I’m heading out to Brixlegg in Austria’s Tyrol region on business next week. As I will have Sunday-Monday to myself, I plan on taking my bike along for the ride and hitting some alpine trails.

Can anyone recommend any good mountain biking areas in Tyrol? Which are the the biggest/best?

I will be travelling alone, so I’d prefer to stick to marked trails. I don’t mind cycling uphill, but lift assisted riding would be preferred to make the most of the downhills given the limited time I’ll be there.

I should imagine the lifts will be closed for the between-season period.

http://www.bikepark-tirol.at/en/wipptal/home.html

This place is fun

You could try this
but don’t discount fresh snow this late in the season… 😕

Have a look at openstreetmap.org and turn on the cycling layer when you get close to where you are staying.

Thanks for all the comments.

I’ll be there from 17th May, which apparently is when a lot of lifts reopen for the summer biking season.

Anyone been to Kitzbuhel?

Their website isn’t particularly helpful, but I’ve heard that there’s a lot of good singletrack there. Also, are the trails well sign posted (like at most UK trail centres), or do you need to navigate using a map?

Being in Brixlegg you are right at the beginning of Zillertal. Near the end of the valley is Mayerhofen which is a bit of a mtb mecca with plenty of marked trails starting from the town. I think they are mainly xc orientated but you’ll get some amazing views.If you really want some downhill action you are only about an hours drive from Leogang/Saalbach-Hinterglemm or Kaprun for that matter.

Thanks Roter Stern. I will definitely look into Mayerhofen. Strangely it hadn’t really come up in many of my searches looking into mountain biking in Austria, though I’m familiar with the name from skiing scene.

To be honest, I’m not really into the downhill side of things, more into longish singletrack trails, though I don’t shy away from a few drops and berms. Sounds like my cup of tea then.

So is the general consensus that Mayerhofen is better than Kitzbuhel for marked trails?

I also heard good things about Ischgl (Hans Rey’s territory apparently!), though it’s a little far from Brixlegg and there are no cheap hostels that I could find online.

Think Zell am Ziller (Zillertal Arena) is sposed to have a pretty decent MTB scene (same valley as Mayrhofen). No idea when lifts operate for summer.

My first trip will be somewhere around the Bregenzerwald kind of area, maybe one in to Liechtenstein. last time I went that way with a bike (and walking), there was snow and landslip in June. Haven’t planned exactly where to ride yet though.

As always, depends if you just want to hop on a bike and ride, or pay for lift up, and let gravity bring you back down.

Over at Innsbruck the nordkette is pretty amazing, although fairly testing in places. Lift assisted and downhill trails….

Here you go –

Nordkette

Funny how STW always seems to have the answers. I was about to post a similar question but a search brought me here. Thanks chaps.
I’m heading to Innsbruck for a few days the last week in may. I’ve been plenty of times before in both summer and winter as my sister in law has lived there on and off for a few years, but never had the opportunity to take my bike.
I’ve seen guys taking dh type bikes up the nordkettebahn but I’m also more of a wheels on the ground type rider.
Is nordkette suitable for a fat bloke on a trail bike?
If not where else near Innsbruck?
Cheers!

Hi, I’ve recently moved here, just down the road from you, Just had the winter season here, and now time to explore on the bike..

These sites may be useful?

http://www.skiwelt.at/en/mountain-bike-paradise-wilder-kaiser-brixental.html

http://alpregio.outdooractive.com/ar-wilderkaiser-som/en/alpactive.jsp#activ=Mountainbike&tab=ToursTab

Cheers,

Mark

I spent a day mtb’ing in kitzbuhel last year whilst on oktoberfest trip. Hired a bike from the bike shop in kitzbuhel and got the gondola up. Expensive pass for the day, might have got ripped off by attendant, they didnt seem happy with bikes. Not a lot on that side of mountain, but follow the MTB trail to kitzberg is good with some nice northshore, and root sections. Kitzburg has a couple of very good dh runs which i sessioned.

The bike shop, nice guys:
https://www.facebook.com/MountainbikeAustria
http://www.mountainedge.co.uk/

The Fleckalm trail takes you to Kitzburg where the 2 other trails are. Neither is 2 tough. If you can do red UK trails, you’ll be fine. There are marked steep parts, which have options. I had the trails all to myself in Kitzburg, probably because it was chucking it down! Long ride back on the cycle paths though, especially on a slack bike 🙂

Saalbach is supposed to be pretty good and well set up for mountain biking, and I think you’re about 1.5hrs away.