Ski holidays in Maria Alm, Austria

Maria Alm is one of Salzburgerland's most beautiful alpine villages and forms part of the Hochkönig ski area, an interconnected system with 120 kilometres of pistes surrounded by dramatic mountain massifs. A ski holiday in Maria Alm combines alpine skiing with genuine Austrian village charm and some of the region's most beautiful scenery.

The ski area stretches from the village's 800 metres above sea level up to 1,900 metres, offering good variety in the pistes, from easy green runs for beginners to challenging red and black pistes for more experienced skiers. With a Hochkönig pass, the neighbouring villages of Hinterthal and Mühlbach are also included, considerably broadening the experience.

What makes Maria Alm particularly special is the combination of first-class skiing and a picturesque village with an authentic Austrian atmosphere. The village boasts a beautiful medieval baroque chapel, a lively atmosphere around the square, and restaurants serving traditional Salzburg cuisine of high quality.

Maria Alm is an excellent choice for families. The ski school has a good reputation, the pistes are varied, and the resort has a safe, relaxed pace that suits both children and parents. The après-ski culture is cosy and local rather than an international city buzz.

5 tips about Maria Alm

1. The Hochkönig Pass Get a Hochkönig lift pass to include Hinterthal and Mühlbach, a total of 120 km of pistes.
2. The village chapel Pay a visit to the medieval chapel in the middle of the village, a beautiful contrast to the snow-covered slopes.
3. Family Slopes Maria Alm is especially popular with families thanks to its easy-going pistes and well-run ski school.
4. Night skiing Check out local events, as the Hochkönig area hosts night skiing and competitions during the season.
5. Local Delicacies Try local cheeses and Pinzgauer produce in the grocery shops and at the market stalls.

Pistes and lifts in Maria Alm

Maria Alm is one of three main gateways to the Hochkönig ski area, with a total of 120km of pistes and 33 local lifts (34 across the whole Hochkönig system). The ski area stretches from the village's 800 metres above sea level up to 1,900 metres, a vertical drop of 1,100 metres that provides long, varied descents through both open alpine terrain and sheltered woodland. The Hochkönig system links Maria Alm with Hinterthal and Mühlbach via a network of lifts and pistes.

The lift system has been modernised with new gondolas and fast chairlifts that significantly reduce journey times. The Natrun gondola from Maria Alm takes you quickly up into the system, from where you can ski continuously through the entire Hochkönig chain. The piste mix leans towards blue and red runs, making skiing in Maria Alm particularly well suited to families and intermediate skiers. At the same time, there are challenging black sections for experienced skiers, especially in the Mühlbach sector. A ski holiday in Maria Alm also gives you access to the resort's excellent off-piste opportunities in the higher areas beneath the Hochkönig massif.

Piste map for Maria Alm

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The map downloads as an image file. On your iPhone it lands in the Files app. Tap the icon at the bottom of the address bar to open the map straight away.On your iPad it lands in the Files app. Tap the icon at the top right of the address bar to open the map straight away.On your phone it lands in the Downloads folder. Tap the download notification that appears to open the map straight away.The file lands in the Downloads folder. You can also look for the icon at the top right of the screen and open the map from there.

Snow reliability in Maria Alm

Snow reliability in Maria Alm benefits from the Hochkönig massif, which captures weather systems and creates good snow conditions in the region. The highest pistes towards 1,900 metres have reliable natural snow in the middle of winter, while snow cannons supplement conditions on the lower runs and central pistes. In January and February, conditions are typically excellent with cold, dry snow. North-facing slopes in the Hinterthal sector retain snow quality particularly well, while south-facing sections offer softer snow on sunny afternoons in March.

Best time to travel to Maria Alm

The best time for a ski holiday in Maria Alm is from mid-January to mid-March. January offers the coldest conditions, with daytime temperatures around minus 4 degrees and excellent snow quality. February brings a perfect balance of good snow and more hours of sunshine, while early March combines the warmth of spring sunshine with still-wintry conditions on the higher pistes. Families particularly appreciate Maria Alm during the winter half-term weeks, thanks to the resort's safe, relaxed character and well-organised ski school, which has extra capacity during these weeks.

Will there be lift queues in Maria Alm?

The Hochkönig sector at Maria Alm carries 53,443 people an hour across 34 lifts. 15 of the 34 lifts are gondolas or high-speed chairlifts and 15 are drag lifts, which take longer to get through when it is busy. The fastest lifts carry up to 3,000 people an hour, for example Schönanger. That is roughly the same capacity per kilometre of piste as an average resort on this site, so queues only build when it is really busy. The queue you actually notice is almost always down in the valley between eight and half past nine. If you are on the lift before eight you avoid it.

When is Maria Alm busiest?

How busy the slopes get is not decided by the English half term but by when the local families and the neighbouring countries are on holiday. These are the weeks that fill Maria Alm in the 2026/2027 season.

• Austria: The Semesterferien are taken one week at a time, state by state, during the first three weeks of February.
  1 to 6 February: Vienna and Lower Austria
  8 to 13 February: Burgenland and Carinthia
  15 to 20 February: Tyrol, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Styria and Vorarlberg
• Germany: Germans are the largest foreign group in the Alps and their winter holidays are spread across early February.
  1 to 6 February: Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
  8 to 12 February: Bavaria and Saarland
  8 to 19 February: Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• England: The English February half term is 15 to 19 February 2027 for most councils, with a few areas breaking up a week earlier. The Easter holidays run from 26 March to 9 April.
  8 to 12 February: half term in a few council areas, for example Hull
  15 to 19 February: half term in most of England, including London, the Midlands and the North
  26 March to 9 April: Easter holidays for most English schools
• Easter holidays: Easter 2027 is early, on 28 March. Austria and Germany take their holidays around the weekend, while the French holidays fall after Easter, in April.
  20 to 29 March: the whole of Austria, all states at the same time
  22 March to 3 April: most German states, including Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia
  3 April to 3 May: the French zones, which fall after Easter 2027 and only affect the highest resorts
• Long weekends: Long weekends fill the slopes with day visitors from the nearest cities, even when no schools are on holiday.
  26 December to 3 January: Christmas and New Year, the most expensive period of the year
  6 January: Epiphany, a public holiday in Austria, Italy and parts of Switzerland
  27 to 29 March: the Easter weekend. Easter Monday is a public holiday across the Alps, but Good Friday is a working day in Austria, Italy and France
  1 to 2 May: May Day, a public holiday across the Alps

If you want quieter pistes and lower prices, the weeks in mid-January and late March are clearly the best. Neither the Germans nor the Austrians are on holiday then.

Snow right now. There is no snow cover in the valley or at the top right now. The figures are modelled by Open-Meteo, not measured by the lift company, and were fetched 15 October 2026 at 20:24.

The lift pass included. The stay comes with the Ski amadé lift pass, which covers 701 km of piste. The pass is worth around €432.

How to get to Maria Alm

Last-minute deals in Maria Alm

Last-minute offers, that is late dates the operator still wants to fill, appear from January onwards. Once the season is under way we will show them here on this page.

Maria Alm is suitable for

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Frequently asked questions about Maria Alm