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Austrian Culture: Hiking in Austria

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Robert Easton

Austria is two-thirds Alps, so unsurprisingly when its soaring mountains are not covered in snow and skiers, they swarm with happy hikers (an estimated 3 million of them per year).

Most trails are very well marked, (with red and white stripes on trees or boulders along the way), and there is also a difficulty coding system based on the colours used for skiing runs. Blue is easy, red is intermediate, and black is the hardest. Just as with ski runs, beginners would be ill advised to take on the difficult routes immediately.

The best time for hiking is the summer - June to September - when temperatures average in the twenties Celsius in most areas. The tradeoff is that this is the also the time when you will encounter most tourists, and when prices are at their highest.

Don't be too surprised if you see lots of Austrians hiking with ski-poles- the practice is known as Nordic Walking, and is popular because it provides a better workout than just walking.

If you're hiking in the Alps a fun, cheap and convenient place to stay is in one of the 530 or so Alpine Huts operated by the Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenverein, www.alpenverein.at).

You should contact them in advance for a booking, and will get a place to rest your weary legs for around 15-30 Euros. Members get reduced rates, have priority when huts are full, and can order food, which varies from place to place, but can be a good way to fill up cheaply on local traditional grub. Membership costs about 50 Euros a year, and also brings other benefit like insurance and being able to join the club's organised walks.

For the sake of safety it is recommended that you do not leave marked footpaths, don't walk alone, and let someone know of your intended route (and when you'll be back!) before you set off. The etiquette is that on narrow paths, walkers heading uphill have priority over those coming down.

Austria has about 50,000km of walking trails, so really the best thing to do is either ask a local wherever you happen to be, or contact the local tourist office. Tourist offices stock maps and guides, and there'll likely be someone who speaks English.

Having said that, there are 10 recognised long distance hiking trails (Weitwanderwege) and other trails which are particularly famous, so below are a choice few. If any of them take your fancy, ask at the Tourist Office, or there are some good books, for example Mountain Walking in Austria, by Cecil Davies, Walking Austria's Alps Hut to Hut by Jonathan Hurdle or Walking Easy in the Austrian Alps by Chet and Carolee Lipton.

The Schneeberg, at 2076m, is the highest peak in Lower Austria (the summit is called Klosterwappen). There is a rack and pinion railway (the Schneebergbahn) which climbs to a height of 1800m, and a well marked circuit from there to the top, and then around the mountain, which takes about four hours. The circuit owes much of its popularity to its proximity to Vienna, which is a mere 65km away.

If you're in Innsbruck, there's a route starting from Maria Theresien Strasse which goes through the old town, then into the Nordkette Mountains. There are some steep bits but it should take around four hours.

In Upper Austria there are two walks in the region of the historic village of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is not only rather pretty, it is also the site of what claims to be the world's oldest pipeline, which was used to transport salt between Hallstatt and the nearby Ebensee lake. The two trails are 16km and 40km in length respectively, and begin from Steeg Gosau railway station. The longer trail branches off at Hallstatt.

In 798 bishop Arno of Salzburg was promoted to Archbishop. A mere 1200 years later, the event was celebrated by christening a trail which covers most of the state of Salzburg the Arnoweg.

At 1200km the Arnoweg is widely recognised as one of the foremost among Austria's long distance trails. If you do the whole circuit it will take about two months, take you through three national parks, and climb to a height of over 3000m.

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