Saalbach, aka Saalbach-Hinterglemm Ski Resort is part of the Ski Circus Saalbach
Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn ski area, one of the largest lift-interlinked ski resorts
in Austria.
Saalbach-Hinterglemm is one of the liveliest of the resorts in Austria and hugely popular
in the area, known for its relaxed vibe and huge free-ride terrain.
In this video, we’ll show you the most important things that you need to know before
booking a vacation in Saalbach, and if you stay until the end of the video, you’ll get
some great tips that’ll help you make better decisions, save time and money and have a
more enjoyable vacation.
So, how do you get to Saalbach?
The closest airports to Saalbach are Salzburg Airport with a transfer time of an hour and
a half, as well as Innsbruck and Munich Airports, each with a transfer time of two and a
half hours.
Both Salzburg and Munich Airports can be reached easily with the Holiday Shuttle from
the resort which operates seven times a day in both directions.
If you plan on coming by train, the nearest train station is at Zell am See, and buses
leave the resort on an hourly basis heading up to the train station, while a taxi to the
resort from Zell am See train station should cost you around thirty euros.
As an important starting point, the Ski season in Saalbach begins in late November and
lasts until mid April.
The 'Ski Circus' name comes from the layout of the lift system in the area, which forms
a circuit route on the mountain around the two main resort villages. The circuit can be
ridden both ways either clockwise or anticlockwise.
Since the connection of a forth ski resort of Fieberbrunn to the ski circus in two
thousand and sixteen, the ski circus now spreads across two federal states in Austria:
Salzburg and Tirol.
This gave the alliance the excuse to make five recommended circuit routes.
Four of the routes range from nineteen to twenty six kilometres of runs and will take
you around two to two and a half hours including lift times, so you’ll have plenty of time
for stops and further exploration of each area.
The main four routes are… The Saalbach circuit
The Hinterglemm Circuit, which can be done clockwise as well as anti clockwise
The Leogang Circuit, which is comprised of one hundred per cent blue runs, and
intended for people staying in Leogang, but can easily be adapted for guests staying in
Saalbach.
Next, The Tyrol Circuit which is certainly the hardest of the four so far.
The fifth circuit - the largest circuit route in the world, contains sixty five kilometres of
runs. It’s formed of a circle around the entire ski circus and will take seven and a half
hours without stops for advanced skiers, so…..that’s why they call it ‘the Challenge’.
With most of the terrain elevation sitting below two thousand one hundred meters, the
resort has invested heavily in snow-making facilities to make up for any natural
shortfalls, and all major pistes are covered.
The ski circus’ elevation spans from eight hundred and forty meters, to two thousand
and ninety six meters above sea level.
The Ski Circus rose from two hundred to two hundred and seventy kilometres of
connected ski runs, after the connection to Fieberbrunn. The full network is served by
seventy state of the art lifts.
Overall there are fourteen black runs, fifty five red runs and eighty seven blue runs
throughout the ski circus.
Take note that as of two thousand and twenty the ski pass is called Alpine Ski Pass and
includes the resort of Zell am See and Kaprun with a total of four hundred and eight
kilometres of slopes.
There’s also a new gondola, connecting the Glemm Valley to Zell am See mountain and
the Schmitten, in Viehoffen, is just a small ski bus ride from Saalbach.
The ski circus itself is an intermediate skier’s paradise. Experts can test themselves with
a long steep black run with a vertical drop of around one thousand metres, under the
Schattberg and Zwolferkogel lifts, as well as a world cup black run in the area.
There are decent off-piste options when snow conditions allow, and if you feel
adventurous, you can hike up above the Hochhörndl chair, where a leg of the free ride
World Tour extreme ski and snowboard competition takes place each year.
Freestylers have a park immediately above Hinterglemm.
in another park above Leogang they can test their skills on the air bag.
Saalbach-Hinterglemm has every style of accommodation from basic apartments up to
luxurious five-star hotels.
The big question is where to stay? Staying in the centre of town in Saalbach offers a
range of Apres Ski activities with easy access to the lifts, or for a comparatively quieter
time you can stay in Hinterglemm.
You can travel from Saalbach to Hinterglemm via Ski bus from eight thirty am to five pm.
The ski bus departs every twenty or thirty minutes and ski pass holders can use this
service for free.