Tour length: 91km Travel time: ca. 2:30h
The Kaunertal Glacier Road, with more hairpins than kilometres and some impressive climbs, is just waiting to be experienced. It's worth it, even if you have to return the same way.
It's one of those inexplicable oversights that, until this summer, we had never done the Kaunertal Glacier Road: even though we know the roads of Tyrol almost as well as the proverbial back of our hand. After all, when you can combine the most magnificent passes with the panoramas of the Alps, why take a route that brings us to a some fantastic scenery but no further? In other words, the Kaunertal Glacier Road is a cul-de-sac.
Until that mild June day, we hadn't the faintest notion what we were missing out of sheer idleness. The original plan for the Wednesday, which was to open our eyes, was a visit to Burg Berneck castle in the Kaunertal Valley followed by either a trip through the Reschen Pass to Italy or a detour into Val Müstair in Switzerland.
Berneck Castle is privately owned
No sooner said than done: we hopped on our bikes and off we went. When planning our day trip, however, we hadn't realised that Berneck Castle is privately owned and the present owners rarely open the doors to the general public. So it wasn't to be, and we had to come up with an alternative plan. This is how we came to point our bikes in the direction of Feichten, where the Kaunertal Glacier Road starts. We paid the toll at the booth and didn't look back.
White-capped mountains
The entrance to this valley is extremely pretty and the different colours of the surrounding mountains, with the white-capped summits of Madatschkopf (3,783 m), Waze Kopf (2,918 m) and Stange (2,723 m) to our left, are mesmerising. Then finally the first hairpins came, and we laid into them with gusto. But at hairpin number 28 we had to pause for a moment, because on the right, near an area of loose stone, we espied a group of chamois and ibex. Soon enough, though, our throttle hand began to itch again.
But our urge to press ahead was again checked only a few kilometres further on: the valley opened up around us and gave us an unimpeded view of a stunning blue. We were looking straight at the crest of the dam of the Gepatsch revervoir, and in that same instant we regretted not having brought our swimming things with us.
Since bathing was no doubt forbidden anyway, and the water was probably much too cold, we rode cheerfully on. The next six kilometres took us eastwards along the bank of the reservoir. Then the fun part began in earnest, and we got to experience for ourselves what we had been promised.
29 Kehren auf 26 Kilometern
The Glacier Road is not dubbed the "panorama road" for nothing, and for fans of mountain passes it is a must. Its course goes like this: high, higher and even higher still. All in all, the Kaunertal Glacier Road clocks up more hairpins (29) than kilometres (26) and climbs just short of 1,500 m. The average gradient is an imposing ten percent. We happily got stuck into it and thoroughly enjoyed the next 13 perfectly formed hairpins in succession, which brought us up into the barren browny-beige mountain landscape.
It probably goes without saying that we reached our destination, the carpark at an altitude of 2,750 m and the end of the Kaunertal Glacier Road, much too soon. All the same, it was nice to take it easy and look around us too. We finally made out the summit of the Kaunertal's most famous landmark: the 3,335 m Weisseespitze. By now, coffee was on our minds but our road fever still hadn't subsided. So we decided to pass on a snack in the mountaintop restaurant and head straight back because we had seen a turn-off for a mountain hut just after the reservoir. We decided to start down the valley and get to enjoy those lovely bends and hairpins once again.
Before we knew it, we were sitting on the terrace outside the Gapatschhaus, an Alpine Club hut built in 1873, making it the oldest in Austria. Over a mug of coffee and a gorgeous slice of apple cake, we drank in the view of the little chapel and, of course, the scenery spread out before us like in a picture book. We soon set off on the return journey, but unfortunately not via the road along the western bank, which was closed for road works. Well, if that's not reason enough to come back for another visit…
This tour tip was prepared by the editorial department of ALPENTOURER magazine. ALPENTOURER is published four times a year and contains information on the most beautiful motorcycle tours between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea. Louis customers can subscribe at louis.alpentourer.eu for the special price of € 15!
You can extend the Kaunertal route described if you would like to combine culture with great touring: the starting point is Feichten, as before. But this time you go north as far as Kauns, and not south to the Kaunertal Glacier Road. If you like, you can branch off here to go up to Kaunerberg mountain and enjoy the beautiful scenery or, if you're in a hurry, continue straight on to Faggen via Kauns.
Then you follow the road through Mühlg and turn off to the right shortly after, which brings you to Oberg. Bear left on Dorfstrasse and take Bundesstrasse 180 towards Prutz/Reschen for 2.4 km as far as the "Ried im Oberinntal" exit, pass by this town and, following the course of the road, take the sharp turn to the right. The next few kilometres that lead up to the mountain village of Ladis are worth it for the enjoyable, well-formed bends. High above the River Inn, you're soon at the 13th century Laudegg Castle, perched at the edge of a vertical rock face above the village of Prutz. It is open to the public, but only one day a week between July and August.
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