UNTOUCHED NATURAL BEAUTY

Gaistal plateau paradise & Karwendel Alps park

An outstanding mountain panorama

Picturesque Gaistal Valley separates the Wetterstein and Mieminger mountain chains from Leutasch until just outside Ehrwald. Both sides of the valley boast imposing rockfaces. The incomparable beauty of this high-alpine natural environment provides a vast home for roe deer, chamois goats and red deer. The primordial energy of the local nature can be felt to this day.

Gaistal Valley in Tyrol

In German, Gaistal in Leutasch is also referred to as a pasture paradise – and quite rightly so. Its 12 plateau pastures offer perfect trips out for enthusiastic cyclists, walkers and mountain-bikers. Treks up to the restaurant huts and lodges up on the plateaus begin from a specially-built car park on the eastern side of Gaistal Valley. This can be accessed by car from Leutasch via a toll road.

Those seeking a relaxing opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the countryside are recommended to try one of the easy tours up to the Gaistalalm or Feldernalm plateau pastures. Experienced cyclists and mountain-bikers will love the tough challenge posed by the steep ascent to the Hochfeldernalm fields, and will be rewarded with a breath-takingly panoramic view of the Wetterstein and Mieminger massifs.

THE GANGHOFERHAUS AND

Ludwig Ganghofer

Ludwig Ganghofer (1855 – 1920) was probably one of the best-known authors of ‘Heimat’ stories of his time. He spent many weeks of the year in his hunting lodge ‘Hubertus’ on the Tillfußalm pasture in the Leutasch Gaistal Valley where he wrote his most famous genre classic ‘Silence in the Forest’. He also received countless celebrity visitors from the worlds of art and culture, such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss. The revenue made by his novels enabled him to rent one of the largest hunting grounds in the Northern Alps – the Gaistaljagd. Some of the mountain pathways he had built still exist today. The popular route up to his Ganghoferhaus was also given his name. Along the way, visitors enjoy the fantastic natural scenery and can stop at any of the three rustic restaurant huts and lodges on Gaistalalm, Tillfußalm and Hämmermoosalm.

The Leutasch Ache in the Gaistal

The Leutascher Ache originates at the Igelsee lake and flows along Gaistal Valley, down toward Leutasch, and on from the Tyrolean Mittenwald to the River Isar. It supplies the entire Gaistal Valley with water. This ensures it can provide grazing pasture for cattle. The green pastures of Gaistal Valley, the idyllic, romantic beauty of the local nature and the sweeping views of imposing mountain landscapes simply have to be experienced at first hand.

UNTOUCHED NATURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE

Alpenpark Karwendel

Karwendel Nature Park

There are 11 protected areas within the 280 miles² of Alpenpark Karwendel, making it Austria’s largest nature park – home to 1305 plant species and 3035 species of animals. The ‘Natura2000’ area boasts the highest concentration of golden eagles in the Alps. Another striking feature of the alpine nature park is a sycamore forest at the back end of Rißtal Valley. It is considered to be the most impressive forest of alpine sycamore trees in the whole of Europe.

Primordial forests and raging rivers are distinguishing features of the land within Alpenpark Karwendel, an area which covers almost the entire Karwendel massif from Innsbruck to Lake Achensee. 340 sources provide excellent water quality in this incomparable cultural landscape. Probably the most famous nature conservation zone is the Karwendel area at the heart of the Karwendel Nature Park. The untouched natural landscape is truly stunning with its magnificent gorges and waterfalls.

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