Already in the Stone Age, hunters and shepherds sought out the high alpine meadows in the southernmost part of the Ötztal. Evidence for this was provided by the discovery of an ice mummy from the Stone Age. Shepherds moved from the south across the main ridge of the Alps and around 4500 B.C. they increased the usable pasture land by burning down the forests on the edge. The inner Ötztal was initially only used as a mountain pasture from the Vinschgau (Italian: Val Venosta) in the Italian South Tyrol. Gradually the valley was inhabited from the south, which led to numerous place names of Romansh origin, especially in the Venter Tal. The dialect spoken in the southernmost tip of the Ötztal contains relatively many Rhetoric expressions.

Selda and Seldon
The place name Sölden comes from the word selda, which means the smallest size of farm property. Sölden was first mentioned in an official document as Seldon in 1150. In 1811, Sölden formed one of the ten lawyers' offices of the Petersberg court and was declared an independent municipality in 1817. In 1854, the municipality of Vent, which until 1826 still fell under the court of Kastelbell in the Vinschgau, was added to the municipality of Sölden. From 1923, the part of the municipality of Schnals (Italian: Senales), which remained part of Austria after the separation between South Tyrol and the rest of Tyrol in 1919, also fell under the municipality of Sölden.

Timmelsjoch and Hochjoch
Until tourism emerged, the residents supported themselves by raising livestock and trading over the Timmelsjoch and Hochjoch passes. In 1891 Sölden, Gurgl and Vent became independent parishes. The first influx of tourists started in the mid-19th century, after several shelters and roads were built, partly on the initiative of the glacier pastor Franz Senn.