The High Alpine Road up the Grossglockner

A couple of the bends on the High Alpine Road

One of the highlights of our recent tours to the Swiss and Austrian Alps was a trip up the High Alpine Road, which winds its way up Austria's highest peak, the Grossglockner.

The mountain itself tops out just below 4000 metres and the road allows you to get up to around 2700 metres. There are various option for getting up it which include driving up yourself. It is a toll road so you will have to pay around 40 euros for the privilege, although it is worth it. 

A man with a tame marmot!

The alternative we took was to let someone else do the driving by taking a bus tour. During the summer months it is possible to go up on a scheduled bus, which costs around 30 euros per person.  As there were lots of us we were able to club together to hire a coach, which meant we could then have complete control over where we stopped.

Aside from the view, which can only be described as stunning, there are plenty of other stops along the way including a couple for interesting museums and no shortage of cafe and restaurants. Marmots can also be seen running wild.

There are 36 hairpin bends on the road, each one of which has a sign showing the name, number and height of the bend. Overall we all found the experience fantastic but strangely tiring. Perhaps it was the thin air!