Austria and Liechtenstein - 2. Kitzbühel and Achen

Today we plan to visit the famous mountain resort of Kitzbühel and in the afternoon we will go to Lake Aachen.

Lake Aachen.

In the morning, as always, the little guy wakes us up around 6am. By the time we have done all the chores, including breakfast, it is half past eight and we are on the train to Kitzbühel. The weather has improved, but it's still not the same. It may not be raining, but there is still a blanket of clouds above us, which prevent us from seeing the highest peaks of Tyrol and are only slowly breaking through. We have to take the train from Hall in Tirol first to Wörgl, where we change to the REX towards Salzburg. If the train stops there, I recommend getting off at the Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm stop, which is closer to the centre than the Kitzbühel stop, which is a little further away. On the other hand, you can take a nice walk along the Ache river. Kitzbühel in particular is a mecca for winter sports, with the legendary Hahnenkamm ski slope regularly hosting the World Cup downhill skiing and the slope being visible from everywhere in town. Now in May, there's not a foot in sight and it's pleasantly quiet. May is generally the transition period between the winter and summer seasons, which means that most of the lifts that are serviced in this in-between period are not working.

Kitzbühel - Hahnenkamm ski slope in the background

Kitzbühel

We will walk through the city centre, which is currently under reconstruction, to the stylish Hotel Kitzbühel. I don't know how much a night there costs, but it looked really luxurious.

Kitzbühel - Centrum

Hotel Kitzbühel

The plan was to take the cable car to Hocheckhütte, but the cable car was out of service. Instead, we walked around a bit more and then took the train back to Wörgl.

From there we continue to Jenbach, where we change buses to Pertisau at Lake Aachen. As it is already three o'clock, in Pertisau we first go to the nearest restaurant, which is a combination restaurant, sausage shop, souvenir shop and patisserie. For lunch we have a good burger and then we take a walk around the lake to the town of Maurach, where the bus will take us back to Jenbach. A steam cog railway runs between Maurach and Jenbach. There is no VVT fare and it only runs a couple of times a day. Unfortunately we didn't fit into its time window.

Pertisau

Lake Achen

Maurach

Jenbach

We return to Hall in Tirol around eight o'clock. We perform the standard rituals, including dinner, and spend the rest of the evening watching the Eurovision semi-finals. Tomorrow we have Liechtenstein.