The Bregenzerwald is famous for its innovative and sustainable timber architecture. This five-day long-distance hike will take you in five stages from Krumbach through Schwarzenberg to Au and to several structures that are particularly worth seeing. You’ll only be travelling with a light backpack for the day because your luggage will be transferred from hotel to hotel for you.
on request
T +43 (0)5512 2365
info@bregenzerwald.at
1 May – 31 October 2024
Krumbach is the starting point for the Bregenzerwald Architecture Trail.
A strong awareness of architecture, craftsmanship and design has emerged in the village with a population of 1,000 in recent decades. Over the next few days, you’ll be hiking through the Bregenzerwald’s unique cultivated landscape and exploring the special features of its timber architecture and regional crafts.
• Parking at the first hotel
• Arrival by rail: taxi transfer from the railway station in Dornbirn, Bregenz or Oberstaufen to your first hotel
• Accommodation with breakfast: Gasthof Adler or similar.
• Krumbach
Today, you’ll be hiking past special bus stops created for the international BUS:STOP Krumbach architecture project and discovering the unique moor landscape to be found in the Nagelfluhkette Nature Park. You’ll be taking in other outstanding architectural highlights, such as the Salgenreute Chapel and the Moorraum (Moor Room), along the way. The route goes on through the continuous cover forest on the Rotenberg to the centre of the village of Lingenau.
• Accommodation with breakfast: Hotel Gasthof Adler or similar.
• Lingenau
The trail descends from the St. Anna Chapel in Lingenau to the Subersach Gorge and on to Egg. It goes on from there through the beech forest to Maien and into the picturesque village of Schwarzenberg on which Angelika Kauffmann, the world-famous classicist painter, left her mark. The entire village square in Schwarzenberg and its surrounding buildings are listed. This is where you’ll be able to enjoy a special experience of the interplay between landscape, nature and the culture of rural crafts.
• Accommodation with breakfast: Panoramahotel Sonnhalde or similar.
• Schwarzenberg
Today, you’ll be hiking from Schwarzenberg to Andelsbuch. That’s where you’ll find the Werkraum Haus, the ‘showcase’ for innovative trades and crafts in the Bregenzerwald. The hike continues along the former route of the Bregenzerwald Railway to the Bersbuch reservoir. An old pass leads from there up the Bezegg and into the centre of the village of Bezau.
• Board: Breakfast
• Accommodation: Hotel Sonne or similar
• Bezau
Today’s hike will take you past the local history museum in Bezau and along the stream to Bizau. A beautiful forest path leads from the Bizauer Moos up to the Wendelin Chapel on the Schnepfegg. The hike continues from there with magnificent views of the Kanisfluh by way of the Rosenburg to Mellau. Many architectural highlights, such as the famous hamlet of Tempel and the Dorfsaal Mellau (village hall), await in the village.
• Accommodation with breakfast: Hotel Bären or similar.
• Mellau
The high-altitude trails with great views take you past a variety of alps to the idyllic Ahornenvorsäß (alpine pasture settlement) and to Au-Rehmen. That’s where, at the end of your long-distance hike, the Museum of Baroque Master Builders, which was opened in 2022, awaits.
UNESCO declared the tradition of transhumance in the Bregenzerwald (village – alpine pasture settlement – higher alpine pasture) as Intangible Cultural Heritage. ‘Vorsäß’ is the name given in the Bregenzerwald to the middle pastures and settlements in the three levels of alpine agriculture.
It’s where farmers and alpine dairy farmers spend the early summer and autumn while their cows graze the alpine meadows.
• Trip with the Mellau cable car
• Accommodation with breakfast: Hotel Schiff or similar.
• Au
We’ll be taking you back to the starting point after your days of impressive long-distance hiking through the Bregenzerwald.
• Taxi transfer back to the first hotel
• Arrival by rail: taxi transfer back to Dornbirn, Bregenz or Oberstaufen railway station
