A Week in Austria - Thursday

The weather was the same on Thursday (8 May), but no rain was forecast, just grey skies and chilly temperatures of no more than 7C.

View from our room on Thursday

We took the regular bus to Tannheim, the largest community in this valley by the same name. It‘s not far away, maybe a 15 minute ride.

Church in Tannheim

Our plan was to walk to the beautiful Vilsalpsee, a protected area where cars aren‘t allowed. We have been here before (in September 2021) , while holidaying on the German side just a few miles along the road, staying in Oberjoch.

Hardly any other walkers were about, and only a few cyclists. 

From the village, we walked through meadows and fields and took a short detour to a chapel on a hill, with a Lourdes grotto. 

On a trail mainly through the woods we reached the lake, which was still as a mirror. Since the restaurant/café/beer garden by the lake wasn‘t yet open (many such places only start mid-May or even later), and because due to roadworks no cars were allowed to this point, it didn‘t attract the crowds we remembered from our visit in September a few years ago.

Vilsalpsee (lake Vilsalp)

We set off on the path around the lake, already knowing that a complete round wasn‘t possible - part of the path have been buried by falling rocks, and although it wasn‘t impossible to pass on foot, it was considered off limits and would be very irresponsible to attempt.

Instead, we walked on until the very end of the small valley, where a waterfall drops from the top of the sheer walls of rock.

It is a landscape of rugged beauty, with no sound but the rushing water and bird song. We heard a cuckoo - a rare sound these days, at least in the areas where we live.

This small, lone lilac bush was a surprise!

We came back to the meadows by the lake and stopped at the Vilsalpe for a hot soup, which was really delicious and welcome. 

The way back to Tannheim was uneventful. 

We saw the bus coming into the village and thought we had enough time to reach the bus stop without running, but ended up just seeing the bus from behind. 

With about an hour‘s wait for the next one, a village with not much to see or do during that time plus a cold wind blowing, we had few options. One of them was to use our tourist passes and ride the funicular to the top of the mountain, shrouded in thick grey clouds. It was late afternoon, and we knew we would have to ride back down almost immediately, but all this would take up about half of our wait.

We must have been the last people to use the funicular that day. For 3/4 of the ride, we had a good view of Tannheim and its surroundings, and then we were swallowed by the clouds. 

Getting off the funicular, this is what we saw:

Therefore, it was clear that we simply hopped back on again and were soon at the bottom of the valley. Another 15 minutes or so were spent inside the tourist information, which miraculously was still open. The bus arrived on time, and we were back at the hotel where I took a hot bath before dressing for dinner (there was not enough time for the spa).

I was truly happy that we‘d been to the Vilsalpsee and the waterfall, and although missing the bus wasn‘t part of the plan, it wasn‘t a real problem.