Active 2008

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VORARLBERG TOURISMUS/PETER MATHIS, SALZBURGER LAND TOURISMUS
If hiking had been invented in Austria –
who would have been surprised? This
country is so rich in wonderful hiking
areas, that even couch potatoes quickly
get the taste for it. From majestic mountains
and primeval upland pastures via
vast, dense forests and flower-filled
meadows to gentle hills and vineyards –
the variety is such that it offers the right
holiday destination for every requirement
and taste. If you are fit and climb up the
peaks in the west of the country, you will
be rewarded with breathtaking panoramas.
The Muttersberg in Vorarlberg, for
example, provides an unforgettable view
of the Rätikon and into the Silvretta.
And the Tiroler Adlerweg – at about
500 km the longest continuous hiking
trail in Europe – looks not just from its
German name of “Tirolean eagle trail”
1 The view is stunning from the
Kirchlispitze in the Rätikon, Vorarlberg
2 Hiking over lush alpine meadows near
the Rauchkögerl in the Gasteinertal
So near to heaven
The high one experiences when hiking in Austria does not
necessarily have anything to do with the altitude
as if it were taken straight from a travel
film. Here one really is accompanied
once in a while by eagles living in the
wild. In the west, the trail leads as far
as the Arlberg, in the east to Kalms,
which is already at the gateway to the
Salzburger Land – and incidentally at the
foot of the highest mountain in Austria:
the Grossglockner.
At which point we would already be in
the lushest province of Austria, whose
particular beauty is motivation enough
to explore it on foot. The Salzburger
Almenweg links about 120 alpine
pastures or Almen, and in so doing
leads past romantic mountain lakes and
thundering waterfalls. The Grossarltal
valley is enticing too with its idyllic alpine
pasture trails and the cosy mountain
lodges by the wayside.
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