Penken Park mountain wine terrace

The Penken mountain top hosts a cluster of restaurants with sun terraces overlooking the Zillertal valley. Afternoon wine on the terrace, surrounded by peaks and skiers, captures the essence of Austrian mountain hospitality.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Ride the Gondola That Broke Engineering History Adventure · Price: moderate

   The cable car you're about to board at Penkenbahn valley station (Hauptstraße 472, Mayrhofen center) is the first 3S gondola in the world to make a curve. Not "one of the first." THE first. Doppelmayr engineers had to invent a 50-meter curve saddle angled at precisely 6.5° because the mountain ridge doesn't go in a straight line — winning the Austrian Innovation Prize and costing €50 million over decades of engineering. Buy a pedestrian round-trip ticket (€28-30) and during the 8-minute ride from 654m to 1,790m, watch for the moment the cabin swings through the curve. That gentle lateral sway? No other gondola in the world produces it.

   Backup: If the Penkenbahn is closed (rare maintenance days), the Möslbahn chairlift provides an alternate ascent to the Penken area.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Watch FIS Athletes Launch — From a Deckchair With Wine Adventure · Price: low

   PenkenPark is 120,000m² — twelve full hectares of Europe's biggest snowpark — and the Grillhofalm sun terrace (1,786m) IS the stadium. You're not watching from behind a fence. You're in a deckchair 20 meters from where athletes launch 15 meters into the air over massive kickers, with Austrian Zweigelts and Grüner Veltliners at €6 a glass. Exit the gondola, follow signs toward PenkenPark to the wood-clad hut with deckchairs facing the Pro Area jump line. Self-service tray system — grab your Austrian wine, claim a Fatboy beanbag, and watch FIS-ranked athletes on competition days or aspiring pros working the same lines daily.

   Backup: If Grillhofalm is crowded, the Almstüberl at 1,760m (phone: +43 664 4515290) has a quieter terrace with the same Zillertal valley views and also serves wine and Prosecco by the glass.

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3. 3 Taste Austria's Highest Curated Wine List at 2,095m Wine · Price: moderate

   Most mountain restaurants serve whatever the distributor drops off. The Granatalm (2,095m on the Penkenjoch plateau) is different. The owners personally curated every bottle on their wine list, focusing on Austrian DAC wines and selected Italian labels. At 2,095m, looking out over the Tux Alps, Zillertal glaciers, and the glittering Stillup Reservoir below, you're drinking wine someone cared about choosing for this specific moment in this place. Keep climbing past Grillhofalm, follow signs to Penkenjoch, and reserve weekends at +43 5285 630 33. Order from their Austrian wine section and ask your server to explain their curation process — they take visible pride in it.

   Backup: Penken Panoramarestaurant at 2,000m at the Knorren-Penken station also has a "carefully selected wine list," self-service, prices €10–20 per dish, south-facing terrace. Phone: +43 664 9182021.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Stand at the Top of Austria's Most Dangerous Groomed Run History · Free

   The Harakiri is named after the Japanese word for ritual suicide, and standing at its lip, you understand why. This 1,500-meter run drops 375 vertical meters with the steepest section hitting 78% gradient — steeper than Olympic ski jump takeoff ramps. The snow groomer that maintains it every night can't drive down unaided: it's winched by steel cable to prevent sliding off the mountain. From the Granatalm terrace, walk 200m along the Penkenjoch ridge toward the Knorren lift station to find the red piste marker for Piste 34. Look straight down 375m to the valley floor and know that every morning a grooming machine descends on that cable to comb it smooth. This is what Austria considers acceptable on a groomed piste.

   Backup: If snow or weather obscures the view, the Penken Panoramarestaurant terrace (50m west) still overlooks the upper section of the run and costs nothing to stand at.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• The south-facing terrace catches sun until late afternoon

• Book the "Genuss Package" for combined lift ticket and wine lunch

• The run down to Mayrhofen is wide and scenic - perfect after wine