Christmas in Obertauern

Austria · Christmas week 19 Dec – 26 Dec 2026

1 chalet available for Christmas week when we checked on 22 September 2026, from £9,115 for the week.

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A high pass resort in Salzburger Land where a ring of lifts circles the village, with dependable snow and mostly intermediate skiing.

Quick answers about Christmas in Obertauern

Is there usually snow in Obertauern at Christmas?
Usually, yes. At the Obertauern weather station at village height (1,772 m, in the resort), there was at least 30cm of snow on the ground on Christmas morning in 19 of the 23 years measured since 1996; the thinnest was 13cm in 2016. Obertauern scores 52 out of 100 on our Christmas Snow Score. That is how often there has been snow, not a forecast: conditions vary every season and nobody can promise them.
What is Christmas actually like in Obertauern?
Modest but festive. The Tauernadvent market by the tourist office runs on the four Advent weekends (in the 2026 season, 27–29 November, 4–7 December, 11–13 December and 18–20 December), so the first weekend of Christmas week overlaps its final days. Down the valley, the Wildpark Untertauern holds an Advent walk with music, crafts and children's stations (in the 2025 season, 8 and 22 December). Beyond that the village is a ski resort first, so Christmas feels more like a lively ski week than a traditional Alpine one.
When is Christmas week in Obertauern this season?
For Christmas 2026, Christmas Day is a Friday, so the Christmas week runs from Saturday 19 to Saturday 26 December. Most chalets in Obertauern are let by the week, so that is the week to search for.
Winter in Obertauern
Photo by digitalarbyter :) on Unsplash

Chalets in Obertauern you can book now

These links open our partners’ own sites for Obertauern. Booking.com opens with Christmas week already selected.

These are commercial links: we may earn a commission if you book, and it never changes your price. How this works.

Chalets in Obertauern

On 22 September 2026 we checked 3 chalets here for Christmas week (19 Dec – 26 Dec 2026): 1 was still available on Booking.com, from £9,115 for the week.

Some links below are commercial. If you book through one we may earn a commission, and what you pay is unchanged. How this works.

Obertauern sits on the Radstädter Tauern pass in Salzburger Land, a village built around the summit of the old road over the mountains and split between the municipalities of Untertauern and Tweng. It began as a post and coaching stop and grew into a winter resort through the last century, with the lifts laid out in a ring around the houses so that most hotels and chalets sit close to the snow. The Beatles filmed part of Help! here, and the resort still trades on a lively après scene. It is compact, practical and modern in look rather than a traditional valley village.

The skiing suits intermediates best. The Tauernrunde circuit can be skied clockwise or anticlockwise from any lift, crossing the pass road on ski bridges, with mostly blue and red runs and a handful of steeper pitches such as the Gamsleiten for good skiers. Beginners and families do well on the gentle slopes around the village. At Christmas the trade-off runs the other way from the lower Tyrolean towns: Obertauern is one of the higher and more snow-sure resorts in Austria, with snowmaking on most of the main runs, but it is a pass village without an old centre, church square or much of a sense of place beyond the ski scene. Book it for the snow and the ski-in convenience rather than for Alpine charm.

Christmas in Obertauern

Modest but festive. The Tauernadvent market by the tourist office runs on the four Advent weekends (in the 2026 season, 27–29 November, 4–7 December, 11–13 December and 18–20 December), so the first weekend of Christmas week overlaps its final days. Down the valley, the Wildpark Untertauern holds an Advent walk with music, crafts and children's stations (in the 2025 season, 8 and 22 December). Beyond that the village is a ski resort first, so Christmas feels more like a lively ski week than a traditional Alpine one.

Our Christmas atmosphere rating: 3 out of 5

If you are not skiing

Limited. There are cross-country trails and a toboggan run at the Gnadenalm, a sports centre with indoor tennis, squash and bowling, and some lifts that carry foot passengers, but there is no old town or wider range of attractions.

Christmas Snow Score

52/ 100

1,740m2,313m

Weather-dependent

52 out of 100 — more weather-dependent than most in late December. The strongest factor here is the measured Christmas snow record. At least 30cm of snow on the ground on 19 of the last 23 Christmas mornings at the Obertauern station (1772 m). Scored on 85% of our inputs; the rest are still being verified. Snow in the Alps varies from one December to the next, and no resort can promise cover on a given week.

What went into it

Measured Christmas snowAt least 30cm of snow on the ground on 19 of the last 23 Christmas mornings at the Obertauern station (1772 m)
25% weight83
Village altitudeThe village sits at 1740 m and loses its snow first
20% weight63
Top of the ski areaThe skiing reaches 2313 m, and high ground holds cover in a thin December
15% weight17
Glacier accessNo glacier
8% weight0

Still to verify: snowmaking coverage. These carry no weight until they are sourced, so the score is calculated across the 85% we hold.

The Christmas Snow Score compares resorts on how often there has been snow on the ground on Christmas morning, measured at weather stations over the last thirty years, with altitude, snowmaking and glacier access. It describes how reliable a resort tends to be, not what the snow will do this year — Alpine conditions vary every season and nobody can guarantee them. How the Snow Score works and how every resort compares

Resort figures from the source we checked on 22 September 2026.

Snow on Christmas morning in Obertauern

How much snow was on the ground on 25 December, every year since 1996, measured at the nearest weather station. This is what the resort’s Christmas Snow Score is built on.

In the village: Obertauern, 1,772 m

0.1 km from Obertauern. At least 30cm on the ground on 19 of 23 Christmas mornings measured since 1996. Typical depth 74cm; least 13cm in 2016; most 156cm in 2023.

0cm100cm200cmChristmas 1996: 78cmChristmas 1997: 80cmChristmas 1998: 86cmChristmas 1999: 81cm2000: no readingChristmas 2001: 115cmChristmas 2002: 33cmChristmas 2003: 72cm2004: no reading2005: no reading2006: no reading2007: no reading2008: no reading2009: no readingChristmas 2010: 74cmChristmas 2011: 94cmChristmas 2012: 63cmChristmas 2013: 64cmChristmas 2014: 20cmChristmas 2015: 18cmChristmas 2016: 13cmChristmas 2017: 98cmChristmas 2018: 69cmChristmas 2019: 107cmChristmas 2020: 70cmChristmas 2021: 90cmChristmas 2022: 39cmChristmas 2023: 156cmChristmas 2024: 98cmChristmas 2025: 23cm30cm1996200020052010201520202025
Christmas morning snow depth at Obertauern, year by year
ChristmasSnow on the ground
202523cm
202498cm
2023156cm
202239cm
202190cm
202070cm
2019107cm
201869cm
201798cm
201613cm
201518cm
201420cm
201364cm
201263cm
201194cm
201074cm
200372cm
200233cm
2001115cm
199981cm
199886cm
199780cm
199678cm

Measured on the morning of 25 December by GeoSphere Austria (CC BY 4.0).

How Obertauern compares with every other resort we measure: the Christmas Snow Report.

Compare Obertauern for Christmas

Common questions about Christmas in Obertauern

How high is Obertauern?

The village sits at 1,740m, and the lift-served ski area reaches 2,313m. Top figure is the Gamsleitenbahn 2 top station, which the lift operator gives as the highest lift-served point of the Obertauern ski area; the 2,526 m sometimes quoted is the highest point of the surrounding terrain, not a lift. Piste kilometres are the regional tourist board's figure of just over 100 km for the whole Tauernrunde area, which is one self-contained ring of lifts around the pass. Altitude matters at Christmas because high ground holds snow in a thin December; the measured Christmas record on this page shows how that has played out year by year. Figures checked on 22 September 2026 against the source listed on this page.

Is Obertauern good for families at Christmas?

Obertauern is one of the better family choices we cover. The beginner terrain is good, which matters with children. This is our editorial judgement rather than a measurement, and the resort page explains the reasoning.

Can a beginner learn to ski in Obertauern at Christmas?

Yes — Obertauern has good beginner terrain. One thing to weigh at Christmas specifically: nursery slopes are the lowest terrain in any resort and therefore the first to be thin in December. Here, that is worth taking seriously in a poor December.

Which airport do you fly into for Obertauern?

The usual arrival airports are Salzburg (SZG), Klagenfurt (KLU), Graz (GRZ), Munich (MUC). We do not publish transfer times, because they swing widely with traffic and road conditions on a Saturday in Christmas week — ask your transfer company for a figure they will stand behind.

Can I book a chalet in Obertauern through this site?

We list 3 chalets in Obertauern, but we do not take bookings ourselves: we are not a travel agent and we take no bookings or payments. We link to partners who do, and the links on this page go to their live Christmas availability. If you book through one we may earn a commission, which never changes your price.

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