Things to Do in Kitzbühel in January

January is the month skiers who know Kitzbühel tend to choose, and the month casual visitors most often get wrong. The difference is one week: Hahnenkamm race week. Get that right and January is excellent.

This page explains how January splits, what race week does to the town if you’re not there for the race, and what else is on. For the rest of the season, see Kitzbühel in winter.

January at a glance

Early January is the end of the holidays, mid-January is quiet, race week is packed, and the end of the month settles down again.

The Christmas school holidays in Austria end on 6 January 2027, and the February semester holidays in Tyrol and several other states don’t start until mid-February (Austrian education ministry, as of November 2026). The weeks in between are the quiet window.

Skiing in quiet January weeks

Mid-January is one of the best times of the season to ski Kitzbühel: fewer people, shorter queues and, in a normal winter, the whole linked ski area open.

As of November 2026, KitzSki plans the full connection from the Hahnenkamm through Pengelstein and the 3S cable car to Jochberg and the Resterhöhe from 11 December 2026 to 29 March 2027, subject to snow (KitzSki timetable). By January that means the full area is normally running.

The trade-offs are cold and light. Mornings can be bitter on the lifts, pistes are often firm after cold nights, and the afternoons are short, so start early and plan to be finished by mid-afternoon. On the coldest days, choose runs in the sun and take a long lunch at a hut; on grey, flat-light days, stay lower where the trees give you some definition.

Our advice for a quiet January week is to ski the Hahnenkamm side in the mornings, when the pistes are freshly groomed and still empty, and keep the Kitzbüheler Horn for a slower day. Ski school groups are smaller once the holidays end, so January is also a good time for lessons. If anyone in your group is a beginner, private or small-group lessons tend to be easier to book than in the holiday weeks.

Two things to sort before you go: which ski pass to buy for your length of stay, and reserving rental gear so it’s waiting for you.

Race week: what it means if you’re not going to the race

If you’re not there for the race, avoid race week; it’s the most crowded and most expensive week of the month.

As of November 2026, the organisers list race week as 18 to 24 January 2027 on hahnenkamm.com, with downhill training on the Streif early in the week and the slalom on the Ganslern on Sunday 24 January. The town fills with spectators, teams and media, room prices and minimum stays rise, and there are big crowds and parties in the evenings. On the mountain, the Streif and the Ganslern are race courses that week, so expect closures around them. Traffic and parking around town are also harder on race days.

None of that is a problem if the race is the point. Race weekend is one of the great events in skiing, and our guide to race weekend on the Streif covers tickets, viewing and getting around. Just don’t stumble into it by accident.

Other things on in January

Beyond skiing and the race, January has a few events of its own and the usual winter activities.

The Snow Polo World Cup is held on a snow-covered field in Reith bei Kitzbühel and, as of November 2026, is listed for 14 to 17 January 2027 on the Kitzbühel Tourismus snow polo page, the week before the race. Check the page again before you go, as event dates can move.

Cold January nights are good for sledging. Head out to a floodlit toboggan run such as the Gaisberg in Kirchberg, or walk up to a hut on one of the unlit runs at lunchtime. Mountain huts are at their best in January too. With fewer people on the slopes, you can usually get a table at lunchtime without booking, which is rarely true over Christmas or in February.

Winter walks to the Schwarzsee and around the town work well on sunny days, and the Aquarena indoor pool and sauna is the fallback when it’s too cold to stay out.

Dressing for the cold

January is normally the coldest month of the winter, and the chairlifts are where you feel it most. We don’t quote averages here; GeoSphere Austria, the national weather service, publishes measured data.

Dress in layers: a thermal base layer, a warm mid layer and a windproof shell. Bring a neck warmer or face cover for the lifts, thin liner gloves under your ski gloves, and a couple of hand warmers in your pocket. Good sunglasses and goggles matter too, because low January sun on snow is harsh. And keep your phone in an inside pocket, since batteries drain fast in the cold.

Early January: the end of the holidays

The first days of January are still holiday time. Slopes and restaurants are busy until the Austrian school holidays end on 6 January, and the town’s New Year programme runs until 1 January. If you’re arriving from the holiday period, read about visiting in December and seeing in the New Year here. Otherwise, aim to arrive once the holidays are over. Even a few days’ difference matters: a week starting on 9 January is a different trip from one starting on 2 January, with emptier slopes and more room choice in town.

Where to stay in January

In the quiet weeks, stay in the town centre so you can walk to the Hahnenkamm gondola and to dinner; you’ll often have more choice than at any other time of the winter.

In race week, book months ahead or stay outside town. Kirchberg is on the railway line and closer to the action than the price difference suggests, while Reith and Jochberg are a bus ride away. Our guide to where to stay compares the areas.

Which January?

For skiing, choose a week between the end of the holidays and race week, or the week after the race. For the race itself, choose race week and book now. Either way, it’s worth checking what else to do in Kitzbühel for the evenings and the off-days.