{"id":234952,"date":"2024-05-13T13:05:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T11:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/presse.tirol.at\/?p=234952"},"modified":"2024-06-17T11:07:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T09:07:39","slug":"transcending-borders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presse.tirol.at\/en\/transcending-borders\/234952\/","title":{"rendered":"Tours and adventures in Tirol and its neighbouring regions: transcending borders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Travelling often involves crossing borders: not only in a social, linguistic and cultural sense, but also geographical perimeters. Tirol offers a multitude of such experiences, as the popular holiday destination borders on several neighbouring European and Austrian federal states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A world cultural heritage sheep drive in the \u00d6tztal Alps © \u00d6tztal Tourismus, Gudrun Muschalla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let’s start with a few facts: the national border between Tirol and Bavaria is 358 kilometres long, while a 311-kilometre state line separates Tirol from S\u00fcdtirol. The Austrian state of Salzburg divides Tirol into North and Osttirol, while within Austria itself, the heart of the Alps also neighbours Vorarlberg and Carinthia. In addition to Germany and Italy, the province also borders with neighbouring Switzerland. Thanks to its unique location, Tirol served for many years as an intersection between important north-south and east-west transit routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interest in Tirol as a holiday region, however, began to grow slowly at the turn of the 20th century. Many sporting and cultural activities have developed since. Ones that make it possible to experience and transcend the geographical borders. Here, an overview of a few selected activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting frontier adventures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hiking in the footsteps of former smugglers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In bygone days, smugglers used unsecured and hidden paths in the Alps to smuggle goods such as tobacco, alcohol, coffee and sugar, as well as livestock, across the border to escape tolls otherwise imposed by customs officers. Today, some of these formerly dangerous routes can be explored along modern hiking trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these is the Ahrntal Smugglers’ Trail<\/a>, an 80-kilometre circular, multi-day route that starts and ends in Mayrhofen in the Zillertal Valley and leads over two Alpine pass crossings to the neighbouring Ahrntal valley in S\u00fcdtirol and back again. As they traverse these ancient smugglers\u2019 trails, hikers\u2019 efforts are rewarded with high alpine views of lush green meadows, clear mountain lakes and glaciers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Samnaun Smugglers’ Tour<\/a> in the Paznaun Valley is another impressive experience. The tour leads from Ischgl to the Samnaun customs exclusion zone on Swiss territory. As the price difference for luxury goods such as alcohol and cigarettes was once so prohibitive, smugglers trafficked these goods from Switzerland to Austria. Today, the themed hike is not only a memorable experience because of the impressive mountain scenery, the ride on the double-decker gondola in Samnaun adds a special touch to the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the border between Bavaria and Tirol, ancient Celts used the old Samerweg Route – a transport route for farmers and their packhorses – to smuggle copper and bronze. The trail was later used to transport wine and salt and was also used to smuggle cigarettes, coffee and alcohol into Austria. Today, the Klobenstein Smugglers’ Trail<\/a> in the Kaiserwinkl region features breathtaking viewing platforms, romantic resting spots and a 20-metre-long suspension bridge, making it a very special experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Samnaun Smugglers’ Tour © Stefan K\u00fcrzi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Crossing borders on two wheels<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nauders in the Tirolean highlands, you will find the Reschen Pass plateau, the Vinschgau Valley and Switzerland in what is known as the 3-Country Bike Arena<\/a>. MTB enthusiasts traverse at least one and usually even two national borders on the panoramic and action-packed 3-country enduro trails. Time and again, you will encounter anti-tank barriers and historic bunkers – relics from the pre-World War II era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border-traversing cycle trails for leisure cyclists may be less action-packed, but are certainly no less scenic and spectacular, such as the historic Via Claudia Augusta<\/a>, which leads 130 kilometres from Bavaria across Tirol to S\u00fcdtirol, following in the footsteps of the ancient Romans. The Munich-Venezia long-distance cycle route<\/a> also crosses the borders between Germany, Austria and Italy and extends over a length of 560 kilometres from the Bavarian capital via Lake Achensee, the Inntal Valley and Wipptal Valley, before heading over the Brenner Pass to Italy. Further east, the 366-kilometre Drau Cycle Path<\/a> leads from the source of the River Drau in S\u00fcdtirol for 50 kilometres through Osttirol and on via Carinthia to Slovenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plamort Trail in the 3-Country Bike Arena © Tirol Werbung, Peter Neusser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cross-border travellers in the Allg\u00e4u Alps<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to hike for several days and repeatedly transcend personal and geographical borders, the \u201cGrenzg\u00e4nger\u201d cross-border tour<\/a> in the Allg\u00e4u Alps is just the thing for you. The 80-kilometre tour, which encompasses some 6,500 metres in elevation difference, not only leads along the Austrian and German border, but also criss-crosses it several times. Hikers switch between Tirol and Bavaria at least once a day – frequently much more often. The challenging tour leads between the Tannheimer, Hintersteiner and Lechtal valleys to idyllic mountain lakes, spectacular waterfalls, an imposing north face and spectacular mountain summit, offering a marvellous panorama all the way through. Overnight stays are spent in huts in the heart of the Allg\u00e4u Alps Nature Reserve, or in hotels and guesthouses in the small valley villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultural frontier encounters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A world cultural heritage sheep drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheep drive<\/a>, also known as transhumance, in the \u00d6tztal Alps is an extraordinary border crossing and 6,000-year-old tradition. Every year, over 5,000 sheep from the South Tirolean Schnalstal Valley are herded from the dry and arid northern flanks of the Alps across the \u00d6tztal Alps to Vent, to spend the summer grazing on its lush high pastures. The sheep drive crosses the Timmelsjoch (2,494 m), Hochjoch (2,885 m) and Niederjoch (3,017 m), making it the only cross-border transhumance in the Alps that traverses glaciers. Familial, social and cultural ties between the people of S\u00fcdtirol and Tirol have developed over many generations, which is reflected in ancient rituals and customs still practised today. As the \u00d6tztal transhumance is such a unique tradition, it was added to the UNESCO list of Austria’s intangible cultural heritage in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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