Hiking in Austria could very well be one of the best things you can do in your life. If mountains and the outdoors are a part of your way of life, Austria has it all. Austria is home to the world-famous Swarovski jewelry, highly recommended Riedel Wine glasses and Mozart but is also a outdoors paradise. Austria is easily one of the best hiking countries in the world.

In this article I will give a broad overview of the different hiking areas of Austria. Austria is divided into provinces and they all have great outdoors opportunities. For hiking in Austria and especially in the mountains, some areas are more attractive than others.

Hiking in Austria is Big Business

Tourism is big in Austria. The small country gets over 30 million visitors a year and most of that traffic is into the mountains. Winter is more popular than summer which is a good thing for hikers. In the winter the popular places are packed and everything is much more expensive.

Overwhelming Amount of Information

The tourism offices of the different areas have done a great job in promoting their own specific areas. However, if you just start Googling around without a specific idea or location in mind, the number of options can be overwhelming.

When I did research for this article, I easily found well over a hundred sites. Those were mostly just the official ones maintained by tourism offices and such.

Gaudeamus Hütte

Competing Valleys

In a country with a huge tourism industry, the different regions, valleys, cities and towns are all fiercely competing against each other for visitors. I think this is especially true in the summer since winter sports is more popular. The large ski areas with extensive infrastructures fill up in the winter but not so much in the summer. Apart from possibly August, there is excess capacity in the summer.

This can be seen in pricing: during the summer it is much, much more affordable to stay in the nicer hotels or travel on a budget.

I will link you up to all the relevant sites maintained by the local tourist offices and other interesting sites. They have the most up to date information about their local things so there’s not much added value for me to copy that information here. I’ll rather try to point you to the right direction.

Affiliate Disclaimer

I don’t receive any monetary or other compensation for providing these links. However, you may find there to be advertisements and links to products I sometimes recommend, such as links to products sold by Amazon or other stores, or hotels on booking.com.

If you click on any of these and make a purchase, Gohikealps may receive a commission which goes to covering a fraction of the cost of maintaining and developing this site.

Feel free to sign up for the gohikealps.com newsletter here to receive updates on when this site is updated and to receive the gohikealps.com One Page Printable Gear Checklist. It’s what I, and hundreds of people who have received it – use for minimizing the hassle of figuring out what to take when you go. 

If You Drive, Get the Vignette

Austria is very easy to travel in and the coverage of public transportation is very extensive. Driving, on the other hand, is sometimes even easier. If you do drive, make sure you get a Vignette and stick it on your car window at the border.

It’s essentially a toll you pay for a predefined period and you need the sticker for proof you’ve paid. It’s not expensive but not having it and getting caught can be. They’re sold at all gas stations at the borders so if you fly to Munich and rent a car there, the car won’t have it unless you’ve arranged for the rental company to get it for you. If you rent a car from within Austria, it should have it. Do check either way.

More information about the vignette and rates here.

Local Transportation in Zillertal – the Zillertalbahn!

Trains are Great in Austria

While driving is great in many ways, trains are also very convenient. The train network is very extensive in Austria, including all the mountainous areas. I prefer trains if I travel alone and especially if I do a longer tour from one place to another. Going back to get your car from somewhere if you can avoid it doesn’t really make sense.

You can find the Austrian railways with route and other information here. Also keep in mind that you can find all of the same tickets and more from Deutche Bahn, the German railway company – you can find their site here. I tend to get my tickets from bahn.com if I book beforehand.

Where to Fly?

There are several airports in Austria, the main ones being:

• Vienna – International and well connected but a little to the side from the main hiking areas.
• Salzburg – small airport, well connected within Europe, in Salzburgerland
• Innsbruck – small airport, well connected within Europe, right in the middle of Tyrol

Check out the 5 Best Airports to Reach the Alps. That’s my recommendations on where to fly. You also might want to see why I think Munich is in many cases the best airport to go hiking in Austria.

The Provinces of Austria

The provinces in Austria, and which are covered in this article are:

• Tyrol (Tirol in German)
• Vorarlberg
• Salzburg (Salzburgerland in German)
• Carinthia (Kärnten)
• Styria (Steiermark)
• Upper Austria (Oberösterreich)
• Lower Austria (Niederösterreich)
• Burgenland

Map credit: By Wouter Johannes Arendshorst (WjArendshorst) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78481549

As you can see in the map, the higher mountains tend to be on the western side of the country. As you will find as you read further, the western parts are in my opinion where to look, if you want to hike in the mountains – which is my preference and what this site is focused on.

The opportunities for hiking, climbing and other outdoor activities in Tyrol are endless. According to the official tourism website of Tyrol, there are 24,000 kilometers of market trails in Tyrol. That’s more than halfway around the Earth. There are hundreds, if not thousands of places to stay ranging from simple mountain huts to luxurious resorts.

Regions in Tyrol

There is an overwhelming number of hiking regions to choose from within Tyrol. For example:

• Hiking in Austria around a lake district? Maybe look at the Achensee region!
• Looking for all kinds of summer activities including golf? How about Zillertal? At the end of the valley in Hintertux you can even go skiing: the Hintertux Glacier ski resort is the only one in Austria open 365 days a year. Mayrhofen is a great place to stay in Zillertal.
• Want to stay in a city and go for day hikes? How about staying in Innsbruck, the capital city of Tyrol with the Karwendel Nature Park just over the mountain to the North, accessible by lift.
• The list goes on with world famous mountain towns such as Kitzbühel with its world famous Hahnenkamm downhill ski races, and Seefeld (remember the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976?)

Long Distance Hikes in Tyrol

Tyrol is home to several very interesting Long-Distance Hikes such as

• The Lechtal High Trail (Lechtaler Höhenweg) (Click here for the Gohikealps Planning Guide and personal experience!)
• Berlin High Trail in Zillertal (Berliner Höhenweg in German)
• Carnic High Trail in East Tirol (also called Carnische Höhenweg in German)

… just to point out a few. To top it off there is, of course, the mighty Eagle Walk (or Adlerweg) that crosses all of Tyrol in 413 kilometers split between 33 stages!

Getting to Tyrol

Tyrol is easy to get to from anywhere. To the South lies Italy, easily accessible by train and car. Bordered by Germany to the North, the Munich International Airport is near. Across Vorarlberg on the Western side, Tirol is also close to Switzerland and the Zurich Airport.

In addition to the proximity of Munich and Zurich, right in the middle of Tirol lies its capital city Innsbruck which also has an airport well connected within Europe. Check out my view on the best airports to reach the Alps here.

Südtirol / South Tyrol

That said, what I’ve talked about so far is about North Tyrol. Due to its very colorful history (which you can read about here on Wikipedia), Tyrol also includes

• South Tyrol (Südtirol) on the Italian side of the border and East Tyrol (Osttirol) which is separated from
• North Tyrol by Italy and the western part of Salzburgerland.

Confusing? Yes. And even more so since what’s nowadays Trentino, located south of Südtirol in Italy, also used to be Tyrol!

More Information

Tyrol seems to have invested considerably in their online presence. Their tourism website is very informative and contains loads of detailed information about the region as well as specific hikes you can go on there.

There’s a lot of literature available about Tyrol. Here’s some books to consider related to hiking there:

• The Adlerweg: The Eagle’s Way across the Austrian Tyrol, a book by Cicerone that covers the Eagle Walk in detail, including several variants. The Eagle Walk is called the Adlerweg in German, hence the name.
• Innsbruck Mountain Adventures, by Sharon Wray and published by Cicerone. Covers pretty much all activities you can do around Innsbruck very well, not limited to hiking.
• Trekking in the Zillertal Alps: Cicerone Press, by Allan Hartley. Focused on Trekking in the Zillertal valley – one of the most popular hiking regions.

Vorarlberg sits between Switzerland and Liechtenstein on the West, Tyrol on the East and Germany on the North. Like Tyrol, it’s quite easy to access from Munich and Zurich. The capital of the region is Bludenz, a city of about 15,000 people.

Although the smallest of the Austrian provinces, Vorarlberg is plenty rich in hiking and other outdoor activities. Hiking in Vorarlberg is plentiful and the mountains and the scenery are beautiful. Near Bodensee (Lake Constance in English) there are also views to the lake to be enjoyed.

Regions within Vorarlberg

• Montafon, right on the Swiss border (Davos on the other side!), Montafon is a long valley of nearly 40 kilometers. Vorarlberg’s highest mountain, the sun cream inspiring Piz Buin (3,312 m ) at the south end. Excellent hiking opportunities here with the opportunity to cross over to Switzerland.
• Alpenregion Vorarlberg, home to Bludenz, Brandnertal, Klostertal and the Grosses Walstertal Biosphere Reserve.
• Lech Zürs am Arlberg, famous for its winter opportunities as well as being known as an upscale ski resort. Nonetheless, the hiking there is excellent, and it is a good place to get on the Lechtaler Höhenweg, one of the great long distance trails in Tyrol.
• Bodensee-Vorarlberg is located at the very West end of Austria with Bregenz and Lake Constance (Bodensee in German) on the North end, Switzerland to the West and Liechtenstein in the South West. Lake Constance is surrounded by Austria, Switzerland and Germany and could be interesting to do something different, perhaps before or after a mountain tour.
• Bregenzerwald – South East of Lake Constance bordering with Germany on the North, home to a lot of cheese which you can discover on the Cheeseroad (Käsestrasse)
• Kleinwalstertal is an interesting small area which seems more linked to Germany that Austria, given that road access is from Oberstdorf on the German side of the border.

Small as it may be, Vorarlberg is most certainly worth considering as a hiking destination. Even though its on the Tyrol side, St.Anton am Arlberg is also a good base to explore the region.

Vorarlberg’s Official Tourism Portal can be found here and there is an extensive article on Wikipedia with history and other facts.

The world-famous city of Salzburg is the capital of the province Salzburgerland. One of the most famous Salzburgians of all time must be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While the city of Salzburg is rich in culture, the Salzburgerland in which it lies is rich in mountains and nature!

By the way, Salzburgerland seems to be called simply Salzburg in English, so depending on the context Salzburg might mean the city itself or the province in which it is located.

Getting to Salzburgerland

Salzburg is located against the German border and is easily accessible from Munich Airport, both by car and rail. Salzburg also has its own airport which, quite like Innsbruck in Tyrol, is well connected within Europe but not so much the rest of the world. Arriving from the U.S., for example, Munich would be where to fly.

Salzburg Hiking Opportunities

As far as hiking opportunities go, Salzburg has pretty much everything you could hope to look for. A few highlights:

• Excellent ski resort in the winter, wonderful hiking resort in the summer with about 400 kilometers of marked paths: Saalbach Hinterglemm.
• The Zell-am See area where in addition to hiking you can go boating on the lake or summer skiing on the Kaprun glacier.
• Gastein valley (Gasteinertal in German) which reaches deep into the mountains, bordering the Hohe Tauern Nature Park and is particularly famous for its spas in Bad Gastein.
• Hohe Tauern Nature Park, the largest of its kind in Europe. Hohe Tauern spans over the Southern part of Salzburg as well as the Northern parts of Carinthia and much of East Tirol. It is home to Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossglockner.
• If you’re travelling by car and not afraid of mountain roads, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road offers an exceptional drive. It links Salzburgerland to Carinthia and if it fits into your plans (and you’re not afraid of the road!), I recommend it.

More Information

The Official Tourist Portal for Salzburgerland can be found here. There are extensive Wikipedia articles for both Salzburg the State and Salzburg the City. 

Carinthia (or Kärnten in German) is located on the southern border of Austria, with the western part of it adjacent to Northern Italy and the eastern part to Slovenia. It’s known for its mountains and lakes.

The capital of the state is Klagenfurt, with a population of about 100,000. There’s an extensive Wikipedia article on Carinthia as well as Klagenfurt for more information. In my travels, which are often based out of Munich, Carinthia sadly seems kind of far away compared to Tyrol and Salzburg.

There is an airport in Klagenfurt, but it is small and has very limited connections. You’re probably flying to a bigger airport and then getting a train or driving. This is especially true if you’re travelling from farther away.

The mountains in Carinthia are higher in the western parts so if you’re looking for high-mountain hiking, the western part is where I would look first.

Hohe Tauern Nature Park

The Hohe Tauern Nature Park that is located also in Tyrol and Salzburgerland is in the Northwestern part of Carinthia – hence the area is called Hohe Tauern. This is obviously an extremely interesting hiking destination. You may have noticed that there’s several websites covering it, and the one covering the Carinthian portion of it can be found here.

Areas in Carinthia

South of Hohe Tauern lies Lesachtal, Lake Weissensee and Nassfeld-Pressegger See. The lakes are clearly an attraction in themselves, but this area is also home to the Carinthia Höhenweg.

The regions of Lieser-Maltatal and Katschberg/Rennweg advertise themselves as particularly family friendly so if you’re travelling with kids, they could be interesting to you. Both areas are situated east of the Hohe Tauern region where the mountains generally are lower and perhaps less rugged. Also, as they say, they are on the “sunny side of the Alps”. More info on Katschberg here and more about Lieser-Maltatal here.

Alpe-Adria Trail

Worth a special mention in this region would be the Alpe-Adria-Trail which begins at the foot of Austria’s highest mountain Grossglockner, crosses Carinthia and ventures on into Slovenia and from there to Italy. A grand total of roughly 750 kilometers split into 43 stages, each about 20 km. Comprehensive info on this wonder can be found on the Alpe-Adria-Trail website.

The Carnic High Trail

The Karnischer Höhenweg or Carniche High Route or Carnic High Trail– yes, the same one I mentioned in the Tyrol section – is a 155km hike on the border of Austria and Italy. The western end of it is in East Tyrol, which I suppose is why both regions advertise it. This is one of the high trails high on my to-do list. There’s a website covering it here.

More Information

There’s much more to Carinthia and a good starting point is the official tourism site which can be found here. Of course there is also an extensive Wikipedia article on Carinthia.

For me personally the most interesting areas here are in Hohe Tauern and, of course, the two trails I mentioned: The Carinthia Höhenweg and the Alpe-Adria-Trail.

Styria is the second largest province in Austria after Lower Austria. Its capital is the city of Graz, the second largest city in Austria after Vienna. To the west it is bordered by Salzburgerland, to the south Slovenia and Carinthia and to the North Upper and Lower Austria. Burgenland lies to the east.

As for hiking, the province is quite large and the most interesting parts, in my opinion, are on the western side of it where the mountains are most prominent.

Salzkammergut

In the Northwest you can find Ausseerland-Salzkammergut, where the Salzkammergut area spreads over to Styria. The Salzkammergut as a designated UNESCO World Heritage site is very interesting and has lots of hiking and other opportunities.

Gesäuse

Gesäuse is another interesting area in Styria. Gesäuse is home to the Gesäuse mountains and both a nature park and national park. I have not been there, but it is on my to-do list. I will probably go there for a long weekend since its easy for me to catch a direct flight to Salzburg.

Both Salzkammergut and Gesäuse are quite near Salzburg so if you’re able to fly there, a short trip is viable. These areas are not prohibitively far from Vienna or Munich either.

Dachstein

Between Gesäuse and Salzkammergut is Schladming-Dachstein. This is another cross-province area:  the western parts of the Dachstein mountains are in Salzburgerland. More info on the western parts can be found here.

The Dachstein area overall is a very popular hiking destination and together with the Salzkammergut, it is interestingly spread over multiple provinces so there’s a lot of information on it spread over different local websites. There’s also a glacier, which of course also has its own website.

More Information

There much more information on Styria in their tourism website, as well as a Wikipedia article.

I haven’t been able to visit the western parts of Styria as often as I would have liked but I intend to go more. The western parts, for me, are more interesting than the eastern. Once I go, I will write up my experiences in more detail. Please sign up for the Gohikealps newsletter for updates!

For its size and the general image of Austria, mountain hiking in Upper Austria is surprisingly limited. It doesn’t really touch the Alps except for the southern parts of it. However, the southern parts are quite interesting.

Salzkammergut Again

Salzkammergut, a part of which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is definitely an area of interest for hiking and other activities. Although the majority and the core of the area is in Upper Austria, it is partially spread over Salzburgerland and Styria.

Hallstatt

Probably one of the best, if not most, known towns in the Salzkammergut area is Hallstatt. Hallstatt is known for its exceptional beauty and It is, in fact, so beautiful that the Chinese made an exact copy of it – in China! Check out Wade Shepard’s report on location about it here.

The Pyrhn-Priel area is also interesting. It’s on the southern side of Upper Austria, where the mountains are. It also borders on the Kalkalpen National Park.

Salzkammergut Berge Seen Trail

You might also want to look at the Salzkammergut Berge Seen Trail, which is a 350 km loop around and through the entire Salzkammergut area. It’s only been established in 2017, so its quite new. I’m sure the trails themselves are ancient but this is now more organized. It’s on my to-do list for sure now that I found it.

Like all of the provinces in Austria, Upper Austria has an extensive tourism site, and there is a Wikipedia article.

Lower Austria, or Niederösterreich in German, is the largest province in the country. It has the most people and in the middle of is the capital city of Austria, the famous Vienna.

As far as hiking goes, there are mountains here, but they are not very high. The highest peaks reach about 2 kilometers. While the mountains may not be quite as majestic as in some of the other Austrian provinces, there is plentiful hiking and the lower mountains also may mean a longer hiking season and more diversity.

You can find more information about the options on the Lower Austria tourism website.

Hiking Areas in Lower Austria

Areas of hiking interest in Lower Austria include:

• Mostviertel, in the South-West of Lower Austria
• The Vienna Alps, with its “Arc of the Viennese Alps” trail of 300 kilometers and 19 day stages

Vienna is well connected to the world and is in itself a very interesting city to visit. If you’re looking for a combination of city and hiking, Lower Austria could be an option to consider. Especially if you’re unsure of your ability and are not keen to go into the backcountry.

It may well be that Burgenland is more known for its wines than hiking trails, at least any mountainous ones. Burgenland is a small province at the border of Hungary and, different to rest of Austria, there are no mountains. instead, there are vast plains and vineyards.

As far as I am concerned, Burgenland would not be a place where I would go seeking hiking thrills, but of course there are other interesting aspects to this province that you can read about on their tourism website.

The main reason why Gohikealps exists, is to try to make some sense out of the overwhelming choice of where to go hiking. These are my personal, mostly experience based opinions so if you don’t agree, please do leave a comment below!

Hiking in Austria Because of the Mountains

For me hiking is most enjoyable in the mountains and especially the high ones, let’s start there: In Austria the highest mountainous areas tend to be on the western side of the country. That would be Tyrol (including East Tyrol!), Vorarlberg, Salzburgerland and the western parts of Carinthia.

Tyrol is Hard to Beat…

Of all the places in the Austria and in all the Alps, I find myself returning to Tyrol repeatedly, both in summer and winter alike. I keep going back for the reasons stated: It has endless variety and it’s easy to reach. The latter point is especially important for me because of I always must fly to get to the mountains. Anything and everything you could expect to do in the mountains, you can do in Tyrol.

… but Great Hiking Exists Everywhere in Austria

ALL provinces in Austria are interesting in their own way. apart from Burgenland there are mountains in all the provinces and a mountain trail doesn’t have to run through high mountains to be interesting. Quite the contrary, often the most variety is found in lower trails.

Lower trails naturally also tend to have less snow, extending the season both in spring and fall.

I encourage you to explore the different areas virtually and find your perfect location – and then go do it! Whatever you choose, you cannot really go wrong.

Literature

There’s a lot of literature about hiking in Austria, here’s a few that may be of interest:

• Walking in Austria: 101 Routes – Day Walks, Multi-day Treks and Classic Hut-to-Hut Tours. Book by Kev Reynolds, published by Cicerone. A good all-around book with something for everyone. A lot of the described routes are in Tyrol.
• Walking Austria’s Alps: Hut to Hut 2nd Edition. Written by Jonathan Hurdle already in 1999 so it’s possibly a little outdated. On the other hand, the trails in the mountains don’t really change much…

What next?

I hope this guide has been helpful to you, even though it is only able to offer a glimpse to the endless hiking opportunities. As time allows, I will extend this and will look more closely at the different areas in Austria. I will also write up my own experiences. Please sign up for the gohikealps.com newsletter to receive updates.

If you read through this entire article, I humbly thank you! Happy hiking!