Stubaital

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I must have done a few hikes in Austria when I was younger with my dad, but honestly, I don't remember much. In recent years, we’ve traveled through Austria many times, but always just passing by on the way to somewhere else — never really stopping to hike. Doing more hiking in Austria is definitely high on my bucket list.

Still, this blog wouldn’t be complete without at least one hike from each of the Alpine countries, and Austria can’t be missed. Luckily, we have friends living in Neustift, in the Stubaital valley near Innsbruck, and when we visit, we always manage to do a few little hikes. In this post, I’ll share a brief description of three of them.

Mieders

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At the top of the Serlesbahn cable car in Mieders (1600m), there’s a well-kept hiking and amusement park. You can walk through the forest, and along the way, you’ll find playgrounds for kids, including a giant snake toboggan and a lake.

After playing a bit, we continued hiking through the forest until we reached a viewpoint over the Serles mountain, which was definitely the highlight for me.

There are several paths you can take; the one we chose was about 4.4 km long, with 180 meters of elevation gain and loss. It loops back via a gravel road featuring Via Crucis chapels. It takes about 1 hour to complete (plus playtime, of course).


Fulpmes

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This hike is just across the valley from Mieders. It starts at the top of the Schlick 2000 cable car, at Kreuzjoch (2105m), and leads to the Stubaiblick Aussichtplattform — a platform that juts out from the mountain and offers fantastic views over the Stubai valley.



Or at least, it should. When we went, even though it was September, the platform was covered in snow and battered by strong winds. Instead of enjoying the views, we had fun playing with the snow-covered trees and watching the wind make the snow dance below the platform.

The hike itself is very short — about half an hour round trip.

Grawa Wasserfall

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This last hike takes you to the Grawa Waterfall, located at the end of the Stubaital valley, past Neustift. You can already spot the huge waterfall from the road in the distance.

There are two parking lots, and I suggest starting at one and ending at the other. It’s just about a 10-minute walk from the upper parking lot to the base of the waterfall. It’s truly massive, and you can feel the spray of water even from far away. A large viewing platform at the bottom offers a great, comfortable place to enjoy the view.

After relaxing there, we took the path that climbs up the hill next to the waterfall. There are several closer viewpoints along the way. You can continue hiking for quite a while, but we stopped at a viewpoint after about 15 minutes, took some pictures, and headed back.

Overall, the hike is about 2 km long with just 10 meters of elevation gain. It takes around 30 minutes round trip (plus time for pictures and relaxing).











Location: 6167 Neustift im Stubaital, Austria

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