Schladming MTB Guide: Planai Bikepark & Reiteralm Trails

Two gondolas, one Styrian valley, and a World Cup pedigree that still bites. Planai Bikepark and the Reiteralm trails make Schladming one of Austria's most rail-accessible gravity destinations, with riding from late May into October.

By the IMPT Travel desk · Published 2026-05-30

The Worldcup Downhill on the Planai drops 596 vertical metres in just 2.6 kilometres of black-graded track, and the upper rock garden is steep enough that even seasoned UCI racers used to walk sections before practice. That single trail, a fixture on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup circuit until 2009, still anchors the identity of Bikepark Schladming. But the modern Styrian valley around it has grown into something broader: 42 kilometres of lift-served riding on the Planai, a second gondola-fed network on the Reiteralm, and a railway station in the town centre that makes the whole region one of the easier alpine bike destinations to reach without flying.

Signature trails on the Planai

The Planai gondola, a modern 10-seater, lifts riders and bikes from Schladming town up to the trailheads in a single stage. From the top, three signature lines define the park:

• Stadium Flowline (blue, 7 km, 592 m vertical) — a long, bermed descent that runs all the way back into the World Cup finish stadium.
• 99 Jumpline (red, 3.3 km) — 3 to 8 metre tabletops, sculpted and predictable, the spiritual centre of the park.
• Monster Jumpline (black) — booters of up to 12 metres for riders who are genuinely comfortable in the air.
• Pro Downhill (black, 2.2 km, 471 m vertical) and the Worldcup Downhill (black, 2.6 km, 596 m vertical) — the steep, rooted heritage of the venue.

Beginners are not an afterthought. The valley-floor Bike Area and the Peak Flowline (blue, 7.7 km) give first-time park riders a low-consequence introduction before they commit to the Stadium descent.

Reiteralm: the quieter, more natural network

Ten minutes west by car or shuttle, the Reiteralm operates a separate, gentler character of riding under the Preunegg Jet gondola. Around 21 kilometres of trails are signed and numbered, including the family-friendly Eiskar Trail (blue, 5.4 km), the rooty Hochalm Trail (red, 2.3 km), and the more technical Enduro Trail and Hochalm Enduro Trail (both black). The Jump Trail offers a smaller-scale alternative to the Planai's 99 Jumpline. Riders chasing natural-feel singletrack, rather than purely machine-built flow, tend to spend at least a day here.

Getting there without flying

Schladming sits directly on the Salzburg–Graz mainline, served by ÖBB Railjet and Intercity trains. From Salzburg Hauptbahnhof, the journey takes roughly 1 hour 20 minutes; from Vienna, around 4 hours via Bischofshofen; from Munich, about 3 hours 30 minutes with one change. The station is a short walk or local-bus ride from the valley station of the Planai gondola, and most accommodation in town is within 15 minutes on foot. For a sport that is structurally carbon-heavy — gondolas, shuttle vans, long-haul bike travel — the rail option meaningfully reduces a trip's footprint compared with flying into Salzburg or Munich and renting a car.

Season windows and when to go

Bikepark Schladming typically opens from the second-to-last weekend of May and runs through the second weekend of October, with the gondola operating roughly 09:00 to 18:00. The Reiteralm trails generally open in early June and run into early November on a tapered weekend-only schedule late in the season.

• June: Long daylight, cooler temperatures, trails still bedding in after winter. Quieter weekdays.
• July to mid-August: Peak conditions and peak crowds. Expect lift queues on weekends and book accommodation early.
• Late August to mid-September: Often the strongest window — dry, tacky dirt, smaller crowds, alpine larches starting to turn.
• October: Shorter days, weather-dependent operation, and a real risk of early snow on the upper Planai. Worth checking the lift status before travelling.

Where to base yourself

Most riders stay in Schladming town itself for direct walking access to the Planai gondola, the bike shops on Hauptplatz, and the post-ride bars in the pedestrian centre. Rohrmoos-Untertal, just up the hill, offers quieter, more rural lodging with shuttle access. For families splitting time between the Planai and Reiteralm, the village of Pichl-Preunegg sits closer to the Preunegg Jet and shortens daily transfers. Bookings concentrate sharply around World Cup weekends and the school summer holidays, so dates in mid-June or early September generally offer better value and quieter trails.

Practical notes

The Gravity Card combines lift access across Planai, Reiteralm and the wider Schladming-Dachstein bike region on a single multi-day pass — worth pricing against single-mountain tickets for any stay longer than two days. Full-suspension enduro and downhill rentals are available at the valley stations of both gondolas, and the on-site bike schools run guided sessions on the Worldcup Downhill for riders who want a coached introduction before committing to it solo.

A full-length run down the legendary Worldcup Downhill at Bikepark Schladming, showing the steep upper rock sections and the high-speed lower woods.