The town is subdivided into the municipalities of Am Horn, Aschbachbichl, Badhaussiedlung, Bichlach, Ecking, Felseneck, Griesenau, Griesenauweg, Gundhabing, Hagstein, Hausstatt, Henntal, Jodlfeld, Kaps, Mühlau, Obernau, Schattberg, Seereith, Siedlung Frieden, Am Sonnberg, Sonnenhoffeld, Staudach, Stockerdörfl and Zephirau.

Kitzbühel's historic centre is mainly car-free and hosts a large selection of luxury shops, cafés and fine dining restaurants.

After the fall of the western Roman Empire, Bavarii settled in the Kitzbühel region around 800 and started clearing forests.

One hundred years later a source refers to the Vogtei of the Bamberg monastery in Kicemgespuchel and, in the 1271 document elevating the settlement to the status of a town, the place is called Chizzingenspuehel.

However, the law of Louis of Bavaria continued to apply to the three aforementioned places until the 19th century, so that these towns had a special legal status within Tyrol.

Following the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, Kitzbühel once more became part of Bavaria; it was reunited with Tyrol after the fall of Napoleon at the Congress of Vienna.

[8] When Emperor Franz Joseph finally resolved the confusing constitutional situation,[clarification needed] and following completion of the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway in 1875, the town's trade and industry flourished.

[9] In 1924 Alban Ernan Forbes Dennis, a British diplomat and spy, with his wife, the novelist Phyllis Bottome, started the Tennerhof school in Kitzbühel.

In the 1950s, local legends like Ernst Hinterseer, Hias Leitner, Anderl Molterer, Christian Pravda, Fritz Huber Jr. and Toni Sailer wrote skiing history.

Now there is a new generation earning the title of Kitzbühel legends: Rosi Schipflinger, Axel Naglich, Kaspar Frauenschuh, and David Kreiner.

Introduced 88 years ago in 1937, the northeast-facing Streif is among the world's toughest downhill courses, if not the most, and is infamous for an abundance of spectacular crashes.

Other attractions include six tennis courts and four golf courses, the Kitzbühel swimming pool, Austria's only curling hall and the bathing lake of Schwarzsee.

Kitzbühel primarily caters for the high end of the tourist market, as many celebrities and the jet set come here, especially during the international races on the Hahnenkamm.