Welcome to our Mayrhofen page for our 2009 summer holiday.
You are at: Home > Mayrhofen
Guide to Mayrhofen
If you have any questions, or suggestions to improve information given, please e-mail D and J.
Our holiday
Mayrhofen was our summer holiday destination for 2009. This was our second visit to the area, after our holiday to Finkenberg in 1992. We found Mayrhofen to be an excellent base, and we had a very enjoyable holiday.
Mayrhofen
Mayrhofen is a large and popular resort in the Tirol, it lies in the Zillertal, which is a broad valley running south from the main Inn valley.
South of Mayrhofen four main valleys radiate out, Tuxertal, Zemmgrund, Stillupgrund and Zillergrund. These valleys reach up to the border with Italy, although there are roads up the valley, they do not continue over the border.
Mayrhofen has all the ameneties of a large resort - post office, banks, supermarkets and lots of other shops, including those selling or renting outdoor equipment. Although spread out, most of these can be found on or close to the main street.
On the leisure front there is a large sports complex with both outdoor and indoor pools, a very enjoyable mini golf course, tennis club and many companies that will arrange activities such as paragliding, canyoning, rafting for you.
There is a large tourist information office in the Europahaus, but this was being rebuilt in 2009, and the tourist office had been relocated to a temporary building nearby.
The railway station and bus station are integrated, and just a short walk from the centre of the town, the Penkenbahn Cable Car is on the main street, with the Ahornbahn being a little bit further out.
There are public toilets in the Gemeindeamt, and the square behind the post office, and there are also charged ones at the station.
In the evening there are a number of hotels that put on local music, and these are often free.
We stayed in the Zillertalerhof, a 4 star hotel with a central location near the main church. We had a large room at the front of the hotel. The food at the hotel is excellent, buffet breakfasts with the usual choices, and the evening meals were 4/5 courses with appetizer, soup, salad buffet, main course abd dessert. Some evenings there were speciality buffets. Wine was expensive, so we had beer most nights with an occasional glass or two of wine. The hotel had a lovely swimming pool and sauna area. The pool had both an indoor and outdoor section. We would cetailny recommend the hotel, Alex the owner/receptionist is quite a character! We went with Inghams flying from Manchester to Salzburg, but it would be easy to make your own bookings and travel arrangements.
Transport
Mayrhofem has excellent transport connections, as it is the hub for the valley, and it is made easier as the bus and railway station are integrated.
The Zillertalbahn railway runs down the valley to join the main Austrian railway network at Jenbach. This train can be used to do walks as it stops at some of the local villages, it is a regular service with a train every half an hour during the day. A couple of times a day a the train is steam hauled with open carriages, there is a small supplement to travel on the steam trains.
There are a number of public bus services which all run from the bus/railway station.
Hintertux - through the Tux valley stopping at Finkenberg and Lanersbach.
Schlegeis Reservoir - through the Zemmgrund valley stopping at Ginzling, toll payable on final section.
Zillergrund Reservoir - through the Zillergrund valley, toll payable on final section.
Jenbach - through the main Ziller valley.
Gerlos - through the Gerlos valley with connections to Krimml.
Brandberg.
At the bus/railway station there are monitors displaying the times, destinations, service numbers and platforms for the trains and buses.
There are two private mini bus services to the Stilluptal, one goes from the square behind the post office and the other opposite the Berghof hotel. Details can be found here or the tourist office has infornmation on these.
There are 12 cable car/chair lifts in the Zillertal area, where we used a lift we have mentioned this in the individual walks descriptions.
Mayrhofen - Ahornbahn and Penkenbahn
Finkenberg - Finkenberger Almbahn
Lanersbach - Eggalmbahn
Hintertux - Gletscherbahn
Zell - Rosenalmbahn
Fuegen - Spieljochbahn
Ramsau - Ramsbergbahn
Gerlos Valley - Isskogelbahn, Furstalmbahn, Gerlossteinbahn, Konigsleitenbahn
There is a card called the Zillertal ACtivecard which we bought for 12 days. It covers all the public bus services (tolls are still payable though) and the cable cars. Note that you are only allowed one ascent and one descent per day on the cable cars, but the ascent and descent do not need to be made on the same lift. You are also allowed free entrance to one of the outdoor swimming pools in the valley. For 12 days in 2009 the prices were 82.50 euros per adult and 41.30 euros per child, there were also 9 and 6 day passes.
Walking
The Zillertal is a superb walking area, we have now spent 4 weeks (Mayrhofen 2009 and Finkenberg in 1992) doing over 20 walks and there are still many other walks we would like to do. Mayrhofen is an excellent place to base yourself if you intend to explore the area because of the transport connections.
The walking areas :-
The four valleys - Tuxertal, Zillergrund, Zemmgrund, and Stilluptal.
The Penken area and the area to the west of the main valley
The Ahorn area.
The area to the east of the main valley between Brandberg and the Gerlos Valley.
The Gerlos valley.
Generally waymarking is very good. Some areas such as the Penken and Ahorn are very popular and so don't expect to be on your own in either of these areas!
There are lots of refreshment stops, ranging from traditional mountain huts and alms, to more modern cafes.
Walks we did.
The walks have been described in chronological order.
Ad hoc photos
Also see our Mayrhofen set on flickr
This page was last updated on 21st November 2009.