The special charms of nature and a new view of the mountain landscapes -
anyone who is looking for an imposing mountain world in addition to driving fun and curve feeling will find exactly that on the Kühtai High Alpine Road. On the way to Kühtai you will experience unique landscapes that constantly change with the altitude. And the pass at 2,020 meters opens up a view of overwhelming, untouched nature. In addition, toll and vignette-free!
Enjoy green alpine meadows with colorful alpine roses, mighty mountain ranges and also cows and horses, often right next to you or on the road. It's nice to stop there and take a souvenir photo. Or take short walks in the villages, easy or longer hikes. Numerous places to stop for refreshments along the route or in Kühtai itself invite you to take a leisurely break. Children look forward to a short break at the Gries marble adventure playground or the Ochsenbrunn forest playground in Ochsengarten.
There are many great photo opportunities during and after the drive on the High Alpine Road – whether comfortably by car, by motorbike or sporty by bike or mountain bike. For example at the Längental reservoir, where you can reach the dam wall directly from the car park in a few minutes or circle the entire reservoir in just 45 minutes. Even more impressive is the ride on the DreiSeenBahn up to 2,410 m and then on via the Höhenpanoramaweg to the Finstertal reservoir at 2,325 m.
You can get from Innsbruck to Kühtai in just 30 minutes via Kematen in the Sellrain Valley through the mountaineering villages of Sellrain, Gries and St. Sigmund. Or from Oetz in the Ötztal through the wild and romantic Nedertal. A promising variant goes from Haiming over the Haimingerberg to Ochsengarten, from there on the pass road to Kühtai.
Route length: 25 km (von Kematen aus),
18 km (von Oetz aus)
Driving time: 25 min
Highest Point: Kühtai 2.020 m
Starting point Kematen: 610 m
Starting point Oetz: 812 m
Maximum incline: 16 %
Opening times: The Kühtai High Alpine Road is open to traffic all year round. Please note possible avalanche barriers in winter.
From Kematen you start the journey from the Inn Valley via the Kühtai High Alpine Road through the Sellrain Valley.
In Sellrain, the natural alpine nature begins, which inspires hikers, alpinists and ski tour fans. The place also has the “Mountaineering Village” seal of approval for this.
Small, fine, idyllic is the resort of Gries im Sellrain, embedded and surrounded by imposing mountains. As a “mountaineering village”, Gries enchants with its special charm.
As the third of the three “mountain climbing villages”, St. Sigmund scores with people who are enthusiastic about mountain sports.
It is precisely this unique altitude that makes the place a skiing and hiking paradise.
Marlstein is a scattered settlement in the village of Ochsengarten in the idyllic Nedertal. Surrounded by fields and meadows, dark forests, wide clearings and rugged giants
The town of Ochsengarten is an idyllic mountain village, far away from mass tourism and an ideal starting point for athletes of all kinds.
A hiking paradise for those who want to escape the stress of everyday life. Mühlau is the starting point of many hiking routes that lead to beautiful natural sites.
The untouched nature can be discovered around Taxegg.
In Oetz, which gave the Ötztal its name, the Kühtai High Alpine Road starts from the Ötztal.
As early as 1280, the Kühtai was first mentioned in the Urbar (property tax book) of the Counts of Tyrol as “Chutay”. Emperor Maximilian I (The Last Knight, 1459-1519) acquired hunting rights in Kühtai in 1497. Around 1622 the construction of a princely hunting seat began, for which a road through the Sellraintal was created in 1624 for better accessibility.
From St. Sigmund to Kühtai, however, there was only one mule track on which freight and people were transported by “muleteers”.
Through considerable financial resources raised in the municipalities of Oetz, Sautens, Haiming and Silz by future-oriented citizens in the middle of the last millennium were raised voluntarily – subsequently with the support of the state of Tyrol, and later also of TIWAG (Tiroler Wasserkraft AG) – the access roads, which were initially only one-lane hourly usable, could be widened, new routes and the construction of new bridges and avalanche galleries brought to a modern standard.
Even though the route from Gries to Kühtai has only been toll-free since 1972, this represents an important step towards modernization and makes today's Kühtai High Alpine Road an attractive link between Innsbruck and Oetz, the mountaineering villages and Kühtai.
