Description
Saalbach Hinterglemm is the heart of Austria's largest lift-served mountain bike area, with over 120km of trails and lines linking Saalbach Hinterglemm to Leogang and Fieberbrunn on a single Bikecircus ticket. Six lifts run straight out of the valley, opening up everything from full Alpine descents starting near 2000m down to the valley floor at 900m, to gentle flow trails, a pump track and a dedicated learn-to-ride area for beginners. There's also an extensive network of alpine gravel routes through the wider valley for a change of pace.
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The Trails
This is a huge area and tough to cover in one day. Trails range from World Cup standard downhill runs to relaxed flow lines, so riders naturally spread out even in busy summer weeks. New lines are added most seasons, most recently the Bearly Legal-Line on the Schattberg and the ScheeLeitn and Wildenkaramba lines on the Wildenkarkogel.
The Monti-Trail (formerly known as the Milka Line) on the Kohlmais is the easy option, a gentle 2.9km run across open alpine meadow and woodland. The X-Line is the big one: over six kilometres of berms, tables and jumps from the top of the Schattberg X-press lift, one of the longest freeride trails in Europe. Elsewhere there is singletrack, north-shore, drops and natural freeride mixed in with purpose-built bike park sections, plus mountain restaurants dotted across the hillsides for a break.
Insider tip: from the top of the X-Line, ride the first 300m of the trail then break left and hike the ridge for around 15 minutes. It connects into a trail that drops you into Hinterglemm, and it is worth the effort.
Bike hire, repair and guiding is available from shops in both Saalbach and Hinterglemm, including bike'n soul at the Reiterkogelbahn base.
Gravel Riding
Saalbach Hinterglemm markets a dedicated gravel offer alongside its mountain bike trails: hundreds of kilometres of gravel and touring routes across the wider valley, mapped through the resort's own interactive gravel touring tool. One standout is the Glemmtal cycling path, a car-free route linking Saalbach Hinterglemm to the neighbouring village of Maishofen and into the wider Salzburg cycling network, good for a lower-key day or a rest from the lift-served trails.
Getting Here
The main uplift base for this listing is the Reiterkogelbahn in Hinterglemm (Reiterkogelweg, A-5754 Hinterglemm), with parking at the valley station. Saalbach and Hinterglemm sit about 5km apart in the same valley, so the Kohlmaisbahn and Schattberg X-press lifts in Saalbach are equally good alternative starting points. The area is roughly 75km south-west of Salzburg via the B311, through the Saalachtal and Glemmtal valleys.
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