Kaprun Review

Loveskiing’s Kaprun Review

The ancient village centre of Kaprun dates back to the dizzy year of 931 AD under the name of “Chataprunnin in Pisoncia”. The beautiful white church sets the scene for a very picturesque Austrian town. Kaprun manages to maintain its traditional Tyrolean village atmosphere with bubbly locals, excellent Austrian cuisine and welcoming bars. Nightlife is average with a good selection of bars, mostly in hotels, and a good selection of restaurants. The town offers a good range of activities for the non-skier ranging from luxurious spas to boutique shopping. For all night clubbing and hardcore nights out head over to Zell am Zee.

Kaprun is part of the Europa Sport Ski Region and offers year round skiing on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier. Despite 700,000 tourists flocking to Kaprun every year there rarely seems to be any queues (bar the original bottleneck to get up to the ski area). With pistes on the glacier up to 3203m you are sure to find a snowsure holiday in Kaprun. The skiing at Kaprun is ideal for intermediates with the majority of the pistes falling into the red and blue categories. Advanced skiers may struggle to find enough terrain to keep themselves on piste with only 4 black runs, however for the more adventurous off-piste is great. The ski pass allows you to visit the nearby (5km) resort of Zell am Zee which is a bigger town with some more advanced terrain.

• Picturesque Austrian resort with superb character and charm
• Well maintained ski area with links to Zell am Zee and glacier skiing
• Offers one of the World’s best year round glacier skiing experiences on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier
• Guaranteed snow on the glacier and high altitude pistes
• Good range of activities for the non-skier
• Fast modern lift system
• Excellent off-piste
• Large range of slopes dedicated to beginners and intermediates

• 15 minute bus ride away from the main ski area and glacier
• The lifts up to the glacier and main ski area can be a bottleneck and in peak season or weekends expect to queue (after the initial lifts queues are moderate)
• With only 4 blacks on offer Kaprun is not great for advanced skiers
• T-bars, personally we hate them… sorry!

• Families – the traditional atmosphere, good range of accommodation, short transfer time (Salzburg is 90km away), plenty of activities for the non-skiers and excellent ski school all make Kaprun an ideal family holiday destination
• Those after some summer snow – year round skiing on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier which offers some of the best glacier skiing anywhere in the World
• Beginners and improvers – the size of the ski area 61km, category of the majority of the runs and superb ski school cater perfectly for the beginners and intermediates out there
• Those on a budget – a lot of the major package holiday companies in the UK offer great deals on holidays to Kaprun. We wouldn’t say it was cheap but if you can certainly get a great deal in Kaprun

• T-bar haters – they are so awkward and what is wrong with a button or chairlift?!
• Advanced skiers and boarders– severe lack of black runs to keep you entertained, good off-piste though
• Cruisers – with only 60+ km of piste you will soon run out of terrain to explore
• All night party animals – if you are coming to Austria for the all night party atmosphere then you will want to steer clear of Kaprun