If you read my previous blog post you know I’ve been on a pretty amazing road trip through Austria(click here for that post). What I didn’t mention then is that I did this trip with the Suzuki Vitara! Suzuki Netherlands was super kind to lend me one of their cars to take with me on this trip and I couldn’t have been happier! This car drives like a dream! Not only did it felt really comfortable on the 11 hour drive to Austria, it also took on the mountain roads (even the off road ones) like it was a walk in the park. Not once did I feel the car had trouble going up the mountain not even when I went on a little sunset mission up a mountain with muddy and steep terrain. There wasn’t a sunset to be seen unfortunately but I loved testing out the car on the winding roads.
Anyways let’s get started with telling you where I went and what I did. I went to three different places on this trip so let’s start with the first one:
Saalfelden Leogang
In my last post you read I was in Saalfelden Leogang for an explorer weekend and once that was over I decided to stay for a couple more days on my own. Leogang is one of my fav places and this was the third time back. Kinda starts feeling like home now.
This time I stayed at Stockinggut Leogang <gifted stay> This lovely place is right next to the ski slopes which would be awesome in winter but also nice for hiking when there is no snow. The gondola is also close by and I could just picture this place during winter season! I loved the wooden design of the hotel, the spa with outside relax area and the amazing food! The food looked like art and tasted amazing!
Since I hurt my foot earlier on this trip I took it easy and visited a couple of places I knew were easy to walk to. One of them was Stoissengraben. The route goes through a canyon and takes you alongside a river that eventually ends at the waterfall. I went to this waterfall last October and I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb the last part with my wonky foot so I didn’t walk it all the way. But before the path goes a bit difficult there is still loads to see and explore.
Two other places I went to are on the same mountainside in Leogang and can be reached by gondola (you get a Leogang summer card when you stay in a hotel which gives you one free gondola ride a day).
When you get out at the first gondola stop you can walk to the “speicherteich” which is a pond where they get the water for the snow machines from during ski season. It’s a lovely place to hang out and that’s exactly what I did. I found a comfy seat and lay there for a couple of hours enjoying the amazing view.
You can also take the gondola a bit furter up and walk for 30 minutes all the way to the top of “Grosser Asitz”. I love the view from up here especially with the “speicherteich” below you (this is a different one). From this point you have a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains.
This was the last morning I spend in Leogang. Now it was time to explore a whole new area:
Ötztal
I only decided to stay here for one night so I only had an evening and a morning to explore this area. When I arrived it was pouring down with rain but since I was only visiting for such a short time I decided to go out and explore anyways. I did a little hike to the Hängebrücke in Längefeld which is only a 30 minutes walk from where I parked my car. Starting the trail it was still raining hard but I was just hoping mother nature would give me a little break once I made it to the bridge and the sky would clear. And it did! By some sort of magic as soon as I reached the bridge the rain stopped and once the clouds were gone I could see the whole bridge and an epic view as well. After 20 minutes the clouds came back in and I decided it was time to go back down.
The next morning I stopped by Piburgersee to do a quick morning walk before I moved on to the next place. I was there at around 10 am and there was almost no one around. The walk around the lake only took just about 1 hour. It wasn’t the most stunning lake I’ve ever seen but if you are around I think it’s worth visiting. I can just imagine what this lake would look like in the fall with the colorful trees surrounding the lake.
After that it was time to go to the next and final location of this road trip:
Sankt Anton am Arlberg
I went here to visit my friend Vreni and to explore this beautiful area. We ended up doing a fun hike up the mountains but I didn’t take any photos . Sometimes its just nice being in the moment and not thinking about my camera all the time. We did however did a fun little photoshoot of the road trip beast I was with.
The next photos are all by my super talented friend Vreni. You can find more of her work here.
We also had a fun little evening at the lake on my last night, taking in my last precious moments in the mountains and spending time with Vreni. We took the car and some grapefruit radlers to the lake, shot some photos and enjoyed the peacefulness of mother nature. It reminded me of when I was young and I would do this all the time in summer. Spending time outside with friends in nature until dark and having a sneaky little beer 🙂
Again all photos by Vreni…
On my last morning I took the gondola up the mountain hopeful to see some epic views. but as soon as I was up it was raining and you could only see 5 meters in front of you. I took some gondolas down again until I was out of the clouds and found some cow friends!
After that it was an 11 hour journey back home again(which isn’t so bad in the Suzuki Vitara 😉 ) leaving with my heart full and a ton of memories.
Peace out beautiful mountains… until next time!
Huge thank you to everyone who supported me on this trip and made it possible! <3
