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Tyrolean alps

I’d forgotten just how well Austria does things. From the moment you get there, everything looks perfect. It’s like Switzerland but affordable. The roads are smooth, the verges and trees clipped and cut back so that visibility isn’t compromised.



We want a taste of the mountains before the expected thunderstorms break out this week and we head for Prutz, where we stay for Sunday and Monday nights. Here we find the most highly organised all-season campsite, full of people just like us, as well as couples with preschool children. We marvel at the shower rooms that are spacious and heated.



The modest campsite fee is subject to hefty local and tourist taxes but as a reward we get a two day bus pass.

We walk across the wooden boarded bridge, over a rushing river and wander around the town, visiting the churchyard. It’s a beautiful place. The bells chime the quarters but stop after dark, at 9 o’clock.







For some reason that I haven’t researched, just after the 6am chimes, they then ring two bells in a group of sixteen. That’s ding-dong, sixteen times. Then it’s all over and we are awake.

Along with other campers, we take the bus up to the triple ski resorts of Serfaus - Fiss - Ladis and get off at the end of the route at Serfaus. From here the slopes are all accessible as the cable cars are operating. It’s a summer resort for all-comers, cyclists, walkers, parents with kids; everyone.

Most take the easy way up and walk down but we are walking up and down. It’s not a big hike, a steep walk really. The views are rewarding and so is the coffee on the way up and the goulash at the top (of our walk).

The building at the lunch stop is truly amazing, with staggering construction.





Serfaus is almost car-free and bizarrely has a short underground line with four stations, to get people to the bottom of the cable car to the ski slopes.






I think this would be a good family ski destination, although I’m not sure whether travel here would be practical for us.

Back at the campsite there was an alternative towing vehicle. There’s a second seat, a double bike rack and solar on the roof. That’s the caravan behind!




We want to go to the Italian lakes and so we moved on Tuesday, heading south via the Stelvio pass. Maybe we will return for more walking on the way home. 

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Comments

Fran said…
Really enjoying reading all of this 🤩
16 September 2026 at 10:51
Anonymous said…
Cracking report - so glad you are enjoying it. I love Austria too - having fished near Kitzbuhl.
16 September 2026 at 14:07
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