Kitzbühel, one of the largest and best-known winter sports resorts in Austria, lies in a wide basin in the valley of the Kitzbüheler Ache, at the foot of the Kitzbüheler Horn, on the busy road from St Johann to the Thurn Pass. Kitzbühel rose to prosperity in the 16th and 17th C., thanks to its copper and silver mines. It is now a fashionable resort ("Kitz") catering to an international public. Kitzbühel and the surrounding countryside are excellent for skiing, and there are also tennis courts and three golf courses. Various events are held every year, including the International Hahnenkamm Ski Races in January.
The old core of the town, built on a long ridge of hill, consists of two streets with handsome old gabled houses, the Vorderstadt and the Hinterstadt. Many of the houses and other buildings are in the typical style of the Lower Inn valley.
The Hahnenkamm Ski run is world famous (3.5km/2mi long); there are also guided walks in summer, including a break for a snack on the Seidalm and a video show on the history of the Hahnenkamm races.
11km/7mi southeast of St Johann, in the valley of the Pillersee-Ache, lies the spa and winter resort of Fieberbrunn (800m/2,626ft). There is a chairlift to the LaPrchfilzkogel (1,660m/5,446ft), and a rewarding climb 4.5 hours southward, via the Lärchfilz-Hochalm (1,364m/4,475ft; tourist house), to the Wildseeloder (2,117m/6,946ft), with magnificent panoramic views.
'Fieberbrunn' derives its name from an incident in history when a ruler of Tirol drank from a spring that cured her fever.
Address: Fieberbrunn Tourist Office, Kirchweg A- 6391, A-6391 Fieberbrunn, Austria
The Hinterobenau Farmhouse Museum outside Kitzbühel is well worth a visit. A 500-year-old detached farmhouse, built in typical Salzburg-Tirolese style, has been furnished as it would have been 100 years ago. Intended to show how people lived and worked at that time, there is a kitchen, living room and bedrooms, a stable and fully equipped barn, a small chapel and a farm garden.
Just north of the Kitzbühel parish church will be found the small two story Liebfrauenkirche, with a square tower. The lower church was built in 1373; the upper church contains a ceiling painting (1739) by Faistenberger showing the Crowning of the Virgin, as well as a Roccoco lattice-screen (1781) and a fine organ.
The Pfleghof, a castle belonging to the Dukes of Bavaria, once stood at the southern end of the Kitzbühel old town; the only remains are a corner tower with a pyramidal roof and a 16th C. tower with staircase.
10km/6mi north of Fieberbrunn, on the road to Waidring, is the pretty Pillersee (834m/2,736ft), a mountain lake at the foot of the Loferer Steinberge. The name comes from the local word for "to roar", because the wind roars between the icy covering and the water in winter.
To the southeast of Kitzbühel lies Schloss Kaps, a 17th C. mansion (golf course); on a hill to the northwest of the old town stands Schloss Lebenberg (16th C.), now a hotel ("Polly Vital Center").
At the northern end of the Kitzbühel old town stands the parish church (Pfarrkirche St Andreas), built 1435- 1506 and later remodelled in the Baroque style, a massive building with a low tower and Baroque dome. The interior has some beautiful stucco work and ceiling paintings, as well as 15th frescos in the choir. Adjoining the choir is the Rosakapelle, with tracery windows and a ceiling painting of St Rosa (c. 1750). Also of note is the high altar, a work by the Kitzbühel sculptor S. B. Faistenberger (17th C.).
Between the two streets of the Kitzbühel old town stands the Gothic St Catherine's Church (Katherinenkirche, 14th C.), which is now a war memorial. It contains a box window on the south wall, a carved figure of Our Lady (15th C.) and a winged altarpiece of 1520.
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Fieberbrunn, Austria
Kitzbuhel
