Ötztal Valley is especially known for its glacier ski resort in Söldenewhere the first World Cup ski race is held every year. I spent two summers there, working at the mountain hotel. Working in an office never really appealed to me, but working there offered me brutal opportunities to spend my free time in nature and playing sports. Every year at the end of the season, my dad would come to see me caravan, namely our Citron, and we had a beautiful circuit together, which I will present to you here. The Ötztal Valley offers a wide range of activities - lakes, kayaking, ferattas, hiking. I've outlined here an approximate itenerary and tips for activities and places to off-site camping.
Day 1. Pick up the car and drive to the Ötztal valley
Info about taking delivery of the car can be found here. The journey is 807 km away, which is about 8 hours of driving without a break.But that doesn't matter at all, because you have caravan and you can stop by anytime to grab a coffee, a bite to eat or a short nap. After such a long journey, I recommend parking for the night right next to the www.area47.at near the entrance to the premises. There is plenty of space. In the morning you can go right away to explore the area and choose one of the adrenaline experiences.
Day 2. Area 47 and Lake Piburger see
The area offers many adrenaline experiences such as climbing, bungee jumping, rafting, various attractions on site and there is even an excellent wakepark. For more info on the possibilities, visit their website. If you don't find anything you like there, I suggest you go check it out for me at one of the most beautiful lakes in Austria - Piburger see. It is surrounded by forest with a view of the mountains and there is always a nice place to take a bath. You can also rent a boat. There are two or three restaurants where you can eat. The lake can be walked all the way around in about an hour. After a nice swim, you can take the caravan further down into the valley just outside the village of Umhausen, where there is one perfect feratta under the name Stubenfall. It goes along the waterfall and at the end you go over the waterfall, the adrenaline is guaranteed. You park in the Bischofsplatz car park and from there it's a few minutes walk to the ferrata. There is also a campsite in the village, but feel free to spend the night here in the car park. However, I suggest you move under Glacier Rettenbach where it leads Ötztaler Gletscherstrasse directly from Sölden. The parking lot here is big enough, so you can easily sleep in a caravan and have the King's breakfast with the sunrise or watch it right from your bed. This programme can be done in a day, or split over two days.
Day 3 - Hiking or kayaking Sölden/Vent
In the morning you can ride back to the village and try biking in one of the best bike parks far and wide. This fairypark is not very well known because it is quite young, but it is very well built and suitable for beginners. If you are not much into biking, then I recommend moving to the village Vent and go on hiking towards the Breslauer hütte. Vent is such a forgotten village and there are not many tourists there. Don't miss the lunch at the cottage, classic beef soup and apple strudel with vanilla cream. This is a musthave in the Alps. There are plenty of hiking trails, perfect to explore and choose according to your own abilities. I recommend the website www.bergfex.czwhere you enter the place where you start and it will search for all possible hikes in the area. I managed to meet a sheep herder there and spent a whole day with him and we went around checking on the flocks he was looking after, making sure they were all there and everything was ok with them. There are also opportunities for hiking directly from Sölden or nearby Obergurgl or Hochgurgl.A place to camp is easy even today. Either stay the night here or move towards Timesljoch. On the way you will pass villages Obergurgl or Hochgurgl. The villages are really high up, so there are not many tourists and not many open hotels. You can choose a place to sleep for the night anywhere in the parking lot on the side of the road, there are plenty of them. There's not a lot of traffic and the views are incredible down the whole valley. Alternatively, you can go straight to the Timelsjoch saddle, where you can also spend the night.
Day 4 - Mountain crossing Timelsjoch and Merano
This mountain pass is one of the very famous mountain passes between Italy and Austria. Here you often meet rich Germans driving around in their old-school expensive cars. It is closed in winter because there is a lot of snow and they open it before summer when the snow melts off the road. The crossing is charged a one-way fee of 18€. You will not be going back. You continue in the direction of town of Meranoworth seeing and having a nice Italian lunch. In this town you will feel the atmosphere of the Mediterranean. For the next camping spot we move an hour and a pole towards Lago di Resia. Here you can park right by the lake and camp for free.
Day 5 - Lago di Resia
The lake is still in Italy. However, it is the place where the borders of three countries, namely Italy, Austria and Switzerland, meet. On the lake you can rent bicycles and ride around the lake or try any of the water sports. There is also a ski resort with cable cars at the lake. You can take the cable car to a higher altitude and continue hiking, or choose one of the many trails that lead directly from the lake. You can see the hiking routes on this website : https://www.sentres.com/de/wanderungen/reschensee-lago-di-resia-/wanderungen-am-reschensee-lago-di-resia-/189554234/ . Don't forget to take a photo by the flooded church in the lake.
For the night I recommend staying by the lake, have a nice dinner in a local restaurant or just chill by the caravan and enjoy the evening in good company 🙂
Day 6.Transfer to Lake Achensee / stop in Innsbruck
Achensee is again and again one of the most beautiful lakes in Austria. From Lago di Resia it is about two hours. So you can have your breakfast in peace and not rush anywhere. On the way you also have a beautiful mountain town Innsbruck, which is definitely worth a stop! You can camp for the night right in the parking lot by the lake or you can try a local campsite. Alternatively, drive around and find your own nice spot. This is the advantage of travelling in a caravan - if you don't like somewhere, you can start the caravan and find something nicer 🙂
We love recommending places to sleep, but there's also a charm in finding your own place and then happily falling asleep to how fine you've found it and looking forward to the morning views 🙂
On the lake there are again plenty of opportunities for hiking, kayaking, water sports.
Day 7. Journey home.
From Achensee to us it is 7 hours in good traffic. Car pick up is usually by 18:00 so we will be waiting for you 🙂
Summary
I hope you enjoyed such a 7-day trip. I have outlined for you the itenerary as we did it back in 2015. You can extend it or choose another route from Merano towards the Dolomites. But there will be another article about that with ideas for trips in our caravans, so you have something to look forward to. If you have any questions about the trip, feel free to write to me and ask anytime 🙂
Have a safe journey and a pleasant caravanning cruisers
I have attached a gallery of pictures to give you a little idea of what you can see along the way.
