Adventure Report

Austria

“The Softer Side of the Alps"

The Softer Side of the Alps

“Mountain Life at a Slower Pace”

After almost a month in Switzerland, we headed east to the Austrian Alps. Almost immediately, Austria felt like a more rural version of Switzerland. The valleys were more agricultural, the villages were less developed, and the overall atmosphere was more relaxed. Austrians have a word, Gemütlichkeit, that describes their hospitality and warmth—and we experienced it throughout our journey through the Austrian Alps.

Leah and Oz at Lünersee Lake in Rätikon Austria

Leah, Oz, and Adventure Wolves hiking at Montafon in Austria

Karl and Leah soaking it up at the Aqua Dome thermal spa in Austria

Hohe Tauern National Park

We started in East Tyrol, where we biked and hiked in Hohe Tauern National Park, the largest national park in the Alps.

One of our favorite hikes followed the Kalserbach River through the Dorfertal, a beautiful alpine valley with a river running through it that was never dammed due to protests from local farmers. We loved the combination of authentic mountain villages and dramatic alpine scenery in this part of Austria.

The Montafon Valley

From East Tyrol, we traveled west to the Montafon Valley in Vorarlberg, where we used Schruns as a base to explore the Rätikon Alps.

The Rätikon Alps are a striking mountain range dominated by jagged limestone peaks and steep green valleys. We spent the week biking, climbing, and hiking in the mountains above the Montafon, taking advantage of the region’s extensive lift system to reach alpine trails and via ferratas. Vorarlberg also felt culturally distinct from much of the rest of Austria, with architecture and traditions that often seemed closer to those of nearby Switzerland and southern Germany.

A Family Reunion in Carinthia

After the Montafon Valley, we headed east to Deutsch-Griffen, a tiny rural village in Carinthia surrounded by farms and forests, where we attended a family reunion hosted by relatives of a good friend from Boulder, whose mother had been born and raised in the village.

We missed the family’s mushroom-hunting expedition but got to enjoy the homemade mushroom goulash, along with trout caught from the stream running through town. After several weeks focused on biking, climbing, and hiking in the Austrian Alps, the reunion gave us a chance to relax, recharge, and immerse ourselves in life in a small rural village.

A waterfall in Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria.

Knödel an after h ike hut meal in Montafon in Austria

Family reunion meal mushroom goulash in Deutsch Griffen Austria

A family reunion with good friends in Deutsch Griffen, Austria

Mountain Life at a Slower Pace

We wrapped up our time in Austria by soaking at the Aqua Dome, a luxurious thermal spa in the Ötztal Valley. Its large outdoor thermal pools sit beneath the surrounding Tyrolean mountains, making it a great place to recover after several weeks of hiking and biking.

As we headed east toward Slovenia, we were sad to see Austria disappear in the rearview mirror. 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.