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Mountain

Welcome to the
Bregenzerwald.

Old Gasthaus Taube in Andelsbuch
View of the Rote Wand in winter

Alps. Architecture. Time out.

Old alpine dairy huts, modern timber buildings, and in between the scent of fresh wood and a view to the horizon. Alpine down-to-earthness meets a fine sense of design, no frills, but plenty of attitude. The Bregenzerwald is not a place for loud spectacle, but a place for quiet, genuine experiences.

Find your spot

Nature, the way it really is.

Wild, quiet, powerful: out here only the essentials count. Dense forests, clear streams and wide alpine pastures invite you to clear your head and simply breathe.

Tips

  • Hirschberg
  • Schönebach & Hoher Ifen
  • Damüls
  • Mellental
  • Hochtannbergpass
  • Lechtal
View from the Furkapass © Robert Bohnke - Damüls Faschina Tourismus
FAQ Bregenzerwald, Alte Säge Bezau © Ian Ehm - friendship.is

Culture

Between shingled roofs and exposed concrete, alphorn and avant-garde, you see what culture means here: old and new side by side, never shouting, always with substance. Workshops, festivals, architecture: all with character. All with depth.

Tips

Food & drink with provenance.

In the Bregenzerwald nothing lands on your plate by chance. People cook what grows here, and what they have known how to refine for generations. From tangy mountain cheese to fresh bread and clear schnapps from the distillery next door: what you taste here is landscape, craft and time.

Tips

Master distiller Oliver Huber, Bergbrennerei Löwen in Au © Adolf Bereuter - Bregenzerwald Tourismus
Cut of mountain cheese in the Bregenzerwald

Shopping & savouring: with taste and feeling.

In small shops, dairies and farm stores you will find regional specialities straight from the people who make them with care. Plus lovely cafés, with good cake, good coffee and a mountain view thrown in for free.

Tips

Architecture you can touch.

The Bregenzerwald has built with wood for centuries, and for the last few decades it has done so well enough that architects travel here to look. A shingled house from 1780 stands next to a new build in exposed concrete and larch, and the two get along.

That comes down to craft. Joineries, carpentries and workshops here work at a level that has been lost elsewhere. If you want to see it: the Werkraum in Andelsbuch shows craft and design in a building by Peter Zumthor. In several villages the "Umgang Bregenzerwald" architecture walks lead past buildings nobody else puts on show.

Bregenzerwald craft workshop © Johannes Fink - Bregenzerwald Tourismus
Jagdgasthaus Egender in Schönenbach © Oostenrijk TV - Bregenzerwald Tourismus

Cheese, alpine pastures and three stages.

The landscape around Bizau does not look this way by accident. It is the result of three-stage farming: in spring the farmers move with their cattle from the valley up to the Vorsäß, in summer on to the Alpe, and back down in autumn. Three altitudes, three moves a year. UNESCO lists it as intangible cultural heritage.

What comes out of it ends up on your bread. Bergkäse, Alpkäse, Sura Kees: the Bregenzerwald cheese road links dairies, farm shops and inns where you can taste the difference. Many alpine huts serve a small plate in summer. Walk up, eat a Brettljause, walk back down: a full holiday day.

The villages around you.

Bizau is small and quiet. Everything else is minutes away by car, not hours.

From Hirschberg 231 you reach the neighbouring villages quickly, and each one offers something different.

  • Bezau: cable car, cheese house, butcher, coffee roastery, the Wälderbähnle heritage railway
  • Andelsbuch: Werkraum, Niedere cable car
  • Mellau: Damüls-Mellau ski area, open-air pool, views of the Kanisfluh
  • Schwarzenberg: Schubertiade, Angelika Kauffmann Museum
  • Au and Schoppernau: Diedamskopf, mountain distillery, cafés
  • Damüls: ski area above 1,400 metres, plenty of snow
  • Bregenz and Lake Constance: around an hour away, festival season in summer
Wirmboden mountain chapel © Nadine Lerho - Bregenzerwald Tourismus
Snow-covered landscape around Bizau in winter

When to come.

Every season here has its own tone. In spring the valley is green and empty, the paths dry out, the alpine huts are still shut. Summer brings long evenings on the terrace, cable cars running and festivals in the valley. Autumn is the quietest and perhaps the finest time: clear air, warm colours, hardly anyone about.

In winter the snow often reaches the front door. Ski tours start at the house, the ski areas are a quarter of an hour away, and afterwards the sauna, hot tub and tiled stove are waiting. If you want quiet, come midweek or in the shoulder weeks: early December, mid-January, June or October.

Trips beyond the valley.

The Bregenzerwald is not a closed valley. To the west it opens onto the Rhine valley and Lake Constance, to the east it climbs over the Hochtannberg pass towards the Arlberg. You can do either in a day and still be back at the tiled stove by evening.

Bregenz is around an hour away: the lakeside promenade, the Pfänder cable car, and in summer the festival on the floating stage. Lindau and the German shore are barely further. In the other direction lie Lech, Zürs and the Arlberg, in winter one of the largest ski areas in the Alps. And over the ridge to the north you reach the Kleinwalsertal.

Tips

  • Bregenz and Lake Constance: floating stage, Pfänder cable car, Kunsthaus
  • Lindau: old town on the island, good for a rainy day
  • Lech, Zürs and the Arlberg over the Hochtannberg pass
  • Kleinwalsertal and the Hoher Ifen to the north
  • Appenzell and the Rhine valley on the Swiss side
View across the valley towards the Rhine valley and Lake Constance

We look forward to seeing you!

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