Enjoy a mountain summer weekend in authentic Tyrol, surrounded by the Kitzbühel Alps.
Advertising: This article was created in cooperation with Österreich Werbung.
Friday afternoon and the longing for summer beyond the city grows ever greater. We close the computers, pack up the kids and head out of Munich and into the Alpbachtal with kids.
With every kilometer towards Kufstein, in whose district the Alpbachtal lies, we find it easier to leave the last week with its many appointments and fast pace behind us. Our eyes can rest and turn to the vastness, the mountain ranges and the lush summer green of the meadows outside the window. Why do we live in the city again?
Diving between alpine roses and mountains with kids in Alpbachtal!
Bathing by the church tower
Our trip to Alpbach takes about an hour and a half. It is the jewel of the Alpbach Valley and has been awarded the title of Austria’s most beautiful village. Alpbach is 1,000 metres above sea level. It is famous for its wooden buildings and flowers on balconies. The adults are fascinated by the decorations and flowers, but our kids think swimming is better.
Further on in Reith i. A., we find the Reither bathing lake. Cool off! There’s a playground, diving board and shady spot on the sunbathing lawn. Admission is free with the Alpbachtal Card, which is included with every overnight stay. There’s enough change left over for ice cream.
Refuel on the Holzalm
After a quick bite to eat and a look around, we’re heading to the Holzalm in Brixlegg, about 30 minutes away. We’ve still got a lot planned for this evening, including a challenging ascent and descent with a few adventurous moments. Fortunately, we’ve already got a good start on this with a dinner of homemade spinach dumplings at the Alpengasthof at 1,400 metres. As well as the hot dishes, there’s also the classic ‘hut snack’ here in the mountains. This is a wooden board filled with cheese, bacon and bread from the region – it’s also available as a vegetarian version with delicious spreads. The Holzalm also takes part and serves the delicious hut snack.
Summit bliss at sunset in the Alpbachtal with kids
End the day on a high with a summit tour to the Gratlspitze, Alpbachtal’s local mountain. Enjoy a magnificent view and a breathtaking sunset.
Family adventures at 1,899 metres above sea level
It’s great to focus on each other, find a good pace, and support and motivate each other. You can do all of this so well in nature. It’s an emotional experience for us parents, but also for the kids, as we look down from 1,899 metres above sea level, a little tired but above all proud. We’ve heard that you can see over 800 mountain peaks and 26 church spires from up here.
As we’re enjoying this magical moment up here in the mountains, nature is adding to it. As the sun sets, the whole scene is bathed in a golden glow, marking the end of another day. This is what we call summit happiness!
The most precious moments aren’t about material wealth. They’re about experiencing the treasures of nature with all your senses and as a family. As the sun sets, the atmosphere inside and around us becomes noticeably calmer.
We look on in wonder at the amazing sight on the horizon, which gives us plenty of energy for the journey back. As dusk falls, we’re glad we remembered to pack warm clothes in our rucksacks. We also remembered to bring headlamps, which not only make the descent more adventurous but also help us stay steady on our feet. With the last of the light, we found our way back down into the valley, looked up at the summit one last time, and know we’ll treasure this evening forever.
Jumping action with mountain scenery
We’ve had a great time so far, sleeping like marmots and taking it easy today in the Alpbachtal with the kids. We took the cable car (free with the Alpbachtal Card) up to the Wiedersberger Horn, where you can see not only the Alpbach valley, but also the Ziller and Inn valleys.
The alpine roses are in full bloom, making the already impressive mountain panorama even more stunning. On a short hike, we soak up this soothing play of colours and let ourselves be enchanted by nature.
However, the eyes of our children stick to other attractions this morning, they have the Lauserland discovered. Since they bravely mastered the ascent to the summit last night, today we will postpone the hike over the panoramic path (approx. 1.5 hours, 200 meters of altitude and difficulty medium) at the back and first decide for action and let off steam.
Below the mountain station of the Wiedersbergerhornbahn, it is important to test the almost 40 game stations: from the ball track, to a mini high ropes course and the Lauser pond with water games, to our absolute highlight, the Lauser Tower. From three different heights, children and adults can fall into a 44 square meter air cushion in free fall in front of the most beautiful mountain panorama and feel the lightness of being. For less daring people, the slide goes down from the tower.
Why not with momentum into the valley in the summer? With the Alpbachtaler Lauser-Sauser, an Alpine Coaster, you rush towards the valley in a particularly fast way and are then comfortably transported back to the mountain. Over 1.5 kilometers and 134 meters of altitude, it goes up to 40 km/h fast through fast curves, roundabouts and jumps – an exciting experience with the summer sled in the Tyrolean mountains.
Cooling off in Alpbachtal
After a busy day, we were ready for a break and headed to the next lake in the valley. The Reintalersee is the largest of the Kramsach lakes. It’s got a water temperature of up to 25 degrees, making it one of the warmest bathing lakes in Tyrol. You can also hire boats there or just make yourself comfortable on the large sunbathing lawn while the kids explore the playground. There’s also an inclusion playground here – it’s unique and absolutely exciting in its form.
The restaurant by the lake awaits young and old for refreshments. After so much mountain adventure and swimming in the Alpbachtal with kids, we fall into bed early on the second evening, review the day and fall asleep happily. The mountain air makes you so tired!
Imperial Sunday in the most beautiful gorges
Sunday already?! Lovely family time always passes far too quickly, especially when it is filled with so many experiences in nature. But the day is still young and will be enjoyed to the full. We head to the Kaiserklamm gorge in Brandenberg, which we reach after about half an hour’s drive by car.
In the footsteps of Sissi and Franz
It is popular with hikers and kayakers as one of the most beautiful gorge landscapes in Austria. Sissi and Franz also found their way here. The starting point for exploring the gorge is the Kaiserhaus, which is famous for its typical Tyrolean “Prügeltorte”. What sounds hard actually melts in your mouth. This regional specialty is a kind of “Baumkuchen” and is still served on special occasions such as weddings. It gets its name from a rotating wooden roller on which the dough is patiently applied layer by layer. A visit to the Kaiserhaus is also extremely popular with the kids, because in addition to the good food, there is a large playground in the middle of the garden waiting for them.
Speaking of wood. Due to logging in the region and the need to transport the huge trunks to Kramsach, the Kaiserklamm gorge became a trift trail. Visitors to the gorge still benefit from this secure fortification today.
The trail runs for around one kilometer through the narrow gorge, where light and water create works of art together. The path leads over adventurous bridges and through eerie stone tunnels until the Brandenberger Ache widens again and the landscape becomes more pleasant. Here you can find a spot to cool your feet in the river after the hike, throw stones into the water, float sticks or simply eat the last piece of cake – if there is any left.
In the footsteps of the past – in 1.5 hours through the whole of Tyrol
In addition to wood, agriculture has always been of great importance for the region between Innsbruck and Kufstein. After we have already dealt with the history of wood transport to water on the way through the Kaiserklamm, we want to learn something about the history of the Tyrolean farmers before we go home. The best place for this is the Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe, a huge open-air museum, also located near the Reintalersee in Kramsach.
A hike in the footsteps of the past with interactive stations between chickens and sheep living here in the museum takes about 1.5 hours. If you look around in the 14 farms and 23 outbuildings, which were removed from different valley landscapes of Tyrol and faithfully rebuilt here, you will feel transported to another time. When milking cows or pressing the school bench like in the past, we experience with all our senseses how arduous life was back then and how self-evident we consider a lot today.
As a family, we always succeed best in nature to re-emerge on the really important and essentials. Oh, Alpbachtal! Thank you for breathing a sigh of relief, your nature adventures and action moments. Until the next sunset at the summit.
If you want to discover more enchanting places for the perfect family holiday in Austria, you will find real jewels in this post undoubtedly come across real jewels.
