Arena, Hochzillertal-HochfĂĽgen or Mayrhofen? Which Zillertal area fits which family, plus why the Superskipass takes the pressure off choosing.
Twenty browser tabs open, half-term barreling toward you, and the Zillertal doesn't have one ski area. It has four: the Arena, Hochzillertal-HochfĂĽgen, Mayrhofen, and little Spieljoch. Which one fits your family?
Short answer, before you read another word: for first-ever ski days, book Hochzillertal-HochfĂĽgen. For action with older kids, Mayrhofen. For wide-open runs and snow you can pick by altitude, the Arena. The single most useful thing on this page sits further down, though: with the Zillertaler Superskipass, you don't have to choose at all for a whole week.
| Ski area | Height (valley to top) | Kids free | Ski school from | Adult day pass | What sets it apart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hochzillertal-Hochfügen | 560 to 2,400 m | born after 1 Jan 2021 | age 4 | €82 (with guest card) | Kidspark, 2-hectare practice meadow |
| Zillertal Arena | 580 to 2,500 m | born after 1 Jan 2021 | age 3 | €82 | Four villages, snow by altitude |
| Mayrhofen | 630 to 2,000 m | born after 1 Jan 2021 | ages 3 to 5 (varies by school) | €82 (network tariff) | Mountopolis, Penken Park |
| Spieljoch (Fügen) | 641 to 1,860 m | born after 1 Jan 2021 (network) | age 4 | €83 | Small, quiet, budget-friendly |
Good news first: for a week's skiing you don't have to commit to a single area. The Zillertaler Superskipass covers all four areas in this comparison plus the Hintertux glacier, 546 piste kilometres and 180 lifts, on a pass you can buy for anything from 1 to 21 days.
Three numbers matter for families. The 6-day pass is €399 for an adult, €319 for a youth (birth years 2008 to 2011) and €179.50 per child (birth years 2012 to 2020). Two adults and two school-age kids come to €1,157 for six days across all four areas. The 7-day pass runs €458.50, €366.50 and €206.50.
Kids free: any child born after 1 January 2021 rides free across the whole network, as long as a paying adult is with them. Youth and child rates go strictly by birth year, and the network checks photo ID every time, no exceptions. The valley ski bus is already baked into the pass, which is handy on a snowy morning when you'd rather leave the hire car at the chalet and hop between areas without driving.
Prices are for the 2026/27 season (4 December 2026 to 11 April 2027), from the Zillertaler Superskipass. One footnote worth knowing: Mayrhofen publishes its day tickets less openly than its neighbours, so the €82 figure here comes from the network tariff rather than the resort's own page.
If your kids are clicking into skis for the very first time, Hochzillertal-HochfĂĽgen is the area I'd book. The reason isn't the view. It's the sheer amount of room to fall over.
The Kidspark HochfĂĽgen has been running since 2006: a magic carpet, a Wellenbahn (wave track), a play tent, its own children's restaurant and all-day childcare. Over at Hochzillertal, the BOBOs Kinderclub adds a practice meadow of almost two hectares. A child who tips over here lands on soft, empty nothing, not on a piste full of irritated grown-ups.
The downside? The valley stations at Kaltenbach sit between 560 and 592 metres, so the lowest snow thins out by spring. Head up and the area rescues you fast: mountain stations around 1,740 metres, a high point just shy of 2,400, and 90.7 piste kilometres across 25 lifts.
The Zillertal Arena is for families who like space and want to steer their own snow reliability. That second trick is one no other big area here can match.
The Arena has four entry villages at wildly different heights: Zell am Ziller at 580 metres, Krimml at 1,100, Gerlos at 1,300, Königsleiten at 1,600. The summit at the Übergangsjoch tops out at 2,500. Want dependable March snow? Start high, in Gerlos or Königsleiten, not down in Zell.
For the little ones there's the Rosenalm Kinderland with conveyor belts and character figures, plus the flat Funty trail and its mascot running from the Rosenalm down to the Wiesenalm. Where it gets awkward: all that space cuts both ways, and the hops between villages get long with a knackered five-year-old in tow.
Mayrhofen comes into its own the moment your kids age out of the magic-carpet stage. It brands its family offering Mountopolis, and there's real substance behind the name.
You get KinderLand Horberg at the Horbergbahn valley station (a 69-metre magic carpet, a 180-metre T-bar, ski kindergarten from ages 2 to 4), FamilyPark and FunRide on the Ahorn, the KidsPark inside Penken Park, and the mascot-led AlbertAdler trails. From the valley at 630 metres the Penkenbahn lifts you to 1,790, and the Ahornbahn panorama deck sits at 2,000.
One honest wrinkle on ski school: Mayrhofen has no single minimum age, because several ski schools compete here and they don't agree. Habeler takes children from 3 in private lessons, SMT Mayrhofen from 4 in group courses, Snowsports Mayrhofen only from 5. Ring the school directly before you book for a three-year-old.
Spieljoch, above FĂĽgen, is the smallest of the four and, for some families, exactly the most relaxed because of it. Rusty returners, a calm day mid-trip, a tighter budget: that's what it's built for.
There's a FUNPARK and FUNSLOPE with wave tracks and small jumps, plus a magic carpet and practice lift both down in FĂĽgen and up top. The Zwergerl-Club guest kindergarten takes non-skiing children from just 3 months. The area runs from 641 metres in FĂĽgen to 1,860 at the mountain station, with the summit reached via the BarfuĂźweg (barefoot trail) at 1,920.
Two things to flag. Spieljoch doesn't spell out the kids-free rule on its own price page; per the network, "born after 1 January 2021 rides free" applies here too, but its own site stays silent on it. And Spieljoch doesn't have its own page on Snowthere yet, which is why the name sits here without a link.
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Transparency note: This content was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Tom Meredith, our editor. Prices, dates, and availability may change. We recommend confirming details directly with the resort before booking.