St Johann in Tirol - active family holiday in Tyrol is written by Jacob Jørgensen
St. Johann in Tirol: Classical Tyrol
Just saying the name Tyrol, many images appear on the retina. Mountains, lederhosen, horn music, beer and maybe even skiing. But Tyrol i Austria is much more than that, and the town of St Johann in Tirol is right in the butter hole, where there are so many family-friendly summer activities that time flies by.
August and September are great for outdoor activities where the weather is often good and pleasant. We had up to 27 degrees and full sun with little fog most mornings.
Welcome to the Kitzbühel Alps.
Speed up in Tyrol - mountain carts rule too wild
“It's the funniest thing I've ever tried! Can we try again? ” The enthusiasm is palpable. We just got off our 'mountain carts', which are a kind of modern soapbox cars designed for mountain trips. We started halfway up the Kitzbüheler Horn mountain by the cable car, and then we rolled down the mountain. On soil, on asphalt and on gravel. Steep, flat and everything in between.
Watch a video from the course here
We have rolled five kilometers down the mountain - 400 meters above sea level - and have now reached the pit, and the joy shines out of my 10-year-old's eyes. "It was too wild, it was amazing." When those words come from a boy who is not super crazy about big slides, you know very well that it has hit quite right.
Watch our video from the top of the mountain here
The cart track is so ingeniously designed that you can drive at your own pace, so whether you are for wild driving downhill - I reached almost 40 km / h on asphalt - or would like to drive more carefully, you can, because you controls the speed itself by braking.
If the child is below a certain height, it just drives with a parent, and you sit safely and well in the small metal car. Brilliant. Simply ingenious. The fact that the drive then takes place on the Kitzbüheler Horn, which is about as beautiful as an Austrian alpine mountain can be, does not make the experience worse.
Alpeidyl ad libitum on Huberalm
Trut, it says. Truttelutlutlut!
When you sit with tired feet in front of an alpine hut and enjoy the mountain view in the sun, the sound of a trumpet is not exactly what you expect, but the young hostess in the national dress dirndl has taken the horn out of the box and plays a song in honor of the mountains. Beautiful and simple. And quite surprisingly.
Right at that moment, I do not think I would have been amazed if a choir had passed by and performed The Sound of Music right there, for the alpine idyll would take no end.
The Austrian flag flutters peacefully on, and beer, cheese and hot dishes are driven in large quantities to the happy hikers and cyclists who have found their way up to Huberalm over St. Johann and now the bench sits under large trees in the shade. The local goats hide at the back of the hut, where they have laid themselves on some wooden shelves and let themselves be petted. The cows are munching and their bells are ringing merrily. It is not often that the dream of a place matches with what one experiences, but right here it does.
We have come to Huberalm by walking on a well-signposted path from the local gorge, whose name is more heartbreaking than the gorge itself: Grießbachklamm. We have walked over, by and along black cliffs and gurgling streams and have now reached the mountain where there is a phenomenal view. In total, we are out for six hours, including an hour and a half break at two different of the cheap and very authentic Alpine restaurants, because of course we chose the longest route so we could see the most.
Watch our video from the path to Huberalm
You could also cycle up here, while cars are basically blocked, even though there is a road. This is for active tourists and locals only.
The next day we go on a bike ride with e-mountain bikes and use the many good bike routes in the area around St. Johann. There is so much to see and much is within cycling distance so it is an obvious way to get around. And with the help of the hills from the bikes, it is no problem to cycle the 30 kilometers we get behind us, even if it goes both up and down.
Zip me up, Scotty!
“Wuhuuuuuuuu”. With great joy - and a little anxiety - we throw ourselves from the platform up in the tree and glide relatively calmly down the zip line, which is part of the practice course on Horn Park.
We have landed in the middle of a climbing park, which I must admit is not my idea, because my balance is not, to say the least, what it has been, but now we are here.
After a thorough intro by a nice guy with a thick Australian accent, we are ready for the rehearsal track. And it's really ok, so when we get to the first short zip line, where you have to connect to the line and slide down, we take it in a stiff arm, and it goes super easy from there. It's actually a lot of fun! It also helps that I'm probably better at it than I thought… The safety is totally top notch with several hooks on to hold one firmly, so it also provides safety up in the trees.
Because we have come by the afternoon, we are the last to go out, so we walk quietly through the tracks, which are getting harder and harder.
See pictures from Horn Park here
The youngest man is at the forefront, and when he finally announces that now he can not go any further, because now it will be too difficult to balance, it is time for the long zip lines across the lake. The daughter, who definitely does not usually go ahead with this kind of activity, boldly announces that she dares it well!
Dare to do something you did not think you could, is a phenomenal travel experience that warms the body for a long time.
Snapsmill and big smiles in St. Johann in Tirol
"That's pretty cool," I hear myself say. We sit and have dinner at the three-star Hotel Fischer in the absolute center of St Johann in Tirol a few meters from the central and very cozy square by the pedestrian zone. The hotel has something as unusual as a score of 5/5 on Tripadvisor and also towering reviews on the other booking sites, so it was an obvious choice to stay here right in the middle of the cozy town.
After being there for a few days, it's pretty obvious why: The owners and staff are some of the most committed we've experienced in a regular hotel, and the waiters make the kids feel at home in no time. So while we sit and eat, the owner-couple show the staff off, and afterwards they walk around with a unit that can best be described as a small schnapps mill, where you can tap a free drink if you like. There are some who want to, and the mood is high. At the same time, Bessefar is in full regalia and pulls on the accordion, where music-like sounds come out of it at several intervals.
It's quite entertaining in its very own distinctive Tyrolean way, which one can only love. Because they really mean it. They want it well and they rest in their traditions. It is very sympathetic. We go up to our family room - two rooms with a door in between - and look out over the city and the mountains from the balcony.
It's easy to feel at home here.
See good offers for Hotel Fischer here
To and from St. Johann in Tirol
We had been lucky enough to be allowed to buy clothes and some outdoor equipment on our travel insurance account when our luggage refused to arrive on time, so now extra had to be packed. We also had to reach the local water park five minutes on foot from the hotel, because it was also included in the hotel price.
We also had a look at Murmis Kinderland, if the weather did not change, but now it was instead "summer, sun and Sunday" in 27 degrees in mid-September with water slides and everything else in the large swimming pool and water park Panorama, which of course had a view of the mountains.
Luckily, there are quite a few smaller shops in town with really good cases, and the prices are more than reasonable, so it was not difficult to find some alternatives to the clothes we had packed. I bought a pair of good zip off trousers for 250 kroner, which could easily have cost 700 in Copenhagen, and they were brilliant for the trekking trip.
The prices were generally fine, and especially food and drink were almost given away; three euros for a pint of quality beer served with a smile is just fine.
You can get to St Johann in Tirol in many ways, and we had actually thought of something to fly to Salzburg and take the train there, but it ended with a flight to Munich in the southernmost part. Germany and a transfer from there by bus through the mountains with Four Seasons. It was pretty easy.
Tyrol, like Mallorca and the Harz, are some of the places where tourism first flourished in Europe. When you experience St. The Johann area in late summer, you just have to say that I can well understand that this became an early favorite, because there is so much to experience, so much to look at, and then it just works impeccably.
This will not be the last time we go to Tyrol and the beautiful mountains of St. Johann in Tirol.
Read more about Austria as a travel country here
The editors were invited by VisitTirol. As always, all positions are the editorial staff's own.
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