Mayrhofen: How to Make the Most of Interrailing

Is it possible to mix hostelling and hiking into 1 trip? That was the question I attempted to solve when planning a European Interrailing trip for myself and housemate, Shaun. Despite us both having travelled to Munich and Vienna independently many years earlier, we thought it would be adventurous to add a short Alps hiking trip in the middle. The 8-day itinerary was a budget trip, staying in hostels and using trains to travel between the 3 locations, so maximising what’s possible in early June. Discover why Mayrhofen is my favourite Austrian Alpine town.

This blog covers Days 3-5 of the Interrailing Trip from Munich to Mayrhofen, then to Vienna. Check out Munich Part 1 for the first 2 days of our Interrailing journey and how we made the most of Munich.

Mayrhofen

Mount Penken & Mount Ahorn

Mayrhofen is a picturesque alpine town in the Zillertal Valley in Tyrol at 633 m. It is known for year-round outdoor adventures. In the Summer, it offers world-class hiking, mountain biking routes, trail running and climbing. With the Italian border close by and multiple cable cars available to save the legs, it’s easy to spend over a week enjoying Mayrhofen in the warm sunny months. There are many mountain huts and restaurants with mountain and valley views to keep you fueled and refreshed on days out. Mount Penken has family activities such as Mountain scooters and E-bikes to get the heart going. There is often live music at the top and an internationally famed paragliding scene. The Knorren ClimbingArea provides 2 Via Ferrata routes on the rugged rocks, with traditional rope climbing available too.

The other half of the Mountopolis is Mount Ahorn on the south side of the Zillertal Valley. The Ahornbahn starts as early as 7:30 for hikers to hit the trails with Sunrise and Sunset tickets available to witness a special view over the mountains. Lake AhornSee and AhornBachl Stream give water paradises alongside the children-focused AlbertAdler Playworld and Adventure Trails. There are great hiking trails along the ridge towards Ahornspitze (2973m) and down to Karl-von-Edelhütte (2,238 m). No wonder the Zillertal Alps Nature Park leaves an impression thanks to its almost 80 glaciers, three giant reservoirs and inspiring summits.

Ski Season and Relaxation

In winter, Mayrhofen transforms into a bustling ski resort. There are fast downhill runs, cross-country skiing, exhilarating toboggan runs and adventurous snowshoe hikes. The Ahorn provides carving slopes which are ideal for families, casual skiers and beginners. Whilst Penken offers action with the legendary Harakiri descent and the PenkenPark for snowboarders and freestylers. As well as the mountains on the town’s doorstep, there is convenient access to the Hinterux Glacier with many ski routes and summer fun at over 3000m.

Mayrhofen is also known for its white water sports along the Ziller river, so check out the rafting and kayaking options for an adrenaline kick and challenge. After an adventure in the mountains, the town offers a place to relax in Tyrolean style. There are many restaurants to explore the local cuisine. And to fully relax, there is the Water-park featuring a large indoor pool, saunas and an outdoor pool with mountain views, a perfect place to relax.

For more info on what’s open and prices, visit the Mayrhofen Official Website.

Mayrhofen Highlights

• Popular for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and paragliding.
• Hosts the Snowbombing Festival, a unique blend of music and mountain sports.
• Surrounded by the Penken and Ahorn mountains, with access to the Hintertux Glacier.
• SkyRide Ahorn is the largest aerial (open-top) cable car ride in Austria up to the Ahornplateau
• Mountopolis offers 142 kilometres of pistes and 60 modern lifts in the ski area and numerous hiking trails in summer.

Vibe: A charming mix of traditional Tyrolean character and lively resort energy

Trip Planning

Flights

• We managed to get cheap flights from Heathrow to Munich with Lufthansa (only £59 each). Then had a return from Vienna to Heathrow with British Airways costing £46 each. Overall, this trip was made possible by the bargain flights when we travelled in 2022.

Hostels

• I used HostelWorld to research accommodation, as well as using Shaun’s previous experience. In Munich, we stayed at Wombat’s City Hostel near the Hauptbahnhof for its great central location. The choices were limited in Mayrhofen, with mainly hotels and apartments available. Hostel Chillertal was much more affordable and located next to the river, a short walk from town. Finally, in Vienna, I took Shaun’s advice to stay in Hostel Ruthensteiner, which turned out to give great social vibes.

Transport

• From Munich Airport to the centre, there is a fast and reliable metro system costing only 4 euros. And similar to Vienna, there is cheap public transport out of the city to the Airport. We spent 11euros for both airport trains; however, the Interrailing trains were much more. From Munich to Vienna cost us 44 euros (£38) for the 3-hour scenic trip into the mountains. First changing at Jenbach and then onto Mayrhofen im Zillertal on the local train. Then from Mayrhofen to Vienna had a change a Jenbach and only 3 hours. It cost us 106 (£91), which was steep, but it was a late booking and took half the day. Also, we took buses from Mayrhofen to Schliesgiss Reservoir, costing 12 euros return, and the Munich train to the Allianz was only a few Euros.

Kit List

• For this Hostelling Interrailing trip, I used my trusted Hostelling Packing List in my Osprey Farpoint 40 Travel Pack. As we planned 2 days hiking, the additions were my much loved La Sportiva TX4 GTX approach shoes and a small compact 10L Quecha hiking pack (which doubled as a day-pack in the cities). This gave me sufficient quality hiking gear to safely hike out of season. For a backpacking trip for 8 days, there was not much more we needed for hiking as well. On the hikes, I carried a waterproof jacket, layers, water and food but missed out on 1st Aid kit (not ideal). The main thing needed is quality hiking boots, shoes or trail runners. Additionally, we packed the swimming shorts for the water park.

Activities

• We planned to visit the Allianz Arena for a Stadium Tour thanks to our shared love of football. We debated visiting the BMW Welt, but needed another day in Munich, so we visited the Englischer Garten (English Gardens) instead (for free). Mayrhofen would give us 2 incredible alpine hikes with a surprise visit to the Water Park and Swimming Pool on Day 3. In Vienna, we planned to visit the famous Schönbrunn Palace and Belvedere Palace. Then spend the rest of our time enjoying the views on foot.

Day 3- Mayrhofen

Train

I was most excited to get the train from the bustling city to the quiet Alps. We had booked an early train, so we grabbed a coffee and a pastry before boarding and getting seats. Unexpectedly, the train was severely delayed due to overcrowding on the train. After several pointless attempts to ask people to wait for the next train, the police got involved. Luckily, we had seats and tickets for the train, but it was alarming to see armed police asking people who were standing to depart the carriage. An hour later, we were finally underway and gave us a chance to sit back; now the worry was over. We arrived at Jenbach, where we switched to a local train which took us to the small town of Mayrhofen in the Zillertal Alps. The sun was welcoming us as we carried our bags to the seemingly abandoned hostel. We had arrived on a Saturday, where it turned out that on Sundays, not much was open, and Monday was a national holiday. Still, we managed to check in early and drop off the bags before going to town.

Waterpark & Swimming Pool

Mayrhofen is very traditional in its Alpine style with wooden chalets, large hotels and stunning views of the mountains. First, we stopped off at Spar supermarket to pick up supplies for the next few days. Especially as we were hiking, we needed breakfasts, lunches and snacks until we left on Tuesday. The Spar is large and well stocked, which was a saviour for us. We still had the afternoon spare, so took an impulse decision to go to the Mayrhofen Adventure Water Park and Swimming Pool. Tickets cost us around 34euros with a 100m long slide and a crazy river along with outdoor and indoor pools. The indoor pools were spacious with many relaxation features compared to the fast giant chute and the crazy river. This river was beyond safe, where we were thrown along the rapids on rubber rings, causing us many bruises and possible concussions. Despite this, we were hooked and kept alternating between the thrill of speed and the insane river. Outdoor pools offered sunshine and mountain views for us to take in.

After a busy first day in Mayrhofen, we enjoyed a beer at the hostel over a game of pool. The weather had taken a turn, and now, a typical alpine storm had engulfed the valley. We ran into town and quickly looked for a hotel or restaurant with a spare table. Hotel Alpenhof Kristall offered us a place, but I forgot how difficult it was being vegetarian in Germany or Austria, with menus dominated by meat dishes. I had a disappointing shop-bought margherita pizza, which was saved by a homemade apple strudel with ice cream. That night, torrential rain and a thunderstorm raged above the hostel as we enjoyed the 2-bed dorm just for us.

Day 4- Friesenberghaus & Olpererhütte

As featured in The Best Mountain Hikes (Check out exactly where it placed in the link), Olpererhutte Bridge has exploded in popularity and was one of the primary reasons I wanted to visit Mayrhofen. However, I wanted more of a challenge than the 2-hour hike from the bus straight to Olpererhütte. Instead, we planned to go on the path less trodden over to Friesenberghaus first and then traverse along using this AllTrails. First, we packed our bags and caught a local bus over to Schlegeis Stausee, where the trails began. Mayrhofen is 25 km away from Schleissgeis Reservoir and takes around an hour on the 4102 bus.

Friesenberghaus

The day was looking promising with some clouds and spells of sun, which created a moody atmosphere. We saw no other hikers for the first few hours up to Frisenberghaus, but it was early June, which is before the season properly opens. The trial wound up in a wooded area, slowly gaining altitude as we approached a small cabin to refill water and look back over the board decks. The far peaks and parallel valleys seemed never-ending, with snow and clouds encompassing them. We climbed up the valley along a stream and over snow patches before reaching Frisenberghaus at 2,477m.

Petersköpfl

After a short break and photos back along to the reservoir, we continued onto a short scramble up to Petersköpfl. This stands at 2679m and is a jagged rocky summit covered with Cairns or “Steinmänner”. The views across Großer Möseler, Hochfeiler and Hochferner peaks bordering Italy are outstanding! It’s a fun extension from Frisenberghaus, with some minor scrambling to reach the top. At almost 2700m, the altitude was noticeable, but that didn’t stop us from continuing over towards Olpererhutte.

Olpererhütte

We descended to the hut and began a short, gruelling climb over rocks and snow to start traversing over. At 2700m elevation, the thinner air made us carefully cross the snow banks without crampons to the first Schlegeisspeircher viewpoint. Then we stopped for lunch and did some photography while it was quiet. However, we didn’t anticipate how busy the suspension bridge would be and had to wait to cross. We enjoyed our 13 km hike across technical terrain before and felt rewarded despite the large crowds. We did a very fast descent with some trail running down to the Reservoir over 3km and bombed past other hikers. It meant we had 30 mins to wait for a bus, but there are worse places to be waiting. The best Austrian Alpine hike I have done and would highly recommend Mayrhofen and the Zillertal region for hiking!

Mayrhofen Dinner

We finished mid-afternoon, which gave us enough time to get the bus back to Mayrhofen. We were bouyant after completing our first Alpine hike, but had built up an appetite. However, we weren’t too fussy, and on a Sunday evening, not too much was open. Finally, we settled on Burgerstation, which had huge burgers, great cheaps and was very affordable. It certainly satisfied our hunger as the evening rain poured outside the small burger joint.

Day 5- Filzenkogel

After an amazing first day of hiking, the sun was shining for another hike. Instead of taking any buses, we set out on foot to scale up the nearby Filzenkogel climb. This hike featured No.9 in The Best Mountain Hikes 2.0 with epic panoramic views from the summit. We were very early in the hiking season with no cable cars, lifts or facilities open at Ahornbahn. This left us with no option but to hike to Mayrhofen to the summit and back.

The Tyrol area of Austria is renowned for its high Alpine peaks and natural beauty. Having previously visited Obergurgl and Saalbach-Hinterglemm, I was looking for another region to explore. That’s when Mayrhofen and the Zillertal mountains grabbed my attention. With only 2 days of hiking available and many tempting hikes on AllTrails and 10Adventures to choose from, it was a tricky pick after Oplerehutte. Shaun and I decided to explore closer to Mayrhofen, but travelling in early June meant the Ahornbahn Cable car wasn’t open for another 2 weeks. This meant we couldn’t do the Ahornspitze hike as planned, so we chose to hike from Mayrhofen up to Filzenkogel instead.

The Climb

We started at the bottom of the Ahornbahn station and hiked up through the trees along good gravel tracks. The views back across to Mayrhofen were good, even if the trails were a little uninspiring. We reached the Cable Car station, which was deserted and stopped for lunch in some precious shade to avoid the sun and heat before the last few 3km of climbing. As we ascended, the views of Ahornspitze and the neighbouring valleys were magical. The summit overlooks the Zillertal mountains with a fantastic 360-degree view we made the most of. We had the peak to ourselves for the hour we stayed before descending to the cable car station.

The Descent

We chose to descend into the next valley near the Karl von Edelhütte and enjoyed the peaceful valley. There were loose rock areas, and we saw a couple of other hikers for the first time. We stopped at Alpengasthaus Alpenrose for a much-needed cold lemonade and were given helpful advice from the Hut owner that the fast route down was shut, so we had to take a long detour. What we didn’t realise was that the detour added almost 10km and an hour to our hike along more gravel tracks with a few fields and forest trails mixed in. After 31.5km and almost 10 hours of hiking in hot summer weather, we were shattered and in much need of a refreshing Austrian beer and burger.

Evening in Mayrhofen

Honestly, we were too tired to walk to Hostel Chillertal and back out again. We immediately went to Goldkind, the #1 rated restaurant on Tripadvisor, in the hope we would be settled. After our long hike down, our luck had returned, and we got a table outside. First, cold refreshing beers were ordered before Shaun got a Cheeseburger and I ordered a Veggie Burger. It might be the huger talking, but it still is one of the best vegetarian bean burgers I’ve had. 2 days of huge hiking had put us in a triumphant mood. After Goldkind, we walked around town soaking up the atmosphere before the rain decided to soak us. The Gasthof Edelweiss Lounge was closed with a very cheap ice cream stall out front. To finish off, we enjoyed the icecreams under the Musikpavillon as it rained. As we arrived at the Hostel, we hit 50,000 steps in the day, smashing my previous record! We were well and truly ready for bed as the heavy rain continued outside.

Budget

We planned for this to be a cheap budget trip and tried to save as much money as possible. We stayed in hostels instead of hotels or AirBnBs, and we found great prices for return flights, which helped. The biggest surprise cost was the Vienna trains at over £80, but these took 5hours respectively and were booked late. The hostels cost on average £25 per night, which is a bargain! Also, we kept our costs down by using supermarkets for breakfast and lunches instead of eating out every day. In total, for the 8-day trip, we spent £86 a day, which safely qualifies for a budget trip.

Mayrhofen itself was fairly cheap, given we stocked up on food and supplies at Spar. The dinners cost us less than €20 each, and the beer was even cheaper than in Munich! Our biggest expense was the Water Park at €34 for the whole afternoon. The Cable Car tickets usually cost € 39.00 for a round trip on either Ahornbahn or Penkenbahn.

Food & Drink

The food in Mayrhofen was a mixed bag. We were unlucky with our timings as several places weren’t open on Sundays or the Monday national holiday. And the weather meant we were at times more desperate to get inside than look around. The typical Tyrol cuisine dishes include: Kasspatzln (cheese pasta), Knödel (dumplings) and Tiroler Gröstl (a potato and meat hash). We didn’t indulge in traditional staples; instead picked cheap and convenient. The best restaurant by far was Goldkind, and I would highly recommend going. Remember to book beforehand to get a table!

Art

Final Thoughts

Upon reflection, this interrailing trip managed to combine 2 cities with alpine hiking using only trains as transport. We almost optimised each day and made the most of each city, apart from the hungover last day in Vienna. And even though the trains were the largest cost, it’s possible to offset the inter-destination transport tickets by cheap hostels, flights and food.

Mayrhofen was my favourite location, being in the Alps. The 2 days of hiking were epic with incredible views and such camaraderie between Shaun and me on the tricky sections. The hostel gave us a great base camp with an unexpected water park to get an adrenaline rush. We managed to achieve the planned hikes even if we did manage 50,000 steps on Day 5 (whoops) and had no cable cars to help us. I only wish we had longer and visited when more was open later in the season. Mayrhofen has so much to offer in both summer and winter, with convenient transport links to Munich and Innsbruck too.

What is your favourite Alpine place to hike? There are so many amazing places to hike across to Alps, so please share your favourites in the comments.