|
A deservedly popular excursion from Zell am See, the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is one of the most spectacular routes across the Alps, running north-south over a high mountain pass just east of the Grossglockner , Austria's highest peak. A toll road for most of its length (cars oS350/?25.55, motorbikes oS250/?18.25; bus passengers pay a small toll as a proportion of their ticket price), the route is usually open from mid-May to late October - precise dates depend on weather conditions. Buses make the trip to the Franz-Josefs-Hohe , main vantage point for sightseers, once a day (three times a day mid-July to early Sept) from both Zell am See to the north and Lienz to the south. The buses stop long enough for you to enjoy the view for a while before embarking on the return journey. They're timed to connect with each other, so you can travel all the way from Zell to Lienz and vice versa. Leaving the Salzach valley at Pichl , 5km southeast of Zell am See, the initial stages of the Hochalpenstrasse are leisurely enough, as the road heads up the verdant Fuschertal . There's a campsite at Fusch , 7km up the valley. A Wildpark (May-Oct daily 9am-5pm; oS75/?5.48) at Ferleiten , another 7km further, specializes in the chamois, deer and mouflon indigenous to the area. Beyond Ferleiten the toll gate marks the beginning of the road's first truly spectacular stretch, rising via a succession of steep hairpins to the Fuschertorl , a popular viewing point, and the start of a sideroad that leads to the Edelweissspitze , another spot offering panoramic views, 2km to the northeast. After negotiating the 2575-metre summit of the pass via the Hochtor tunnel, the road descends for a few kilometres before arriving at a junction where the route's most popular side-trip - the Gletscherstrasse - forks right towards the Franz-Josefs-Hohe (the emperor made a much-publicized alpine excursion here in 1856, hence the name), a lookout point facing the 3798-metre peak of the Grossglockner itself. It's an odd juxtaposition of alpine wilderness and tourist development, with a multistorey car park, two restaurants and a hotel , the Alpenhotel Kaiser Franz-Josef , offering "nostalgia rooms" in nineteenth-century imperial style for oS600/?44 per person and upwards, overlooking the crevasse-riven wastes of the Pasterze Glacier . Somehow, the sheer desolate beauty of the place soon makes you forget the hundreds of other tourists who have come to mill around and enjoy the view. The glowering 3798m summit of the Grossglockner itself is due west of the Hohe, rising above the left-hand side of the glacier as you look along it. The landscape around the Franz-Jozefs-Hohe is too high up and too wild for it to be a hiking venue for the inexperienced, although you can take a few steps out on the ice if you have footwear with a solid grip. The Gletscherbahn funicular will take you down to the glacier surface (oS98/?7.15 return), although the price seems a bit stiff considering that you can make your own descent via (the admittedly rather slippery) footpath in 20-30 minutes. From the Franz-Josefs-Hohe, it's back to the main road and a highly scenic descent towards Heiligenblut in Carinthia, and onwards to Lienz
Your Tip for Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse - visit the main Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse webguide section below! Thanks.
|
