The Villach Alpine Road is one of the most beautiful panorama routes in Austria. Over a length of 16.5 kilometers you have grandiose views of the Karawanken in Carinthia to the Julian Alps in Italy and Slovenia. You drive comfortably by car at 1,700 meters above sea level. But there is a lot to discover on the way to your destination!
The toll
The way to Dobratsch is well signposted and can hardly be missed. You don’t have to get out of the car to pay the toll. In 2022, it costs € 19.5 to pass through, regardless of how many people are in the car. You also get a card with the highlights. Here you can find the current prices and opening times.
The route in detail:
PO viewing platform Arenablick Turn 2: Here you have a view of the ski jump.
P1, viewing rest at 770 m There is a large rest area here, but we skip it as there is not much to see.
P2 city and lake view, 862m From here you also have a very nice view of the city of Villach
P3 Waldrast, 965m Here is another resting place with a view of the Finkenstein castle ruins. It’s pretty nice, but where are the castle ruins? Do we think we are too stupid for that, or are these just those few stones in the foreground?
P4 Schüttblick, 1,020m Here you have a beautiful view of the landslide area “Schütt”, a view of the Julian Alps and Karawanken.
P5 Dreiländerblick, 1,307m As the name suggests, you have a look at 3 countries: Austria, Slovenia and Italy. To be honest, it is very similar to P4
P6 Alpine garden, 1,483m When we arrive here at the end of May, it was still closed. However, we are in luck: it is being renovated and we are kindly allowed to walk through it. Around 800 alpine plants from three climate zones thrive here on an area of 10,000 square meters. A special feature of the garden is that almost half of all plants were in their original place of growth. From here you also have a wonderful view of the Alps and the Rote Wand.
Separate entry, open from the beginning of June to the end of August, daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (time required: around 1 hour). You can find all the information you need here.
P6 Red Wall viewing platform This highlight can be reached from the same parking lot. An absolute one. Here you have a great deep view 400 m over the abyss of the rock face and a distant view of the Karawanken and Julian Alps. By the way, you don’t have to cross the road, a very nice boardwalk leads through the forest (see above).
P8 Berggasthof Aichingerhütte The exhibition “Rulers of the Skies – the bird world of the Dobratsch Nature Park” is also located here. You also have a beautiful panoramic view of the lake here, but we skipped this station.
P11 Rosstratte, 1,732m We have reached the last parking lot, from here we can only continue on foot. From here you have a wonderful view of the mountains all around. We still want to hike to the Dobratsch summit, but before that we strengthen ourselves in the Rosstrattenstüberl. In imperial weather we enjoy our lunch outdoors.
This is the starting point for many hikes. Two of the highest pilgrimage churches in the Eastern Alps are also located here.
Our hike:
Destination: the summit of the Dobratsch at 2,167m with the Dobratscher summit house at 2,143m. Walking time is approx. 90 minutes. Well, this will be our shortest report in history. While it is still a nice 20° in Villach, the temperatures up here are almost icy. We don’t let ourselves be deterred and set off. Finally we have thick jackets and hiking boots on. To the left and right of the path there is always snow, the view is wonderful.
I’ll keep it short: after a 20-minute walk we have to give up our plan. The snow is getting deeper and deeper, with conventional hiking boots and without equipment you can’t get any further here. Who would have thought that we would have to turn around on May 30th.
Fortunately, the drive up was worth it and the way was still worth it. We walk a little further along the Gamsweg, because here is the Gams- und Gipfelblick viewing platform, from which you have an excellent view of the valley.
All in all, you can really recommend the Villach Alpine Road to the Dobratsch to everyone. If you want to go hiking, you should plan a whole day for it if possible, as there is really a lot to see here.
