New Year in a chalet: a week of ski-in at Hochkrimml
There are two ways to spend New Year in the mountains. One is the hotel with its gala dinner, seating plan and music that gets louder towards midnight. The other is a house to yourselves, where someone starts preparing dinner in the afternoon while the rest are still on the slopes — and where nobody asks at midnight whether the children should be in bed. If you are after the second kind, you will find almost nothing left around Christmas: New Year is the first week in the Oberpinzgau to sell out.
I live in Krimml myself, a few kilometres further down the valley, and I see the same thing every year. The enquiries for the last week of December start in October, and from November onwards I am mostly turning people away. Which is why I am glad to be able to offer a chalet in Hochkrimml for the turn of the year 2026/27.
Why Hochkrimml rather than the valley
Hochkrimml sits at a good 1,600 metres on the Gerlos Pass, right on the Zillertal Arena. That is the difference from staying down in the valley: in the morning you put on your ski boots and you are on the slope, instead of driving, parking and queueing first. With children, that does not save minutes — it saves an hour of friction, every single day.
With around 140 kilometres of piste, the Zillertal Arena is one of Austria's large ski areas, and the Königsleiten–Gerlosplatte section is its quietest corner. Anyone coming over from the Zillertal notices immediately: same lifts, same snow reliability, but far less pressure at the base stations.
The altitude pays off twice at New Year. Up here there is dependable snow in late December, while down in the valley it depends on the weather.
What makes this week different
New Year in a self-catering chalet has its own rhythm. Nobody has to be at breakfast by seven, nobody has to change for dinner. Instead: long days on the snow, the wood stove in the afternoon, and whoever feels like cooking does the cooking.
What happens around you that week needs no planning:
- New Year's Eve on the mountain — the villages of the Zillertal Arena run torchlit descents and fireworks; the view from the Gerlos Pass across the surrounding valleys is hard to beat that evening.
- Tobogganing after dark — the floodlit runs in the region operate almost daily between the holidays.
- A day off the skis — the Krimml Waterfalls are a different world in winter: the lower fall frozen, the path silent.
- Ski touring — for anyone wanting to escape the holiday-week bustle, routes start around the Gerlos Pass right outside the door.
The offer: Chalet Filzsteinalpe, 26 Dec 2026 – 2 Jan 2027
For up to 6 people. Seven nights, arrival 26 December from 14:00, departure 2 January by 10:00.
The chalet has three bedrooms, each with a double bed, two bathrooms and around 100 square metres of living space. There is a wood-burning stove and a private ski room. The kitchen is fully equipped — this is a self-catering chalet, meals are not included. You can shop in Krimml or Wald im Pinzgau.
The price is for the whole chalet, not per person. Whether four or six of you travel makes no difference to it.
Price: €5,560 for the week plus local visitor's tax of 21 €, payable on site.
Send your enquiry using the button above — no obligation, no deposit, and I reply personally, usually the same day. If you want to know something first, the concierge answers questions about the chalet, the journey and lift passes around the clock.
The images on this page show the Königsleiten ski area and the Plattenkogel, not the chalet itself. Current photographs of the house are available on request.
Getting there
By car via the Gerlos Alpenstraße (toll road), or from Zell am See through the Salzach valley to Krimml and up from there. Without a car: by train to Zell am See, then the Pinzgauer Lokalbahn and the Postbus to Krimml — I will collect you for the last stretch up to Hochkrimml if needed.
If you are travelling over New Year, keep an eye on the Gerlos Alpenstraße: it stays open in winter, but heavy snowfall can close it. The approach via Krimml is the more reliable one then.