Kitzsteinhorn

Together with the town of Zell am See, 7 km away, Kaprun forms one large ski area. It is one of the most popular winter sports resorts in Austria among Poles. The Kitzsteinhorn glacier offers a wide variety of pistes all year round, mostly intermediate runs. Besides the year-round ski area on the glacier, which on cloudless days also gives magnificent views, the lower slopes are interesting too. In winter, skiers can use a total of 41 km of pistes here (mainly blue and red). The pistes on the glacier (also open in the summer months) are fairly flat and not very long. They are served by T-bars. It is not a big ski area, yet it remains as popular as ever with Polish skiers. A modern two-section gondola, the Gletscherjet, takes skiers and visitors up to 2,452 m. To reach the foot of the glacier you still have one more stage to go, this time by chairlift, whose valley station is at the Alpincenter. There are plans to build a further section of the Gletscherjet that will go all the way to the top of the glacier. From Kaprun there is also access to the pistes of the Maiskogel ski area (1,675 m), with 15 km of pistes, most of them easy and pleasantly surrounded by forest. This is terrain for decidedly leisurely skiing, popular with families with children and less experienced skiers. Kaprun is also an attractive place for snowboarders. The relatively large number of chairlifts and the gondolas make it easy to get up the mountain. There are also snowboard schools and a snow park. Cross-country skiers have almost 200 km of trails across the whole Europa Sportregion, mostly of intermediate difficulty. They link directly with the trails in the Saalachtal and the Pinzgau. Besides skiing, the Europa Sportregion offers more than forty other sports. Skaters can choose between the natural ice of the frozen Zeller See or an outdoor artificial rink in Kaprun. There are also facilities for hockey and curling. Kaprun and the surrounding area offer excellent conditions for traditional walking and Nordic walking, in winter too. The paths close to the town are ideal for families with children and less fit people. Other attractions include the Winter Park and Kaprun Optimum, a leisure pool complex. In Kaprun itself, a town smaller and quieter than nearby Zell am See, there is a vintage vehicle museum well worth a visit, the Vötters Oldtimer Museum, and next to it a twelfth-century castle, once a stronghold, which today (with its well-preserved defensive walls and beautiful Romanesque tower) provides a stylish backdrop for many interesting cultural events. For its size, the small town of Kaprun has an exceptionally wide choice of restaurants and bars, so it is truly hard to get bored here in the evenings.