The Grossglockner alpine road, better known in German as Großglockner Hochalpenstraße, Is by far the best I've ever seen in Austria. If you have already been there, then perhaps you will not be surprised by the news that this place is included in the list of "1000 places to see before you die", along with the Grand Canyon, Petra or Venice. If you haven't, then you urgently need to add this place to your personal list of plans for the near future, because, as you know, only mountains can be better than mountains, and even something, and there are enough mountains in that area. About 300 three-thousanders on 1100 square kilometers, 246 glaciers, the highest mountain in Austria - Grossglockner (3798 meters), half-green, half-snow-covered slopes and incredible zigzags of winding road - without hesitation I call this place the pearl of Austria.
Officially, the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is 48 kilometers long: this is the toll section of the road (28 euros for a one-day pass), the most difficult to drive, but also the most beautiful. Unofficially, there is a traditional route starting from the Bruck settlement near Zell am See and ending near Heiligenblut. If you go in the direction of Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, you will still follow this route, because there are simply no other roads. In total, it turns out 75 kilometers of stunning panoramic views and an unforgettable day.
The first, free part of the road, is very beautiful alpine houses, green fields with cows grazing on them, mountains visible in the distance and other delights of the Austrian Alps. Very beautiful, but in general, not that much different from the green beauty of the Zillertal, which I wrote about. Perhaps more deserted.
The fog that descended into the valley made the area especially charming that day. Since the road gradually went up, at first we drove right in this fog, and then suddenly we drove out of it and found ourselves as if above the clouds. Very beautiful paintings:
As you get closer to the Hohe Tauern National Park, on the territory of which Großglockner Hochalpenstraße is located, the landscape outside the window gradually changes. Settlements are seen less and less often, but the views are becoming more and more magical: lakes, waterfalls and, of course, mountains:
The closer to the toll road section, the more often snow-capped peaks are visible:
Immediately after entering the toll section, the road begins to go up sharply. But this is not the worst thing. The worst thing is that it starts to loop very abruptly and abruptly. If you believe the official website of the road and the posts placed on the highway, then there are 36 very sharp turns, these are the so-called Kehre. But, presumably, only the steepest turns are counted, where the road turns almost 180 degrees. To all this, you must add at least another hundred ordinary turns. As a result, the car gets quite sick and if it were not for the constant stops for taking pictures, it would be very difficult. But the views opening around more than compensate for all this:
It is still not so high here, so the greenery is still visible:
Enlightened goo-o-ora. As I already wrote, there are about 300 three-thousanders on the territory of the national park:
The road goes further and further up, only snow is already visible around and it becomes rather cold. By the way, in addition to very sharp turns, the road is also distinguished by its narrowness. Trying to overtake someone here is pure suicide. The road was built 75 years ago, when the Austrian economy was in decline and it was necessary to urgently give work to several thousand people. According to the initial projects, the width of the road was supposed to be twice as narrow as what we see now!
This has already gone snowy places:
One of the largest stops along the route is Edelweißspitze. She is also the highest point on the entire path. This is a small offshoot of the main road, the road there is very narrow and very steep. At the very top is an extremely difficult parking situation. There can only fit several dozen cars there, and all the places, of course, are taken. I had to carefully monitor who was going to drive off, run to take a place until someone dived on the vacant heel and wait for the cars to disperse so that you could park. All this took about 15-20 minutes. Many of those who arrived upstairs were forced to leave immediately, because there was simply nowhere to go. I suppose they were waiting downstairs for some of the cars to come down, or they were walking upstairs with their feet.
The lower part of this whole party is all sorts of cafes, toilets and souvenir shops, where you can find stuffed animals of different Alpine animals:
There are even krampuses, about which I once wrote:
Actually, a view of the parking lot. These are all parking spaces in these parts, others are not. Four cars are visible here, waiting for someone to vacate a parking space. We also stood there like that:
The steepness of turns on the track can be estimated, say, here. A distinctive feature of the road towards Edelweißspitze is also its narrowness. How two cars are going there, I have a bad idea. Most likely not. We must act in the standard "Asian" way, ie just honk before every turn. However, on the main road, the road is still wider than this one:
If you believe the official website of the road, then the Edelweiss spine is visible at once 30 three thousand meters. One of the panoramic views from the top of the parking lot:
General view of the road, here you can estimate the number of turns, most of which are not even considered these 36 terrible Kehre's, an example of which you saw above:
Another panoramic view of the road. Here you can see how the road in the upper right corner goes into one of the many tunnels.
The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is open only six months a year: somewhere from May to October, each year the dates are slightly different. In winter, the road is closed for security reasons. Judging by how much snow there was around at the end of September, you can understand the prudent Austrians. By the way, during the "working" six months the road is maintained in excellent condition.
One more look at the crazy winding roads. If you look closely, you can see small expansions in some places on the road: here you can slow down if you feel uncomfortable with taking pictures of the panoramic views that open up. There are such exits along the entire road, and you want to slow down, if not at every first, then certainly at every second bend.
I already wrote somewhere in the comments that I saw photos of Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse on the net in the summer. Almost everything around is green, and snow-capped mountain peaks rise above all this. At the end of September, as you can see, the grass is still visible in some places, but there is already a decent amount of snow. At the end of October, the road closes due to the fact that there is too much snow and it becomes dangerous to drive on the road.
Here and there on the road there are such strange buildings of unknown purpose:
In some places the road goes into tunnels:
This is what an unreasoned version of the previous tunnel looks like:
It was chilly and cold inside the tunnel, however, and outside the tunnel it was never hot. But inside the tunnels there are absolutely incredible pillars of ice. This is frozen water that has penetrated into the tunnel through small holes. Desperate attempt to photograph this from the car window:
Then the poet's soul could not bear it and had to create an emergency on the road, namely, get out of the car right inside the tunnel (of course, there are no exits there) in the hope that no one would need to drive through the tunnel at that moment:
These ice pillars are growing just outrageously evenly:
Let's go back to fresh air. A couple more common views from different exits on the road:
At some point, the road still ceases to wind so brutally and abruptly go up. Crazy 36 turns are left far behind, endless snows are replaced by surprisingly green views. Far, far in the distance, a small piece of Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria, begins to be seen. This is closer to the places of the standard tourist views of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, which can be found on the website, in Wikipedia and in the booklets that are given to you at the entrance.
View of the road in the opposite direction. We came from there:
Here you can already see the handsome Grossglockner, below you can see a "small" wall - this is the dam of another mountain lake, of which there are many.
Alerted Grossglockner:
Here I went right into the middle of the road so that it was clear what kind of view usually opens through the windshield of a car. To my right, I can see a small piece from the next exit from the road, where we parked:
Another version of the semi-tunnel tunnel through which you had to drive:
A little under the tunnel, there is a view of a huge mountain lake-reservoir, blocked by a dam. You saw a piece of this dam in one of the previous photos.
Just behind the tunnel, you come to the main attraction of this region - the 10-kilometer Pasteurz glacier, located next to the Grossglockner. The views there are absolutely fantastic, and the photographs, unfortunately, cannot convey either scale or beauty.
The slide from which this huge glacier slides:
Somewhere below, melting glacial lakes can be seen:
Quite an alien look in my opinion:
The dead end near Grossglockner and the Pasterets glacier is full of life. There is a huge information center, the Swarovski Observatory, cafes, souvenir shops, a multi-storey parking lot, several viewing platforms and the beginning of a small trek through the mountains.
Here you can see the top floor of this whole civilization. Under the parking lot there are just half of the charms listed above, i.e. this tier parking lot is located on the roof:
View of the mountains, lakes and the road from one of the upper viewpoints - the road - the beginning of the local trek:
At the very beginning of the track there is a monument to Emperor Franz Joseph, who once also made small tracks in these places:
We will go down a little lower, to where the presence of civilization is felt especially sharply. View of one of the observation decks from a slightly higher vantage point:
One of the main attractions of these regions is they, the promised murmultires. The presence of a stormy mountain life right under your feet is indicated by the following sign:
And indeed, below, right along the course, you can see many, many burrows, of which fattened marmots scurry back and forth, accustomed to being watched from somewhere above and throwing food at them:
In German, the marmot sounds touchingly pleasant - Murmeltier:
By the way, in German the verb "murmeln" means "to grumble", "to mumble", therefore literally the marmot is translated as "grunting animal", well, or "animal-grumbling and muttering". :)
There are many murmurs. Judging by the number of minks visible in the distance, there are VERY many murmultirs:
Actually, it is easy to guess what the marmots walking downstairs are waiting for: they are so accustomed to the fact that "manna from heaven" periodically falls on them from above that now they just brazenly walk around in anticipation of this very manna. This time, pieces of bread were sent to them as manna:
Well, it's time to leave these lands after all. All good things come to an end, for example, the available time. A farewell glimpse of the views around the road to the south exit from Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse:
If you remember, at the very beginning I wrote that the classic route is from the Bruck settlement near Zell am See to the Heiligenblut settlement, which is located on the southern side of the road. Part of the road on this route is toll, part is free. The southern end of the road, the Heiligenblut settlement, is a free stretch of road. If you go along the specified route, you will have to leave the paid part (the ticket is valid all day for an unlimited number of entries and exits, and the paid part starts right after Heiligenblut).
It is worth leaving the paid part towards Heiligenblut for the simple reason that there is a rather famous and incredibly beautiful mountain church - the Church of the Holy Blood:
The church itself is probably not that much different from other churches in these parts, but because of its location and because of the legend that the blood of Jesus Christ is kept inside, Heiligenblut has become a very popular tourist destination.
Inside the church:
There is a small cemetery near the church with views of the surrounding area:
Well, let's add some variety to snow-snow: beautiful yellow autumn ...
This is an abbreviated version of three posts on related topics. The original sources are here.
Cow plugs. Mountain roads Gerlos and Grossglockner. Krimml waterfalls. The highest mountain peak in Austria and the Pasterez glacier.
Around Austria by car. Innsbruck - Krimml - Flattach. Grossglockner High Alpine Road. Krimml waterfalls.
This is the case when looking is better than reading. On the sixth day of the trip, we begin a full dive into the Alps. Today is devoid of urban tourism, but full of beautiful mountain landscapes, waterfalls and delightful alpine roads. The main star of the day is the famous Grossglockner alpine road. Yes, and the waterfalls near the town of Krimml turned out to be very good. Follow our journey and subscribe to our YouTube channel, as well as to the email newsletter of our blog (column on the right or at the bottom of the page).
Route map and accommodation.
The entire route of this day runs along mountain roads. Movement along them is unhurried, but mesmerizing, just have time to turn your head. The total line of the Innsbruck-Krimml-Grossglockner-Flattach route is about 280 kilometers, including branches to the Edelweisspitze and to the Pasterez glacier.
Accommodation: Appartementhaus Mentil, Igls, suburb of Innsbruck. Reservations via Booking.com. One night - 84 € (the most expensive accommodation in the trip). Breakfast is not provided. Free parking ... Attention! On the booking, the price is indicated less (45 €) than it actually is, since in addition there is a postscript in small print about the cleaning fee.
Holiday Almabtrib and travel problems associated with it.
So I came to leave hospitable Innsbruck and our luxury apartments Waldhaus Igls. We leave them in their original form and order.
We pass through the outskirts of Innsbruck, drive a little along the autobahn, then turn towards Zell am Ziller, then a little more and find ourselves on the road leading towards the town of Gerlos and the mountain toll road of the same name.
At the entrance to Gerlos, we begin to come across processions of dressed-up cows and shepherds.
Each procession completely occupies one of the lanes of the road, forcing cars to stop and wait for its passage. The first couple of times it looks interesting and funny, we are even glad that we got to some traditional event and have the opportunity to enjoy the national Austrian flavor. The shepherds are cheerful, they wave greetings to you.
But at some point it starts to tire, because time is running out. But the most important thing happened in the city of Gerlos. Here we got stuck in a deadlock for almost an hour.
And, interestingly, for a long time there were no cows, then two not very large processions passed, but we continued to stand dead.
But it turned out that at this time the traditional holiday Almabtrieb (Almabtrieb) takes place. This is the name of the event dedicated to the return of cows from high alpine pastures home, held in late September or early October. If the grazing season is successful, then the cows are dressed up and they proudly walk downstairs. The shepherds are all smart too, many drink beer and are already a little tipsy.
Another danger is the uncontrolled movement of cows. For example, one of the cows struck our car with a bell around its neck. And these bells are not small at all. Thank God, there were no serious consequences.
At about 12-30 we finally got under way and it turned out that the traffic jam in Gerlos was caused not only and not so much by cows as by people (tourists) who had already begun to celebrate the holiday with might and main. And beer and schnapps. The people were having fun and walking, staggering along the road as if in their own home. Therefore, the traffic was alternately one-way and at a low speed.
Having burst out into the operational space, we began to enjoy the alpine landscapes. The weather was splendid, like all the next few days of our stay in Austria. Lucky so lucky. Soon a very beautiful lake appeared on our way.
We assumed that it is also called Gerlos.
However, during the preparation of this report, it turned out that its name was Speicher Durlassboden. In general, this beauty quickly began to expel the negativity from wasting a heap of time in a traffic jam.
Soon we passed the toll station of the Gerlos mountain road (€ 9) and headed towards our today's first point - the Krimml cascade. The road is beautiful, but not to say very exciting. As you approach the waterfall, you can stop at the observation deck just opposite the latter. There are good views of the valley from here.
And, in fact, on the waterfalls themselves.
A little closer.
Another observation deck is already at the entrance to Kriml.
Finally we reach the city, there are several parking lots, we stopped at P3, which seems to be the closest to the park entrance. We were lucky, there was one place. True, for a long time we could not figure out how to pay until Anya went to the cafe opposite and gave 5 € in cash. I don’t even remember if they gave us any check.
From the parking, you need to go under the road bridge and walk along the path for 10-15 minutes, pay the entrance (3 € per person) and now we find ourselves at the site of the lower waterfall.
It is already very beautiful here, the water falls on the stones with all its might, raising a column of spray.
The ascent is quite steep, but the opportunity to take a breath arises constantly, as the views of the waterfall appear all along the way.
Here we are already approaching the middle of the road. It must be said that this cascade of waterfalls is one of the highest in Europe, with a total height of about 385 meters.
Double cascade.
The way to the uppermost cascade, judging by the sign, takes an hour and fifteen minutes. Until the middle of the way - 40 minutes.
The views are of course amazing, the waterfall is very impressive.
So we have reached the middle point. There is a restaurant and a huge stone, and you can also go to the Krimml-Ache river, which creates waterfalls. The river is calm here. Calming landscape.
It turned out that my trekking boots were dirty from the previous trip (I can't remember where), so I decided to take the opportunity and washed them right in the river.
We are very happy, we drank selfies.
We decided not to climb to the very top, since the time was already approaching 15 o'clock, and we wanted to get on the Grossglockner track in bright daylight. On the descent, we turned into one of the branches, which we passed during the ascent.
Oh, what a blooper!
An attempt to photograph a rainbow, which is formed by the reflection of the sun in a spray of water.
At 15-36 we leave Krimml and, slowly winding through the mountain valleys, at 16-48 we reach the payment point for the Großglockner road. The cost for a car for the whole day is 35 €. With this ticket, you can leave and return any number of times, but only within this day. By the way, the last entry in the autumn period is possible at 18-45. The road itself closes at 19-30.
Well, what can I say about the road. We will not go into the history of construction and other technical facts. Let's just enjoy this truly delightful and awesomely beautiful alpine trail. We managed to fly a little here on a drone and we got such wonderful views.
This photo below shows the Haus Alpine Naturschau, 2260 meters high.
This is the northern section of the road, viewed from the south.
The turret is the vantage point of the Fuscher Torl. Fuscher Lake is visible on the left.
Here you can see the restaurant complex in front of a separate branch of the Edelweisspitze road.
At first, unknowingly, we drove past the branch to the Edelweisspitze and got to the Fuscher Torl, an altitude of 2428 meters. See how everything is beautifully and neatly arranged.
The evening sun creates magical lighting.
Anya saw edelweiss, which was already dried up, unfortunately. But I'm not 100% sure if it's him. Write who knows.
All around, wherever you look, stunning mountain panoramas.
At these heights, things are actively moving towards winter, the grass is already quite withered, but still beautiful.
Edelweisspitze
The highest point of the Großglockner track accessible to cars and motorcycles is the Edelweisspitze peak, at an altitude of 2,571 meters. Here you need to climb a narrow serpentine paved with cobblestones. In some places the road is breathtaking.
Here we are at the top.
The parking is small and even at this time of the year and day there are quite a few cars. I have no idea what's going on in the high season.
A souvenir shop with an observation deck on the roof.
As in all viewpoints of the road, you can have a bite to eat here.
North slope of the Grossglockner road. You can see a branch almost in the center, from here we launched our quadcopter for the first time.
Here we see Fuscher Torl and how the road bends around the hill.
Lake Fuscher Lake. As it is written in the travel booklet, here you can walk around the lake. But, to be honest, this puddle did not impress us at all.
One of the sharp turns of the serpentine road on Edelweissspitze.
Hochtor pass
And the highest point of the main road is the Hochtor Pass, height 2504 meters. The views here are not bad either, but not so impressive.
The main adventure on the pass where we stopped was acquaintance with cute sheep.
Anya did not fail to feed them.
They ate bread with great pleasure. In this photo in the background, although it is bad, but the sign of Hochtor is visible, - the only photographic evidence of our stay here 🙂
Another beauty. The sheep were really nice. When the time came for us to continue our journey, they did not want to let us go for a long time and pursued us right up to the car. The parting was sad ...
Pasterze glacier
It was getting dark, dusk was falling rapidly. Of course, we regretted not having come here earlier. We missed that very hour lost in Gerlos. With some risk, but we still went to the tourist center Kaiser-Franz-Josefs (2369 meters) - the last point of our stay on Grossglockner. We arrived here at 18-45, there were almost no people.
It is from here that you can observe the highest peak in Austria - Mount Großglockner, which gave the name to the road. The height of the mountain is 3798 meters. In the photo below, this is the highest peak on the left. And from here you can also observe the longest glacier in the Austrian Alps - Pasterze.
The glacier is now 9 kilometers long. Over the past 100 years, the glacier has melted very much, only its small tail is visible from the tourist center, and once it filled the entire gorge.
In the daytime, it is proposed here to go down directly to the glacier (its remnants), now we could only admire the views.
That was the end of our stay on the Grossglockner road. At exactly 19-00 we left the glacier and at 19-13 we left the Großglockner track. At 20-00 we reached the town of Flattach, where another cozy apartment was waiting for us. We booked them for 45 €, but it turned out that the small print was the cleaning fee, in total we had to fork out € 84! As a result, this placement turned out to be the most expensive for us. This is the only negative (albeit a serious one). The rest of the apartment was very good, unfortunately, we did not take a single photo of them, but they are on the video. We also really liked the hostess, who is from Sweden, she was very positive and showed sincere interest and attention to us.
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Grossglockner- the highest mountain in Austria, 3798 meters. The summit is located on the border of the federal states Carinthia and Salzburg in Europe's largest national park Hohe Tauern (Hohe Tauern).
Grossglockner Panoramic Alpine Road
Is one of the most beautiful roads in Europe, if you are in Austria by car, be sure to take a ride. It is 48 kilometers long and has 36 breathtaking turns.
The largest glacier in Austria - Pasterze
There is also the largest glacier in Austria - Pasteurz... The size of the glacier is more than 9 kilometers; back in the 19th century, the process of its melting began, and, unfortunately, it is gaining momentum. Until 1918, Mount Grossglockner was privately owned ..! It is now owned by the Alpine Mountaineering Community.
One of the most beautiful villages in Austria
Right there from the Carinthian side there is a very picturesque village Heiligenblut(Heiligenblut) a high-mountain panoramic road begins from it. In general, Grossglockner has a high concentration of all the very best.
Climbing Grossglockner
There are two versions of the origin of the name of Mount Grossglockner. First, the Große Glocke is a large bell, and indeed the shape of the mountain resembles a bell. The second version comes from the old local dialect in which glockner sounds like klocken, which means "to make noise, to rumble", and when a huge boulder breaks off on the mountain and rolls down with a crash, the crash is solid.
The first ascent to the top of Grossglockner was made in 1800 by Martin Reichrom, today it is one of the most popular alpine routes in the Alps.
Evening was approaching and it was time to leave Königssee and go to the hotel. By the way, she was already in Austria.
As I said, Austria is a very expensive country and for a long time I could not find a hotel or hostel that would fit the condition "no more than 2000 rubles / day for two." But a long search was crowned with success and the Haus Dachstein Schnitzer guest house was chosen for the night. It was also chosen on the basis of a convenient location - not far from Königssee and the high-mountain road and Dachshtein.
The hotel turned out to be a typical cozy alpine cottage converted into a hotel. And what I would like to note separately is a very, very welcoming and smiling hostess named Katie.
We were just taxiing into the territory near the house, and she was already standing at the door and happily waving her hand to us! :)
She showed me where to park the car, gave me the keys and took me to my room. She also cooked very hearty breakfasts :)
Despite the low cost for Austria, this was without a doubt the best hotel of the entire trip!
The view from the room window is beyond praise! 
Small but cozy room with a balcony ... 
And a shower stall, set on the carpet, right in the corner :) 
View from the window. Car in a green parking lot. 
23.07.2014
Gradually, our car cruise came to an end, but as many as 2 points of destination were waiting for us ahead. One of them is the alpine road with the difficult to pronounce name Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse,
The path to it is quite picturesque. The highway is constantly winding and from one tunnel almost immediately dives into another. After all, we are already in the mountains :) 
Another tunnel. There is a railway on the left. 
A small smoke break by the mountain stream, which accompanied us a good half way.
Someone before us built a tower of stones on its bank. We also made our contribution: 
Another stop at a picturesque water source made of a hollowed out log + a beautiful view of the waterfall: 
Here is the entrance to the Grossglockner Panoramic Road! How long have I dreamed of riding the serpentine! A few more meters and the dream will come true :) 
Entry, by the way, is paid and never cheap - 34 euros.
I'll tell you a little about the road itself. It was named after the highest mountain in Austria - Grossglockner (3798 m.). The length is 48 km, on which there are 36 sharp turns. It starts at 805 m above sea level.
You can go along this panoramic serpentine towards Italy, but nevertheless, the road was built precisely as a tourist attraction.
The history of the road dates back to the late 1920s. XX century, when it became necessary to travel through the Alps in order to connect the lands of Salzburg and Carinthia, and to spur the development of motorized tourism. In 1924 the project of the highway was presented, in 1930 the first explosion of the rock was made, and already in 1935 the road was put into operation. When in 1967 and 1975. Expressways across the Alps were opened, the road finally turned into an excursion panoramic road with beautiful natural views, having lost its utilitarian meaning.
Now, this high-mountainous highway is open for traffic from May to October, because in winter the snow height sometimes reaches 10 meters. The road is closed at night for safety reasons.
So, we enter. Payment by card 34 euros, you don't even have to get out of the car. They issue a ticket indicating the license plate number and date of entry and a flyer with a commemorative sticker on the car 
The road immediately takes up and the first view is simply breathtaking! Here they are, His Majesty the Austrian Alps! 
We stand with our mouths open for a while. Mountains with snow caps, which before I saw only in pictures in magazines or on TV, are here! Live! The store of impressions in my head is instantly overflowing with emotions to overflowing. I want to jump and jump - we are in the Alps, in Aaaalpaaaah !!! :)
We take a few photos, and some Austrian guy on a bicycle helps us. What kind of helpful people here :)
The road, as I said, immediately after the entrance began to steeply climb up and almost immediately the first turn by 180 degrees, and the ascent does not stop! Driving further, trying to accelerate harder, twisting the steering wheel to fit into the curve ... and what the hell! Not having passed even 150 m from the place of stop, the car suddenly starts to choke and stalls. Right on the rise! I hold the brake so as not to roll, start looking for - hell! Does not start. Mystic, what happened ... I have to drive off, but I can't, the rise is very steep!
Most likely, due to the sharp rise and the same sharp turn, the carburetor in the car just gulped air instead of gasoline. You need to turn the car, nose down. Yes, it was not so! The road is not only narrow, but also heavy traffic! Then we will slide backwards to the observation deck. And here we were again helped by the same elderly cyclist! He stood at the turn and showed us with gestures whether we could go or not!
Thank you, kind Austrian uncle!
Is it not destiny? Is this how it will end without even starting? Do you really have to turn around and go back? No, no, no and no again! Drive 3000 km and shamefully escape the Alpine serpentine? Right now! You will not wait! We will try all the way! A Muscovite must drive ALL the route, you hear, ALL!
And he, as if, heard me :) after a few minutes of parking the car started up, as if nothing had happened, and then I tried to go through such steep ups and downs more smoothly.
The engine power is certainly not enough - the maximum is the second, or even the first gear.
On descents, as usual, engine braking, but even in first gear, the car picked up speed. I had to hold on with the brakes, which quickly overheated. Therefore, we did several, so to speak, technical stands in order to cool the brakes. But I boiled them thoroughly :)
Another recreation area combined with a gift shop. 
In general, there are a lot of observation platforms with stunning views. We stopped almost every 100-200 m. :)
Actually, that's why we drove 48 km there and 48 km back - almost 8 hours. But it was worth it! Unmatched views! 
From time to time we saw cars in unusual camouflage livery. It is the automakers who are testing prototypes of promising models. In the photo, the newest Opel Astra 2015: 
Another observation deck and .... what a meeting! Guys with a driver Yura for Nissan Almera from Moscow! Russia will hello! 
How pleasant these meetings are far from the Russian Federation! Greetings, smiles, exchange of impressions, complete and mutual benevolence!
The guys are going to the Czech Republic, and we are from there :) They have only the very beginning of their vacation, and we are already rounding off!
Of course, they are also a little off the radar from the fact that we are here on Moskvich. Of course they are also deeply impressed by Grossglockner!
Yura, if suddenly you read these lines, know - I send you greetings from Nizhny Novgorod! 
Well, here are just species, what words can describe them? :) 
An old SAAB 900 from Holland. 
By the way, there are a lot of retro cars on Grossglockner, a lot of motorcyclists. There are even those who conquer the road by bike (remember the elderly Austrian who helped us?) And even on foot! Tourist buses also run despite the slopes.
You see the uncle with the great on the right! This is the same old Austrian! When we drove past him, he waved his hand to us every time :) 
Such units used to clear the road from snow: 
Another observation deck: 
Souvenir shop + restaurant. So let's say, a large resting place: 
Another Morgan retro car at the highest point where you can go by car: 
Of course, we also drove here, and even gorgeous views should have opened from here, BUT! In sunny weather. And then, as luck would have it, the rain froze, everything plunged into fog.
The temperature is +4.6 degrees, then a few hundred meters below - +25 :) 
Parking and a high-rise hotel with a shop: 
The highest point is 2571 m above sea level :) 
By the way, the road here, to the very top, is still fun! Buses are forbidden here because even cars are difficult to drive around.
It was not possible to shoot how we went up, but there is a video of the way back from this peak:
We went to the store to warm up and buy souvenirs.
Alpine shooter! 
Wealthy Swiss people ride a very expensive Porsche Carrera GT 
Dangerous descent 17 km long! Warning about the need to engage a lower gear in the checkpoint: 
Some interesting plant, but I don't know which one: 
"Fog descends from high mountains ...". I saw with my own eyes how it happens! So he begins to envelop everything ... 
And literally in a few minutes nothing is visible anymore: 
The weather in the mountains changes at the same time. The sun is shining, but after a couple of minutes clouds can easily overhang and it will rain. Then everything passes just as quickly and it is sunny again.
"Sight" for an overview of Grossglockner Peak - the highest mountain in Austria. 
The technique that once built this serpentine: 
And this is a technique that conquers this serpentine :) 2262 m above sea level! 
The rare NSU Ro 80 is the first production car with a rotary piston engine. 
Natural contrast - snow and greenery in the background 
The Großglockner High Alpine Road is closed for the winter from 4 November 2019.
The Großglockner High Alpine Road is not a common utility road connecting two neighboring regions in Austria. For faster travel, there is the A10 expressway.
The panoramic Großglockner High Alpine Road is one of the most famous mountain roads in the world. It attracts tourists from many countries with an annual attendance of around 900,000, making it one of the most visited destinations in Austria.
The Großglockner High Alpine Road is part of Austria's cultural history, one of its top tourist attractions and world famous construction feat.
a brief description of
Road access closed at night -.
Location
The Großglockner High Alpine Road is part of the 107th Austrian Regional Road and is located in the center of the Austrian Alps (Google Maps, Google Earth).
The distance from Salzburg is about 100 km, from Innsbruck - 120 km, from Munich - 200 km. Considering the excellent quality of Austrian highways, it will take about 1.5 - 2.5 hours to get there from these cities.
The Grossglockner road connects the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. Passes through the Hohe Tauern National Park. In addition, it leads to the center of Kaiser Franz Joseph, with panoramic views of the Pasteurz glacier and the Großglockner mountain.
How to get to Großglockner High Alpine Road
From Salzburg:
Take the A10 / E55 motorway at Graz / Villach and follow it towards Italy until Bischofshofen (38 km).
Then take the Bischofshofen / Pongau signpost onto regional road 311 and continue along this road until the Bruck / Fusch exit (44 km).
After that, take road 107 and after 23 km you will come to the north entrance to Großglockner High Alpine Road.
Total distance - 105 km, travel time - 1.5 hours.
From Bolzano (Italy):
Take the A22 / E45 motorway and follow it towards Austria until Bressanone (45 km).
Exit the motorway onto the regional road SS49 / E66 and continue to the Austrian city of Lienz (100 km).
After Lienz, take regional road 107 and after 43 km you will arrive at the southern exit of Großglockner High Alpine Road.
Total distance - 190 km, travel time - 3 hours.
Road
A bit of history
The first mention of it dates back to the autumn of 1924, when the project was developed for a gravel road three meters wide, with the possibility of expanding up to five meters.
On August 30, 1930 at 9:30 in the morning, the first rock explosion was made. In the first year, mainly survey work was carried out.
Thirteen months later, on 22 September 1934, the first driver crossed the Hohe Tauern in a Steyr 100 (1.2 l, 32 hp, 100 km / h top speed, about 10 liters of gasoline per 100 km).
The Großglockner High Alpine Road was officially opened on 3 August 1935 and attracted 375,000 visitors and 98,000 vehicles in its first year.
Fare
The price includes not only the toll, but also access to all information resources of Großglockner, as well as the use of all parking lots, including the garage in the center of Kaiser Franz Josef.
Rates for 2019:1 in case of entry after 18:00 the ticket price is reduced to € 26.50 for cars and to € 20.00 for motorcycles.
2 sightseeing tickets are valid for one month for the Großglockner High Alpine Road and Felbertauern Road.
3 the return journey on the same day is free.
A repeat visit in the same calendar year with the same car or motorcycle (with the same numbers) will cost € 12.00 (you must present your old ticket).
Working hours
The road is open for traffic from May to October or November during the daytime. The exact data of the opening and closing of the road is determined based on weather conditions.
- From early May to 31 May: 6:00 am - 8:00 pm
- From June 1st to August 31st: 5:00 - 21:30
- From September 1st to October 26th: 6:00 am - 7:30 pm
- From October 27th to early November: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Last visitors are admitted 45 minutes before closing time.
WEB-camera
Image from a webcam installed next to Fuscher Lacke:
Description of the road
The Großglockner alpine road runs through the heart of the Hohe Tauern National Park. It has a length of 48 km, including 36 sharp turns ( "a la hairpin") and rises to a height of 2.504 meters.
1. North entrance
2. Fuscher Törl gate(2,428 m) - the monument was designed by the world famous architect Clemens Holzmeister. It is dedicated to the workers who died during the construction of the road. This place is one of the best spots for photography.
3. Fuscher Lacke(2,262 m) - The Building of the Road exhibit impressively presents the interesting history of the construction of the Großglockner High Alpine.
4. Hochtor(2.504 m) - the highest point of the road and the border between the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. On the northern side, snow usually lasts until the end of August.
5. Turn to the Pasterets glacier and the Kaiser Franz Josef Visitor Center.
6. Kaiser Franz Joseph Center(2,369 m) - view of the Grossglockner mountain and the Pasterets glacier.
7. Southern entrance onto Großglockner High Alpine Road.
In the video below you can see a small section of the Großglockner High Alpine Road to get an idea of what awaits you (you can watch other videos on our channel at Youtube).
There are a large number of special panoramic recreation areas along the entire road. On them, you can fully enjoy the surrounding views, relax and take wonderful photos as a keepsake.
sights
In fact, the main attraction is the road itself and the views that open from it. Blooming meadows, fragrant forests, mighty rocks and eternal ice at the foot of the Großglockner mountain await you along the way.
Kaiser Franz Joseph Center
The center is located at the foot of the Großglockner mountain and overlooks the longest glacier in the east of the Alps - Pasterze.
The center is a 4-storey building, in which visitors are shown everything that is most interesting about the highest mountain in Austria - Großglockner.
There is a large number of parking spaces near the center. But it's better to drive to the end of the road and park in a multi-storey garage. Moreover, it is best to drive onto the roof of the garage.
This brings you closer to the very Kaiser Franz Joseph Center. And after inspecting everything you wanted, you can quickly get to the car and move on. In addition, a wonderful view of the glacier itself opens up from above.
More information about the Großglockner High Alpine Road on the official website - www.grossglockner.at
Road impressions
Despite the fact that the site contains information of a reference nature, it is difficult to refrain from telling about your impressions.
Did we enjoy the ride on this road? Definitely yes. The road deserves to be visited, despite the rather high fare. Moreover, both the surrounding views and the very process of moving along the road with its sharp turns, descents and ascents deserve attention.
And in the Kaiser Franz Josef Center it is very pleasant to walk in the mountains and recharge with positive emotions, enjoying the environment.
There are a lot of motorcyclists on the road who constantly rush past you. And even such specimens come across.
And the number of cyclists climbing this mountain is simply amazing. Only here you begin to realize how popular cycling is in Europe.
It so happened that in a short period of time we were able to visit two mountain roads - Großglockner and Timmelsjoch. And the comparison between them could not be avoided. Here you can see a description of the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road.
In conclusion, a few photos with views of what opens directly from the road.
