The highest summit in the Kitzbühel Alps is the Kreuzjoch in the southwest of the mountain range northwest of Gerlos at 2558 metres above sea level.

Many ski route and the Saalach Valley Ridgeway (Saalachtaler Höhenweg) run through the Kitzbühel Alps.

The mountain top profiles and the cirques are relatively smooth; their slopes mostly green with numerous alpine meadows (Almwiesen).

n the western part of the Kitzbühel Alps most of the valleys run in a north-south direction; in the east they are predominantly oriented east-west.

The western border of the mountain range is, petrographically, less clear because here its transition to the Innsbruck quartz phyllites is not clear-cut.

For example, the deep underground complex of Wildschönau slate is quite uniform and has no fossils at all, just volcanic deposits.

Above it lies weakly metamorphosed volcanic rock, up to 600 metres thick, made up of quartz porphyroids and tuff, mainly in the west (Hohe Salve, Hahnenkamm and Wildseeloder).

Their mainly gently rolling nature makes the Kitzbühel Alps suitable for alpine farming, hiking and skiing.