Großglockner High Alpine Road

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Oberdrauburg

Starting in Oberdrauburg, the route runs up the River Drau, Carinthia’s longest and most important river, towards Lienz. Over the Iselsberg you’ll return to Carinthia, riding along the Upper Möll Valley and past roaring waterfalls to Heiligenblut, which is famous for its Gothic pilgrimage church and adjoining mountaineers’ cemetery, both well worth a visit. There begins the 48 km long Grossglockner High Alpine Road with its 36 hairpin bends. Nature andriding experiences of a special kind await bikers on this spectacular road that was first opened in 1935. The first high point is the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe from where you can enjoy magnificent views of the Grossglockner (3,798 m), Austria’s highest mountain, as well as of the Pasterze, the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps. Dozens of marmots play right next to visitors, and with a little luck, you might also see the impressive ibexes. Then continue through the Hochtor, and, after a short downhill ride, you will reach the highest point of this tour at 2,571 m altitude, the Fuscher Törl and Edelweissspitze. Wonderful panoramic views of the peaks of more than thirty 3,000 m high mountains can be enjoyed from here. Then head quickly downhill to Bruck and along the B 311 to St. Johann im Pongau (Pongau Cathedral is well worthseeing), and further on via Wagrain and Radstadt; there, turn onto the B 99 towards Obertauern. The route leads downhill again, with the next ascent waiting near St. Michael im Lungau up to the Katschberghöhe, a popular winter sports resort. Continue on the B 99 through the Lieser Valley (the medieval artists’ town of Gmüd with its Porsche Car Museum is well worth a visit) as far as Spittal an der Drau, and then over the Lurnfeld and the Upper Drau Valley back to the starting point.