Kitzbuhel

Kitzbühel was a copper and silver mining town from the fifteenth century, which is what built the painted houses along the Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, and it turned to skiing early - the first ski races were held here in 1893 and the resort was among the first in the Alps. The Hahnenkamm downhill on the Streif, run each January, is the event: about three and a half kilometres with a start ramp that drops the racers into an eighty-five per cent gradient within seconds, jumps that carry them eighty metres, and the Mausefalle and Hausbergkante compression where careers have ended. Winning it matters more to a downhill racer than an Olympic medal, by common account. Race week brings a hundred thousand people. Outside it the town is expensive, well kept and busy in both seasons.

History

People mined copper in the hills here between 1100 and 800 BC, the Romans made the Alps their province of Noricum around 15 BC, and Bavarians settled and cleared the forests around 800; the name, first written Chizbuhel in the 12th century, joins a Bavarian clan name to the word for hill. Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria granted town rights on 6 June 1271 and walls were built, silver and copper mining grew under the Landshut dukes, and on 30 June 1504 Emperor Maximilian took Kitzbühel, Kufstein and Rattenberg for Tyrol; the town was held in fief by the Counts of Lamberg from the late 16th century until it passed to the state on 1 May 1840 (Wikipedia, Kitzbühel).

What to look for

• The Streif - the Hahnenkamm downhill course, walkable in summer.
• A medieval mining town - painted houses along the two main streets.
• An early ski resort - racing here since 1893, among the first in the Alps.
• Race week in January - a hundred thousand people in a town of eight thousand.

When to go

January for the race; December to April for skiing; summer for walking. A day.

Good to know

Race week is expensive, packed and books out a year ahead. Kitzbühel is among the priciest resorts in Austria in any season. Snow reliability at this altitude has become variable.

Nearby

St Johann in Tirol is north; the Wilder Kaiser and Kufstein are north-west.

Key facts