Hiking Trails & Flora and Fauna

Austria has over 50,000 km of marked hiking trails — from leisurely valley walks to high alpine via ferratas. The markings are uniform: red-white-red for mountain trails, blue-white for alpine routes that require surefootedness and a head for heights.

Long-Distance Hiking Trails

• Adlerweg (Tyrol) — 413 km in 33 stages across Tyrol, named after the eagle, whose silhouette the route traces on the map
• Alpe-Adria-Trail — 750 km from the Großglockner through Carinthia to the sea at Muggia near Trieste. Three countries, three cultures, spectacular landscape changes
• Salzburger Almenweg — 350 km through 120 alpine pastures in the Salzburg region, with overnight stays in serviced huts
• Lechweg — 125 km along the last wild river of the Northern Alps, from Formarinsee to the Lechfall near Füssen

Hut Hiking

The Austrian hut system of the Alpine Club (ÖAV/DAV) is unique: Over 500 serviced huts offer accommodation, warm meals, and drinks — some at over 3,000 m altitude. You sleep in a dormitory (mattress dormitory, hut sleeping bag required) or in a room. Half-board costs for Alpine Club members from about €40–50 per night. Reservation in the high season (July/August) is strongly recommended.

Flora and Fauna

The alpine fauna is rich:

• Ibex — reintroduced in the Hohe Tauern and Ötztal Alps, best observed at dusk
• Chamois — common, often on steep grassy slopes
• Marmot — the favorite of all hikers. Their piercing whistle warns the colony of danger (eagle!)
• Golden Eagle — Austria's heraldic animal, soaring with a wingspan of over 2 m above the peaks
• Bearded Vulture — reintroduced since the 1980s, the largest bird of prey in Europe with a wingspan of up to 2.9 m
• Brown Bear — a few individuals roam through Carinthia and Styria (immigrated from Slovenia), extremely rare
• Lynx — reintroduced in the Kalkalpen National Park, but so shy that it is hardly ever seen

The flora of the Alps ranges from the Edelweiss (Austria's national symbol, strictly protected!) to the Gentian (deep blue, used to make schnapps), Alpine Roses (rhododendrons that turn the slopes pink) to Arnica and Alpine Cyclamen.