During no other season the contrast between the inside and outside activities is as big as in the winter time.
Outside nature gives us snow and cold, but also the amazing image of old fairytale books. Inside, on the contrary, everything is warm and cozy. All activities during this season are directed towards traditions. The results are cabins full of life, cozy atmosphere, fun and of course romance.

The 220 km of pistes give Gastein everything a classical winter vacation needs: a perfect skiing region with plenty of snow.

Also if you want to experience winter from its different, soft side, Gastein is perfect for pleasant vacation.
Far away from the turbulences of the pistes authentic and new impressions await the Gastein guest who wants to experience something special.

Part of a robust winter vacation is always sports. But sometimes it does not need to be the well prepared piste. For everybody who wants to experience also something different in between, and for all non-skiers, there is a huge variety of activities besides the pistes that want to be discovered.
The possibilities are diverse and rich in alternative and soft winter sports. There is a large number of wellness offers as well as of community and cultural events.
See also our event notes.

Our offer: | ski tour hiking | cross-country skiing | snow shoe hiking | sledding | horse sleigh tours | winter horseback riding | winter hiking | lama trekking | ice skating | curling | tennis | room rifle shooting |

Ski tour hiking is booming right now
Gastein offers perfect conditions with the different altitudes of its mountains.

For the ski tour hikers there are numerous of information on booking-gastein.at:

Ski tour hiking in Gastein.

until spring cross-country skiing is guaranteed. Cross-country skiing is one of the so called “soft sports” and is therefore one of the healthiest movement patterns. Cross-country skiing in Gastein shows how moving can be fun.

For the cross-country skiers there are numerous of information at booking-gastein.at:

Cross-country skiing in Gastein.

Snow shoe hiking is nature experience in its purest form. The freshly snow-covered forest and its solitary calmness can still be found here. It is the way how you leave your traces in the untouched snow.

It is the satisfaction of reaching set goals on your own power - is it a faraway peak or the next hill close by. Reaching such goals brings you closer to yourself.

The snow shoe hiking becomes more and more popular in Gastein. Professionally guided tours through the national park Hohe Tauern, by the park ranger Hans Naglmayr, will bring you closer to the nature and the animals living in the national park. Among others you will learn how to read traces in the snow.

With falling of the first snow the landscape suddenly changes and gets a new and different quality: fields are sparkling in the winter sun with their frost cover, snow covered trees looking like fairytale figures looking at us in their cozy white coats, the peaks of the national park Hohe Tauern are lightened by the sun and erect themselves into the blue winter sky.
We invite you to hike through areas and landscapes that are normally not reachable during winter. Moreover, you can go on and search for the traces of deer, lynx and eagles.

Snow shoe hiking in the Angertal

Our tip! – Follow the trace of the snowshoe rabbit

Everybody who wants less action but still unforgettable impressions should follow the trace of the snowshoe rabbit. The best way to do so is by following the snowshoe guide Hans Naglmayr. The native Gasteiner is a ranger in the national park Hohe Tauern during the summer and knows the terrain like nobody else.

Of course he knows which trace belongs to the weasel, marten, fox or rabbit.

“Because of their big pads the snow rabbit and the fox are perfectly prepared to move in the deep snow. For that reason they are our models for the snowshoes. That’s way the snow rabbit is also called snowshoe rabbit.”

During the tour guided by your national park ranger you get to see the amazing landscape, and learn about its history and other interesting things.
During winter season every Tuesday, 1:00pm
Meeting point: Ski center Angertal – ski school office
min. participants: 3 persons, duration: app. 2 h
Registration: Cure administration Bad Hofgastein
Tel. +43 6432 3393 260

Costs including rental equipment:

7 EUR per adult (with Gastein Card 5 EUR)
3 EUR per child (with Gastein Card 3 EUR)

We are more than happy to assist you getting in contact with the ski school administration. Just tell us what you would like to do and we arranger everything further.

Snowshoe hiking in Bad Gastein with the cross-country skiing school Gastein www.langlaufidylle.com

Snowshoe hiking – courses for interested people! See under home!

Become one with nature on an easy, but impressive snowshoe hike through snow-covered forests. No snowshoe experience needed!

Every Wednesday: 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Costs: 18 EUR incl. rental equipment (with Gastein Card 15 Euro)

We are more than happy to assist you getting in contact with the cross-country skiing school Gastein. Just tell us what you would like to do and we arranger everything further.

Snowshoe hiking with family or own group is possible

The cross-country skiing school Gastein offers appointments for families only. See below for prices!

Appointment on demand: duration of the tour app. 2 h
Group price up to 5 persons: 50 EURO incl. rental equipment
Every additional person 18 EUR incl. rental equipment
Pre-registration by phone please before 11:00 am: +43(0)6644571250

Snowshoe hiking Dorfgastein

During winter season every Wednesday, 1:00 pm

Min. number of participants: 3 persons, duration app. 2.5 h
Registration until Tuesday 5:00 pm: Tourism office Dorfgastein Tel. +43 (0)6432 3393 460
Costs incl. rental equipment:

On a sled trip on one of the many sledding runs in Gastein, some are even illuminated by night, childhood memories come back.

With the sled in a tow walking through the deep snow up the hill to the next cabin and from there, after a nice glass of punch and homemade food, a joyful ride downhill -  that is just great.

For everybody who wants to skip the uphill walk, some sledding runs have their own chair-lift!

Bad Gastein - Bellevuealm
length: app. 2.5 km, sled rental, illumination and lift, open daily
Information: Tel: +43 (0)6434 3881

In winter it is very easy to reach the “Bellevue Alm”. There is an “in-house” chair-lift connecting Bad Gastein with the Alm (especially for sled riders). The chair-lift is open till midnight.

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Bad Hofgastein - sledding run Aeroplan
length: app. 3.3 km, sled rental, illuminated natural run
Every Tuesday and Thursday starting 7:30 pm: sled evening with night trip with the cable car Schlossalm to the middle station (depending on the snow cover from mid December to March; Price per way: 5,50 EUR for adults)

Information: Tel.: +43 (0)6432 8603

Dorfgastein - sledding run Strohlehenalm
length: app. 3.5 km from “Strohlehenalm”
Strohlehenalm is open Wednesday to Sunday (Mondays and Tuesdays closed)
Information: Tel.: +43 (0)664 255 4490

Sled rental: www.sport-egger.com in Dorfgastein

Horse sled rides are one of the oldest winter amusements. Together with your family or friends you will pass along snow-covered field. It is a real wonderland. Hearing the bells ring on the harness of the horses and at the end a cozy cabin awaits you with delicious food and a warming open fire.

Sit down in the sled, cover up with a nice warm blanket and take in the winter wonderland. A horse sled ride with the family through the beautiful snow-covered landscape of Gastein is an unforgettable event!
Bad Gastein

Our Tip! Horse sled rides or horse carriage tours with Fiaker Lederer through the beautiful Kötschachtal in the wild-romantic national park Hohe Tauern. The rides start in Kötschachtal, a neighboring valley of the Gastein valley, at the Hotel village “Grüner Baum”. They end in the valley-end at the Alp house “Prossau”. There we will take a break, the horses are feed, and the guests are pampered with homemade food by the host of the “Prossau”.

Duration:app. 1 h or on agreement

Cost: on request

Route: Kötschachdorf, Bertahof, Remsach, Bad Bruck

Fam. Gruber · Wengerbauer · Bad Bruck
Phone: +43 (0) 664 / 38 34 794 oder +43 (0) 676 / 90 64 427

Further offers for horse carriage rides in Bad Gastein

Our tip! A nice horse carriage ride into the natural Angertal – a true insider tip!

Horse sled rides with Thomas Pichler, Hoissing, Tel. +43 (0)6432/7729 or cellphone +43 (0)664/99 94 824, daily starting 4:00 pm from Lackenbauer to the rear Angertal (duration of back and forth app. 1.5 h). Registration necessary!

Further offers for horse carriage rides in Bad Hofgastein:

Family Stuhler, Grubhof, Tel. +43 (0)6432 6103,
Horse sled and carriage rides. Registration necessary!

Family Wallner, Dimlinghof, Tel. +43 (0)6432 7203
From Bad Hofgastein to Bad Bruck and back in the morning and the afternoon, daily. Registration necessary!

Experience pure nature during a horse sled or carriage ride in Dorfgastein.

Leave everyday life aside and seek the wide. Take a comfortable ride in our horse sleds, on request also with a stop for delicious food.

You are looking for variety in your vacation or a special gift!

Call us, Georg Gold: +43 - (0)664-133 14 32

Iceland horse stable Oberhaitzing Manor winter horseback riding.

Prepared winter hiking ways invite for a special horseback riding experience. It will go up- and downhill quite a lot. For beginners we offer tours along the Gasteiner Ache.

The horseback riding lessons and rides into the country in the horseback riding center are arranged on the phone +43 (0)6432 6770.

Valid starting 25.12.2009 – 05.04.2010 reduction offers for repeated participation. Daily except for Monday (day of rest)

Winter hiking: 26 hiking and strolling routes with an entire length of about 60 km are prepared around the village center for our guest each year. Among them are also the classical Gastein panorama-promenades, named after the empress Elisabeth, the archduke Johan and the emperor Wilhelm.

In Sportgastein there are hiking routes at altitudes up to 1 600 m, starting at a well accessible parking space in direction of the valley-end! This winter-hiking-route is entitled to be called one of the most beautiful hiking routes in the Alps. Surrounded by the massive mountains of the Hohe Tauern you hike between the cross-country skiing runs through a landscape that seems to be from another world with its gorgeous images. Along the way you find nice possibilities to strengthen yourself e.g. in the Genossenschaftsalm or the Valeriehouse.

Very nice winter hikes in the “painter’s corner”, from Kötschachtal to the Prosssau. Throughout the whole way it is flat. At the beginning it leads along the Kötschach creek to the Himmelwand cabin. From here you hike through the quietness of the forest. Here and there the snow trickles from the trees and twinkles in the sunlight. In the valley end the Bocksteinkogel will impress you. Along the way you might here the bells of the horse sleds here and there. Who might allow himself a nice ride through the snow?

After about 75 min walking time and 200 m altitude the Alpine tavern “Prossau” is reached, located on the gateway between Kesselkar and the rearmost Prossau. To the left tower the steep walls of the Grasleiterkopf (2.406 m) and to the right the ones of the Rachsaglkogel (1.963 m).

Next to the Alpine tavern warm and steaming grandeur horses are standing and having a rest after the effort of the ride. Come on in and let your senses be charmed by the dignified smells from the kitchen. Everybody is happy in such wonderful landscape.

A nice stroll leads from the center of Angertal downhill into the valley. Next to the cross-country skiing runs on the winter hiking ways as well as on the Forstroad on the right you can marsh uphill – as far as the prepared ways go.

This stroll into the rearmost Angertal is adorable. And on the way back the decision, which formidable and cozy cabin to enter, will again be very hard. The Hirschenhütte or rather the Waldgasthof...?

The following hiking tour is a true insider tip: Take the marked way from the Lackenbauer in the Angertal passing the Baldaufbauern to the middle station Kitzstein and further to the Bärsteinalm. From the Bärsteinalm a way leads downhill to the contemplative and exciting Bad Hofgastein.

For the way back to the Angertal you can take the bus. This very nice hiking route is a bit more difficult as it is not cleared from stones or sticks. Most of the traces on this route are from the locals. In return the welcome on the Bärsteinalm will be so much more sincere. The same route can of course be taken the other direction starting in Bad Hofgastein. Whatever route you decide upon, all of them are lovely.

Lama-Trekking in Gastein

A true family tip is the lama-trekking midst the idyllic mountain landscape of Gastein. After a short and general information and introduction about the acquaintance with the lama as a pack animal the tour starts with a skillful tour guide through the snow-covered winter landscape.

Lama-Trekking Gastein, Riedl-Alm Bad Hofgastein
Min. participants: 5, max. 12 persons
Registration necessary at Family Dürnberger:
Tel. +43 (0)6432 2105 or +43(0)664 2824445

Furthermore many lovely promenades can be found in Gastein. For example the Elisabeth-promenade form Bad Gastein to Böckstein, the Wilhelm-promenade from Bad Gastein to Kötschachdorf, the Archduke-Johann-promenade from Bad Gastein Mozartplatz to Hartlbauer, or the Achenpromenade that leads from Bad Gastein Badbruck passing Bad Hofgastein to Dorfgastein.

Another hint is the Martin Lodinger-height path. It leads from Bad Gastein to Bad Hofgastein. Here you have wonderful views on the whole Gastein valley. There are many nice stops along the way, as the Cafe Gamskar, or the Café Hubertus which has a wild animal enclosure. You have to take care of the weather and snow situation. Under unfavorable conditions it might be possible that a path or parts of a path are closed. So keep your eyes open. The Martin Lodinger-path is definitely worthwhile, even if only parts are accessible.

Here you get a live view from the Martin Lodinger-height path. Cameras of the Cafe Gamskar:

Webcam in direction to Bad Gastein

Webcam in direction to Bad Hofgastein

For everybody who loves the cold ice and the hot skids the possibilities in the Gastein valley are fantastic. Here you can discover your talent for this famous sport or improve your skills.

In Bad Hofgastein you can find the Alps Arena. It has 350 seats and in winter an ice rink surface of 1.100 m². On the three curling runs the atmosphere is also very jolly. Curling is one of the most sociable winter sports.

Ice skating on natural ice rink in Bad Gastein

Whether big or small – on the natural ice rink fun for everyone is guaranteed. The coulisse of the Hohen Tauern gives a unique flair.

Natural Ice Rink Bad Gastein
Poserplatz
5640 Bad Gastein
Telephone: +43 (0)6434 2004

Ice Skating is for free!!
Ice skates rental: 2 EUR (Gastein Card 1 EUR)

Ice-skating in the Ice Arena in Bad Hofgastein

Ice-skating becomes a unforgettable event in the Alps Arena in Bad Hofgastein thanks to the unique atmosphere in the architectural fascinating building, surrounded by the impressive mountain coulisse.

Artificial Ice Rink
Kurpromenade 2
5630 Bad Hofgastein

Ice Skating is for free!!
Ice skates rental: 2 EUR (Gastein Card 1 EUR)

Bad Gastein:

Curling association Bad Gastein natural ice rink (close to the gym) at the Elisabeth-promenadeDaily open 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm (except for Wednesdays)
Groups are welcome!
Rental equipment available.
Registration and Information in the Curling-Stüble Bad Gastein Tel. +43 (0)6434 3215.

Organisation of tournaments possible.

Bad Hofgastein:

The three artificial curling runs in the Alps Arena are open daily from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. Info Tel. +43(0)64323393-260

Curling run on natural ice rink of the ESV Bad Hofgastein, registration Tel. +43(0)6641605575

Our three top tennis gyms in Gastein invite you warmly to participate in exciting matches. The pleasure of the game is guaranteed in the well cared for tennis courts and with the high class equipment.

There are not many places where you can choose between sand, carpet with rubber granulate, and velour carpet.

All courts offer top standards with enough space behind the base line where our entire guest can pursue their passion for the felty ball.

Tennis gym Palace with 2 velour carpet courts

Alexander Moser Allee 13, 5630 Bad Hofgastein, Information and booking: + 43 (0) 6432 / 6715

Tennis gym Klammerwith 2 carpet granulate courts

Schlossgasse 1, 5630 Bad Hofgastein Information booking: Tel. +43 (0) 6432 /6711-0

Our tip! Pizzeria Franky’s tennis club: if you want to enjoy a great meal after the match!
+43 (0)6432 / 85025-0

Tennis gym Sonngastein with 2 sand courts

Sonnleitenstr. 6, 5640 Bad Gastein, Information and booking: +43 (0) 6434 / 3326-0

Look forward to our air-conditioned sand gym courts! Tennis gyms with sand are a rarity. They are not only guaranteeing fun, but also spare your joints. That’s why we keep this rarity alive here in Gastein in Austria.

That would be something! Every Thursday starting 7:00 pm

Sport shooting (10 m) in the wonderful home of the shooting association Bad Gastein, Birkenring 14 (behind the youth hostel), group shooting, information and registration: Heinz Schulz Tel. +43 (0) 676 / 5425814

You can book further group shooting evenings any time