LV Lech village and amenities
TR Transport
WA Walking
OW Our walks
EP Some extra photos
Walk Photos
Welcome to our Lech page for our 1999 summer holiday in Lech in Austria.
You are at: Home > Lech
|
OH Our holiday
LV Lech village and amenities TR Transport WA Walking OW Our walks EP Some extra photos |
Walk Photos |
If you have any questions or suggestions to improve information given, please e-mail D and J.
We stayed at the Berghof which we would highly recommend. It is a 4 star hotel about 2 minutes from the tourist office, and a similar distance from the Rufikopfbahn cable car station. The food is excellent, staff friendly and helpful, the rooms comfortable and there are some nice touches, such as chocolates on your pillow each evening, and an overnight boot cleaning service. We also heard good reports about the Gotthard.
Our holiday was with Inghams - at that time they were the only main operator to this resort in summer, Crystal now go there as well. You could make your own arrangements and fly to Innsbruck or Zurich, train to Langen in Arlberg, and Post Bus to Lech.
Lech lies in the Lechtal, which is the main valley running from the Formarin See to Warth, Another valley runs to the south via Zurs, ending in the Flexenpass.
In summer the area is quiet. Lech is attracting visitors with a innovative scheme, for the duration of your stay all local hiking buses and cable cars/lifts are free .
The village lies alongside the Lech river, and is fairly compact - all the amenities such as banks, post office, bus stops and cable cars all are within 10 minutes walk of each other.
There is a good tourist office, when we were there they ran a full programme of events including some specially for children.
There is also a cinema which is free for guests.
There is a outdoor heated swimming pool (also free) set in the forest, is about 15 minutes walk from the town towards Zug. This looked very inviting but unfortunately was closed for maintenance work when we were there. There is a recreation center offering miniature golf, table football and table tennis towards Studenbach.
When we stayed all local transport was free.
There are three local hikers bus routes, using very distinctive small blue buses.
The three services are :
There are numerous bus stops with blue signs, the nearest one to our hotel was Rufiplatz - all the services stop here.
There are also three post bus services which go further afield, to St Anton, Reutte and Bludenz, but you have to pay on these. These leave from the post office, near to the Oberlech Cable Car station.
The local cable cars and chair lifts were also free. The following operate in summer:
Most of them run to end of 1st/2nd week in September, and they run from about 8 am to 5pm apart from Steffisalp which was morning only Monday - Thursday.
The transport infrastructure in Lech is excellent, and allows for a variety of A to B walks.
The nearest railway station is at Langen in Arlberg, which is 25 minutes ride on the Bludenz Post Bus. You can get trains from here to Bregenz and Innsbruck.
Lech is an excellent walking area. As the mountains are not as high as in other areas, there is the opportunity to climb some of the peaks, and to do some high level A to B walks.
We recommend Kompass map 33 at scale 1:50000 "Arlberg Nordl. Verwallgruppe" this will cover all the walks. Another useful map which can be bought in Lech is the Lech Wanderkarte, this comes with a helpful booklet written in English.
There is a local walking badge. The stamping books are available at the tourist office. They use a points system - we collected enough points for silver. We have indicated stamping points in the walk detail.
The local tourist office also offers guided walks, which are free for guests. These often earn extra points towards the walking badge.
|
W1 Rufikopf to Zurs Rufikopf(2,362m)
W2 Kriegerhorn (2,173m) and Burstegg W3 Zurs to Spullersee via Madlochjoch W4 Rufikopf to Zurs via Wosterspitze (2,558m) and Stuttgarter Hut W5 Lech to Hochtannberg via Korbersee W6 Alpele via Goppinger Hut and the high level route W7 St Christoph to Langen via Kaltenberg Hut |
W8 Mohnenfluh (2,544m)
W9 Rufikopf (2,362m) W10 Lech to the Freiburger Hut W11 Burstegg to Warth and Lech W12 Spulersee to Freiburger Hut via Gehrengrat W13 Widderstein Hut |
| This was an easy walk - downhill all the way - maybe we would be less likely to say that nowadays as knees are not quite what they were! Take the cable car to Rufikopf, and follow the track (path 44) to Zurs. The track passes Monzabon Alphaus (1,980m) which sells drinks, and is a stamping point. Zurs was a bit of a ghost town, many of its hotels are only open for the winter season. The local bus will take you back to Lech - alternatively follow the path that runs beside the river. | |
 |
 |
| A friendly alpine cow. | Monzabon Alphaus (1980m) |
| This was a moderate walk making use of transport at the start and end of the walk. Take the Schlegelkopf chair lift from Lech. At the top (1,830m) take paths 7A and 14 to the Krieger Sattle, and then path 21 to the Kriegerhorn (2173m - stamping point). The Kriegerhorn has a wooden cross on the top, and is a good viewpoint. Return to the saddle, a short diversion can be made to the Palmeralpe Hut, but this is not open in summer. From the saddle take track 14 to Grubenalpe, and then paths 8, 31 and 4 to Burstegg. The paths close to Burstegg were very muddy in places. Burstegg is an old farming hamlet with a small chapel. The farm here serves drinks, and it is a stamping point. Path 4 leads from Burstegg down to the bus stop at Bodenalpe for bus back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Kriegerhorn cross. | Burstegg. |
| This is a very good high level route with excellent views. Take the bus to Zurs. From Zurs take path 610 past Zurser See,and up to the highest point of the walk - Madloch Joch 2,438m. From the Joch take the path down to Ravensburger Hut. The hut is a stamping point, from here follow the path to the Spullersee for the bus back to Lech. An alternative route back to Lech could be made by walking over the Stierjoch from the Ravensburger Hut. | |
 |
 |
| Spullersee. | Ravensburger Hut. |
| This is a longish walk, taking in one of the local peaks. Take the cable car to Rufikopf, then path 43 to the Bockbach Sattel (2,336m). From the saddle go along the ridge to gain the summit of the Wosterspitze. There is a stamping point at the summit. There is some scrambling along this ridge - it is marked by dotted line on the map. Return the same way to the saddle, and then take path 645 over the Rauherkopf Scharte to the Stuttgarter Hut (2,306m stamping point). A well defined track leads down from the hut to Zurs. A choice of hikers bus or post bus can be caught back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| View along ridge. | Stuttgarter Hut. |
| This is a pleasant easy walk with good views. From Lech walk up the road towards Oberlech, after a short distance leave the road and take the path up through the Gaisbachtal. This leads to the highest point on the walk the Auerfeld Saddle 1,709m, then follow the track down the valley, and take one of the paths to the Korbersee. This small lake is a local beauty spot, and there will be many people there on a sunny day. The stamping point is in the large restaurant overlooking the lake. Leave the lake and take the path past the Falken chair lift to the road at Hochtannberg for the bus back to Lech. There are excellent views of the Widderstein mountain from the bus stop. | |
 |
 |
| View from Oberlech road. | Korbersee. |
| This is an excellent walk on a high level path to the hut. There are some great views to be had on a clear day. There is a bit of scrambling and exposure on the path, and it crosses a couple of scree slopes. Take the Petersboden (1,929m) chair lift and the take paths 23 and 24 to a tarn called the Butzensee, and then take the high level path 25. There is some scrambling in places to reach the Butzenjoch 2,422m. This is the highest point, keep on the path which traverses scree slopes on the face of the Braunarlspitze to the Goppinger Hut (2,245m stamping point). This is a very pleasant hut in a scenic location. Take the path 64 down to the valley and the bus stop at Alpele. From here catch the hikers bus back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Karhorn | Valley view. |
| This is a walk from the village of St Christoph which is situated at the top of the Arlberg Pass. Take take the post bus in the St Anton direction. From St Christoph (1,771m) take paths 19 and 34 to the Kaltenberg Hut (2,089m - stamping point). From the hut take path 24 to descend to Langen. From Langen take the postbus back to Lech. This walk was the furtherst we went away from Lech, and it gave us some good views of the Arlberg region. | |
 |
 |
| Ventilation shaft for Arlberg tunnel! | Kaltenberg Hut. |
| This is one of the mountains that overlook Lech. The Mohnenfluh is an excellent viewpoint - however the path from the saddle is steep and zig zags across scree slopes. There is some exposure on this walk. Take the Schlegelkopf chair lift (1,830m), and ascend path 23 to the Mohnensattel (2,319m). From the saddle take the scree path to the Mohnenfluh summit, where there is a stamping point. Return to the saddle. From the saddle we took path 26 to the Gaisbach Alpe, and then paths 8 and 6 to Oberlech and Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Path up Mohnenfluh from saddle. | Mohnenfluh summit. |
| This is the hill above the village to the east. A cable car runs from the village to the top, but we took path 14 (Schalalpweg) which runs up from the village to "earn" the points. There is a café at the top, but it we did find it a place to linger. A return to Lech can be made by the cable car, alternatively take path 645 over the Woster Saddle. | |
 |
 |
| Limestone pavement. | Nearly at the top. |
| This walk follows the Lech Valley to the west of the resort. Take path 10 from Lech following the river, then paths 63 and 62 to the Formarinalpe. Follow path 601 up above the Formarinsee lake to the Freiburger Hut (1,918m - stamping point). Return to the Formarinalpe for the bus back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| River near Lech. | Freiburger Hut. |
| Although this walk doesn't go high it is a good day's walk. Take the bus to the Burstegg Busstop (1,460m), then the track to Burstegg and the Steffisalp path no 32 (highest point 1,930m) to the top station of the chair lift. Take the path down to Warth - we had some close views of marmots from this path. There are points for this walk - go into the tourist office at Warth and they will stamp your card. To return to Lech take path 41 following the river valley to Stubenbach. This path crosses gulleys that can hold snow late on into the year, and may deter some people. From Stubenbach we walked along the road back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Mohnenfluh from Burstegg road. | Widderstein from Steggisap path. |
| This ia a high level walk which is best left for a clear day as it involves crossing an extensive area of limestone pavement (karst) called the Steineres Meer. Take the bus to the Spuler See terminus (1,825m). The whole route is on path 601. The path goes over a grassy ridge - Gehrengrat (2,439m) and then descends to the Freiburger Hut going across the Steineres Meer. This limestone pavement is quite extensive and could be confusing in poor weather. From the hut it is down to Formarinalpe for the bus back to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Freiburger Hut. | Spullersee. |
| This was an easy walk that we did at the end of the holiday. The Widderstein is an impressive mountain - it can be seen from miles around. There is a 'path' to the top of the Widderstein, and there were plenty of people heading that way, it looked as though it could be exposed in places. The path stops at a point to the west of the true summit. Take the Hochkrumbach bus and alight at the Widderstein Stop (1,665m). from here we took the path up to Hochalppaas, where there are good views into the Kleinwalsertal - this looked a good walking area. From here take the path across to the Widderstein Hut (2,010m - stamping point), then descend by the main path down to the road. We took the old salt road down to Warth for the bus to Lech. | |
 |
 |
| Braunarlspitze from Hochalppass. | Widderstein Hut. |
 |
 |
| Strudel buffet. | Morgan cars at the hotel. |
This page was last updated on 14th March 2009.