Hohe Tauern National Park – Austria's Alpine Wilderness as a Private Experience

Geography: Austria's Roof

The Hohe Tauern National Park spans three Austrian states: Salzburg, Carinthia and Tyrol. At 1,856 square kilometres, it is the largest national park in the Alps – and one of the last true wilderness areas in Central Europe. The massif contains 304 peaks above 3,000 metres and 246 glaciers, including the Grossglockner (3,798 m), Austria's highest mountain, and the Pasterze, the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps.

The Grossglockner High Alpine Road: A Masterpiece of the 1930s

The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, built between 1930 and 1935 during the Great Depression, is one of the great road engineering achievements of the 20th century. At 48 kilometres long, with 36 hairpin bends and a summit at 2,504 metres (Hochtor Pass), it connects Bruck an der Glocknerstrasse in Salzburg with Heiligenblut in Carinthia. Up to 900,000 vehicles pass along it each year – but those who drive it privately and without time pressure understand the difference between transit and experience.

The highlight is the side road to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe (2,369 m): the viewpoint across the Pasterze glacier and the Grossglockner is one of the most famous Alpine panoramas in the world. The glacier has been retreating dramatically since measurements began in 1879 – a visible witness to climate change.

The Pasterze: Europe's Glacier Retreat in Real Time

The Pasterze is the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps – and a compelling example of the consequences of climate warming. In 1850 the glacier was 22 kilometres long; today it extends barely 8 kilometres. Each year the Pasterze loses an average of 15–20 metres. Those who drive to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe today and read the markers of the glacier's historic extent on the rock face grasp the scale of this change in a way no graph can convey.

Krimml Waterfalls: Three Tiers, 380 Metres

The Krimml Waterfalls in the western Salzburg region are, at 380 metres, the highest waterfalls in Austria and the third highest in Europe. The water of the Krimmler Ache plunges in three tiers into the valley below. The path along the edge of the falls is a nature experience of exceptional intensity – water spray, thunder, vegetation and alpine landscape in the closest possible proximity.

Wildlife and Wilderness

The national park is home to ibex, chamois, marmots, golden eagles, bearded vultures (extinct in the 20th century and successfully reintroduced since 1986) and around 10,000 species of animals and plants. No other area in Central Europe supports so many large wild animals in such a concentrated space. Standing on a mountain path at dawn and watching a herd of ibex cross the track ahead is not guaranteed – but it is a real possibility.