Bimmerfest - BMW Forums - View Single Post - Back from ED: Tour of Bavarian and Austrian Alps

bimmerFUD · #4 05-28-2007, 06:27 AM

May 17: Drove to Heiligenblut, which is on the southern end of the Grossglockner. On the way, had lunch in Zell am See; a bit touristy. The weather on the Grossglocker was horrible, with heavy fog and snow. On the pass I could only go about 5 mph

Heiligenblut is a very small, idyllic Austrian village. We stayed in the Hotel Heiligenblut, which was very nice with great traditional food. Parking covered (extra). In the small towns, we learned there's no point in eating anywhere else than the hotel. No more ``fine dining'' for the next few days, but the food was still very good.

May 18: Beautiful day and we started with a hike just outside of Heiligenblut, near the beautiful Goessnitz Wasserfalle. We bought a trail map (Wanderkarte) from a local store.

All the rain the day before was snow at high altitude, so once we had climbed about 1000m, the snow got too deep to continue (also a good excuse to wimp out and stop climbing). Incredibly beautiful. Hiking in the Alps is much different than the Rocky Mountains. The Alps are much steeper, greener, and the oxygen is thicker. No car wash is anywhere close to Heiligenblut, as the trailhead photo below shows.

After the hike, went back and drove the Grossglockner again. Great day to drive with gorgeous views, but then it was also fairly crowded.