The painted houses of the Vorderstadt

Kitzbühel was rich long before it was a ski town. Silver and copper came out of the Kitzbüheler Horn from the 1400s, and the merchants built the Vorderstadt with the proceeds: deep gabled houses with painted façades, arched passages through to the courtyards behind, and oriel windows at first-floor height. The street bends, which is the whole point — from the low end the houses stack into each other and the towers of the Liebfrauenkirche and the Stadtpfarrkirche St. Andreas close the view.

Stand at the bend near the Hinterstadt junction and shoot uphill for the classic compression. The passages and the arcaded courtyards off the street are the second frame: cool, even light at any hour, and warm plaster in the background, which is what to use at midday when the street itself is hard.

The Vorderstadt is pedestrianised and the light is a matter of the sun clearing the roofs — roughly nine to ten in summer, later in winter. The last hour of the day paints the east side; overcast is genuinely good here, because the colours carry the picture and there are no shadows to fight.

In winter the street is snow-lined, lit and, for one week in January, unusable: the Hahnenkamm races bring tens of thousands of people and the whole centre becomes a grandstand. The race date moves — check it before booking anything in January. In summer the town is quiet, the flower boxes are full and mornings are yours.