Austria Favorite Adventures
FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Austria
Our Austria Favorite Adventures
Our Austria Favorite Adventures
We are already looking forward to returning to explore some of the regions we did not have time to visit, including the Salzkammergut—Austria’s lake district—and the Wachau Valley, both of which we have heard are especially beautiful in the fall.
In the meantime, we feel fortunate to have spent almost a month in what became one of the most accessible and relaxing regions of the Alps. Here are some of our favorite adventures:
# 1. Biking and hiking in Hohe Tauern National Park
Hohe Tauern is one of the most impressive parts of the Eastern Alps, with glaciers, valleys, waterfalls, and many of Austria’s highest peaks, including the Großglockner. The region feels wilder and more alpine than many of Austria’s better-known areas, while still having the excellent mountain huts and trails that make Austria so easy to explore.
# 2. Enjoying traditional Austrian mountain food
Austrian food can be heavy, but it is perfect after a day of biking or hiking in the Austrian Alps. We particularly enjoyed goulash, Käsespätzle, Knödel, and schnitzel, as well as the seemingly endless types of cakes and strudels at alpine huts and smaller family-run inns.
# 3. Experiencing Austrian Gemütlichkeit
Gemütlichkeit is a term that refers to the hospitality and warmth of Austrian people. We experienced it everywhere in Austria, from Gasthäuser in rural Carinthia to mountain huts in the Alps.
# 4. Discovering the Montafon Valley
Montafon is an alpine valley in western Austria surrounded by the Rätikon, Silvretta, and Verwall mountain ranges, with an extensive network of cable cars making it easy to reach the higher mountains without doing big climbs from the valley floor. We used Tschagguns as our base and spent almost a week biking and hiking throughout the valley and its surrounding mountains.
# 5. Hiking and biking in the Rätikon Alps
The Rätikon Alps are a beautiful limestone mountain range along the borders of Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, filled with steep rock walls, green alpine meadows, mountain huts, and grazing livestock. From our base in Tschagguns in the Montafon Valley, we explored the Austrian side of the range, including Lünersee and the hike toward Totalphütte, beneath the imposing limestone peaks of the Rätikon. The combination of dramatic rock walls and intensely green alpine scenery made this one of our favorite areas in western Austria.
# 6. Experiencing Vienna
Vienna provides a completely different side of Austria from the alpine regions. The city is filled with colorful churches, museums, and palaces, as well as some of Europe’s best cafés, and is one of our favorite cities in Europe.
# 7. Soaking in an Austrian thermal spa
Austria’s mountains are filled with thermal spas. One of our favorites is Aqua Dome in the Ötztal Valley, where large outdoor thermal pools sit beneath the surrounding Tyrolean mountains. We actually spent a night in the Aqua Dome Hotel, taking advantage of one of their midweek packages, which allowed us to access parts of the thermal spa before they opened to the public and after they closed.
# 8. Staying at an Austrian alpine hut or mountain inn
Austria has one of the most extensive networks of alpine huts in Europe. Some are simple hikers’ refuges with shared rooms and basic meals, while others feel more like small mountain inns, with private rooms. Even if you don’t want to carry gear for a multi-day hut-to-hut trek, it’s worth spending at least one night in an alpine hut—or choosing a mountain Berggasthof or Gasthaus that can be reached by road or cable car.
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