade and dusted with powdered sugar
  • germknödel - a massive fluffy dumpling, often with marmelade inside, covered in vanilla sauce and sprinkled with poppy seeds
  • frittatensuppe - shredded pancakes in broth (usually beef broth, but can often be found in a vegetable broth for us vegetarians!)
  • almdudler - a soda that tastes like the perfect mix between ginger ale and lemonade
  • heiße schokolade - okay, this isn't typically Austrian, but there's just something about an oat milk hot choc on a ski day

We ate at the Bürglalm at the top of the Dienten chair lift overlooking the Hochkönig mountain in the gorgeous snowy sunshine.

jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-086
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-086
jana meerman hochkonig ski resort austria-086

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Jana Meerman

Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.

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