Ski holidays in Rauris, Austria

Rauris is one of Salzburgerland's most charming and authentic ski resorts, beautifully set in the Rauris valley at the foot of the Hohe Tauern National Park. Here you'll find a peaceful and genuine Austrian village far from the big tourist crowds, a perfect choice for families and beginners wanting reliable snow in relaxed surroundings. Rauris suits anyone after a genuine Alpine feel, reasonable prices and slopes for everyone in the group.

The Rauriser Hochalmbahnen ski area stretches from the village at 948 metres up to 2,200 metres and offers 33 kilometres of well-groomed pistes. With 15km of blue, 13km of red and 5km of black runs, there's terrain for both cautious beginners and more experienced skiers alike. The resort's longest run measures a full 10 kilometres, a lovely descent from the top all the way down into the valley.

Rauris is best known as one of Austria's top family resorts and has been voted the country's best beginner slope. The wide, gentle slopes closest to the village give children and newer skiers a safe environment, while the higher sections offer views over the mighty peaks of Hohe Tauern.

Beyond the skiing, Rauris has a rich history as an old gold-mining village, and the valley still serves as a gateway to untouched Alpine nature. Après-ski here is cosy rather than rowdy, with pleasant mountain huts like Heimalm where you can warm up after a day on the slopes.

5 tips about Rauris

1. The Beginners' Slope Rauris has been voted as having Austria's best beginners' slope, a long, gentle and wide piste giving novice skiers perfect conditions.
2. Toboggan Run Speed down the 2 km toboggan run, open both during the day and floodlit in the evening, a highlight for the whole family.
3. Husky and Horse Experience the valley from a horse-drawn sleigh or on a husky sledding trip through the snow, a peaceful contrast to the slopes.
4. Après-ski at Heimalm Warm up at Heimalm's 20-metre-long heated bar, one of the resort's cosiest après-ski spots.
5. Cross-country trails The Raurisertal offers 25 km of well-groomed cross-country trails through one of the most beautiful valley landscapes in the Alps.

Pistes and lifts in Rauris

Rauriser Hochalmbahnen offers 33km of pistes served by a lift system with 3 gondolas, a chairlift and eight ski tows, plus two moving carpets for the little ones. The piste system stretches from the village at 948 metres up to 2,200 metres, giving an impressive vertical drop of 1,252 metres for a resort of Rauris' size.

The pistes break down into 15km of blue, 13km of red and 5km of black runs, making the resort well balanced for mixed groups. The 10km valley run is one of the longest in Salzburgerland and an experience in itself. If you're planning a ski holiday in Rauris, it's worth knowing that short queues and plenty of space on the slopes are among the resort's biggest advantages, here you'll avoid the crowds found at the bigger, better-known resorts.

Piste map for Rauris

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Snow reliability in Rauris

Thanks to Rauris' high-altitude areas up to 2,200 metres and its location deep within Hohe Tauern, the resort enjoys good snow reliability throughout the core season from December to April. The higher pistes hold onto their snow well, and a modern snowmaking system safeguards the runs down towards the valley. In January and February, Rauris delivers nearly ensured good conditions, and the valley's cold microclimate keeps the snow around longer than at many comparable resorts.

Best time to travel to Rauris

The best time for a ski holiday in Rauris depends on what you're after. January and February bring the coldest and most reliable snow, with daytime temperatures around -3 to -1 degrees, perfect for families wanting dependable winter conditions. March and early April offer sunnier days and milder weather, a good time for beginners and children keen to practise in more comfortable temperatures. The half-term weeks are popular, but Rauris remains quieter than the big resorts even then.

Will there be lift queues in Rauris?

The lift system in Rauris carries 11,927 people an hour across 10 lifts. 3 of the 10 lifts are gondolas or high-speed chairlifts and 5 are drag lifts, which take longer to get through when it is busy. The fastest lifts carry up to 2,017 people an hour, for example Waldalmbahn. Per kilometre of piste there is less lift capacity than at an average resort on this site, so a busy week is felt more clearly here. 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 Rauris 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 Rauris 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 Rauris - Hochalm lift pass, which covers 32 km of piste. The pass is worth around €546.

How to get to Rauris

Last-minute deals in Rauris

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.

Rauris is suitable for

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Frequently asked questions about Rauris