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FrançaisSeven things fill a summer trip to the Zillertal: a short waterfall hike at Hart im Zillertal, a long one up to the Tuxerjochhaus, lunch at the Wirtshaus am Tuxer Ferner, a day on the Hintertux Glacier and its Panorama Terrace, the Natur Eis Palast ice cave inside that glacier, an afternoon fishing at the Bochra See in Stumm, and the Almabtrieb cattle drive if your dates land in autumn. The Zillertal is a side valley of the Inn in Tyrol, running south from Jenbach to the glacier at Hintertux, and it works as a base because the valley floor is flat and every activity sits a short drive off it.
The Austrian Alps get overlooked next to the French, Swiss and Italian ones, which is most of the reason to come here. The Zillertal has glacier skiing 365 days a year at one end and quiet farm villages at the other, and in summer the hiking is the point.
7 things to do in Zillertal
The 7 activities are listed below, starting with the two hikes and ending with the autumn festival.
1. Bike and hike to the Schleierwasserfall in Hart im Zillertal
The Schleierwasserfall hike at Hart im Zillertal is short, steep and easy to find, and it forms part of the larger Natur Erlebnisweg, or nature experience path. The Schleierwasserfall route climbs a little over 100 m (328 ft), from around 600 m (1,969 ft) to about 750 m (2,461 ft) at the top, on a wide path through the woods.
Start at the Gasthof Almdiele inn at Wasserfallstraße 36 in Hart im Zillertal. Opposite the Gasthof there is a large map of the region showing the waterfall, along with signs reading “Schleierwasserfall”. We rode there from Fügen on mountain e-bikes, which made the valley floor section a pleasure rather than a chore.
The full Natur Erlebnisweg consists of two circular walks, one of 2 km (1.2 mi) and one of 2.5 km (1.6 mi). Bring a carrier rather than a pushchair if you have small children: there is a stroller path, but it is unpaved and steep enough that carrying is easier.
You see parts of the waterfall on the way up, and you notice it drops in stages, each one interrupted by a small platform. A sign in German at the top explains why. The waterfall used to bring down enough debris to be dangerous, and once killed 10 people, so the flow was deliberately broken up with the platforms you have been walking past. They look entirely natural.
At the top you understand the name, which means bridal veil: the flow is narrow where it starts and opens out as it falls. The water is clear enough to refill a bottle from, and the way down follows the same path, with views over the valley.
2. Hike along waterfalls to the Tuxerjochhaus
The Tuxerjochhaus hike is the serious one, at 7.2 km (4.5 mi) with an ascent of 800 to 900 m (2,625 to 2,953 ft) and a descent of about 275 m (902 ft). The Tuxerjochhaus route starts at the bottom of the Hintertux cable car station, to the right of the large car park, where a signpost lists the options: take the Schleierwasserfall to Weitental to Tuxerjochhaus route.
This is a second Schleierwasserfall, not the one at Hart im Zillertal. Austria has several.
I walked it as part of a guided two-waterfall day. The other half of that day was the Krimml waterfall, which is over the Gerlos Pass rather than in the Zillertal itself and is tall enough to deserve its own trip; we cover it in the Krimml waterfalls guide.
The route officially takes 3.5 hours, and the Hintertux glacier site puts it at 4. My guide Rasmus and I did it in 2 hours 50 minutes. I am moderately fit, in that I can walk a long way, but I struggle with my breathing on sustained climbs, and this one climbs hard for the first 4 km (2.5 mi) of the 7.2. The route ends at the Sommerbergalm hut, from where you can take the cable car up to the glacier or back down to the valley. Current route descriptions and walking times are on the Hintertux Glacier summer pages.
The first section runs on a narrow but safe path between the trees. It is the steepest part and, despite my fear of heights, it never felt exposed. You get panoramic views over the valley at the start and again higher up, where there is a bench.
Above the tree line the landscape opens and you reach the 40 m (131 ft) Schleierwasserfall, which throws enough spray onto the path to leave you damp for a few metres. It is not enough to soak you, but a light rain jacket in the pack is sensible if the weather is already poor.
Past the waterfall you are properly in alpine country and the path widens to a gravel road. Keep your eyes open here, because this is marmot ground. We saw and heard several of them whistling, which they do standing upright on their back legs to warn the others; if you did not know what it was you would swear it was a bird. Rasmus had videos of marmots walking right up to him. We saw ours from a distance, along with black sheep, and with luck you might spot a chamois.
Near the top you choose between staying on the path to the Tuxerjochhaus or branching right onto a narrower, rockier line over the mountain. We took the hard way first and rejoined the road higher up. From the Tuxerjochhaus you can head straight down to the Sommerbergalm or first climb the Pfannköpfl at 2,388 m (7,835 ft), which has no real path but is said to be an easy scramble. I was ready for lunch.
What to wear. Proper hiking boots are not optional on this route. The gravel road at the top would be fine in trainers, but the first section is rocky, uneven and muddy, and it is not the place to find out your soles have no grip. Bring layers too. You gain a lot of height, and if there is wind at the top it gets cold quickly, especially if you are carrying on up to the glacier afterwards. I wore two hiking tops and sweated through most of the climb in what cannot have been much above 20°C (68°F), then cooled down the moment we sat still.
Benches are scarce along the way, so if you need to eat, sit on a rock.
Rasmus also passed on the one piece of advice I have used ever since: keep your breaks under 3 minutes, so your muscles and heart rate do not drop out of rhythm.
3. Have lunch at the Wirtshaus am Tuxer Ferner
The Wirtshaus am Tuxer Ferner is the restaurant at the Tuxer Fernerhaus station, reached by cable car up from the Sommerbergalm. The Wirtshaus is self-service in summer and adds table service in winter, and my lasagne was enormous, hearty and exactly what a three-hour climb had earned.
There is supposed to be a view from up here. When we arrived, the cloud was low enough that we could barely see the terrace, so if you get a clear day, you are luckier than we were.
4. Spend a day at the Hintertux Glacier
The Hintertux Glacier is the only Austrian glacier that runs 365 days a year, with lifts operating daily from 8.15 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. The Hintertux Glacier has snow at the top all summer, and around it there is hiking, biking, several playgrounds, and the Spannagelhöhle cave system under the slopes.
Getting up there in summer. The pedestrian Panoramaticket “Faszination Eis”, a return ride to the top station at Gefrorene Wand, costs €56 ($65, £49) for adults and €34 ($40, £30) for children born between 2011 and 2016, or €47 ($55, £41) and €27.50 ($32, £24) if you start after 11.45 a.m. Shorter returns cost less: €21 ($24, £18) as far as the Sommerbergalm at 2,100 m (6,890 ft), and €38 ($44, £33) to the Tuxer Fernerhaus at 2,660 m (8,727 ft). The summer pedestrian tariff runs from 19 June to 11 October 2026. Outside that window the mountain is a ski area rather than a walking one, and the pedestrian tickets do not apply.
I came for the water, so we hiked to the waterfalls and then went into the Natur Eis Palast at the top.
Visit the Panorama Terrace
The Panorama Terrace sits at 3,250 m (10,663 ft) on top of the glacier and gives a 360-degree view over the Zugspitze, the Dolomites and the Grossglockner. The Panorama Terrace is step-free, so you can reach it with a wheelchair or a pushchair, and you get there on the Gletscherbus 3 from the Sommerbergalm to Gefrorene Wand, the highest station in the region.
Cloud is the risk. We had a few metres of visibility and saw nothing at all, which on a mountain this high is simply how some days go.
Where the Hintertux Glacier is
Hintertux lies roughly 175 km (108.7 mi) south of Munich, at the head of the Tuxertal, southwest of the Gerlos Pass and southeast of Innsbruck, close to the Italian border. Hintertux is the last village in the valley, so the road ends there and the glacier lifts start from the car park.
5. Take a tour inside the Natur Eis Palast
The Natur Eis Palast is an ice cave inside the Hintertux Glacier, about a 3 to 4 minute walk from the Gletscherbus 3 top station. The Natur Eis Palast was found by a mountain rescuer called Roman, who descended into a crevasse on top of the glacier and found naturally hollowed rooms of ice beneath the ski slopes, then cut a route through them by hand.
Prices and booking. Adult entry is €39 ($45, £34) and children aged 6 to 14 accompanied by an adult pay €15 ($17, £13). The extended tour including the boat trip runs about 70 minutes. Guaranteed admission needs an online ticket, booked through natureispalast.info; otherwise there is hourly on-site registration between 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. and you take your chances. Older guides, this one included until now, said the cave was cash only and cost €21, and both have changed.
Who should not book it. There is a minimum age of 6, you need to be steady on your feet, and dogs are not allowed. Getting to the entrance means descending a steep slope, which in June was mushy rather than slippery but will be harder when it is icy. Inside, you climb short ladders of about 2 m (6.6 ft) between levels, well fixed but not optional. The cave holds a constant 0°C (32°F), so wear sturdy waterproof boots and warm clothing. You are given a helmet at the entrance.
What it is actually like. I went in worried, because the cave has a reputation for slippery floors, ladders and cramped passages. You walk on mats, and because visitors carry heat in with them, meltwater can film across those mats by the afternoon and make them slick. I never felt close to falling. The ladders were low enough not to trigger my fear of heights.
Group size is the real variable. We took the last tour of the day in June and were the only two people on it. Roman told me summer groups can reach 20, and walking single file through narrow halls behind 19 other people, straining to hear the guide, would be a different experience entirely. Off season is worth planning for.
Our guide was Paul, a young Englishman who had moved to the Zillertal a few years earlier and was plainly in love with his workplace. He talked about ice crystals, about the research being done in the cave, about the plans for its future, and about which celebrities had been through. A good guide makes an activity like this, and he made ours.
The boat trip. Broken down, it is not much: you sit in a rubber boat, a guide pushes you along a small lake and back. Then you remember you are in a boat inside a glacier, 30 m (98.4 ft) below the surface, under colour-changing lights, and it stops being not much.
How it keeps working. The largest hall is 15 m (49.2 ft) high and sits about 25 m (82 ft) below the ski slopes. Every day, Roman or a colleague pumps meltwater out of the halls and checks that the ceilings are still high enough to walk under, because water that was once snow and ice slowly raises the floor. Hearing how the weather outside dictates the work inside was the most interesting part of the tour.
My photos do not do the place justice. It is dark in there and you need better equipment than I was carrying.
6. Catch your lunch at the Bochra See in Stumm
The Bochra See is a small fishing lake at Zillerweg 30 in Stumm, and it is the kind of place that stays with you for the feeling rather than the spectacle. The Bochra See sits at the end of the road through the village, is named after the family that owns it, and needs no fishing licence.
What it costs. A day card is €18 ($21, £16) and includes €10 ($12, £9) of credit against the fish you catch. Rod hire is €5 ($6, £4) with a €10 deposit on the equipment, and bait costs extra, so budget a little above the headline price if you are arriving empty-handed. There is free parking at the lake, and you can also just walk around it, sit in one of the chairs and buy smoked fish without fishing at all.
When my taxi dropped me off, the owner Martina welcomed me along with a local who drops by daily for a coffee, a chat and to help out. Martina spoke no English, so she enlisted Martin, a 19-year-old revising for his final school exams and visibly glad of an excuse to leave his books, to teach me to fish.
Hold the line. Open the thing. Throw the line. Close the thing. Wait.
While the line sat in the water, Martin told me about the lake, about his plans after school and about how he never wants to leave the Zillertal. We talked about the Austrian school system, the mountains and how climate change is affecting winters in Austria. The 12 years between us did not seem to matter.
A sturgeon about a metre long patrolled the shoreline as if it wanted to play, later joined by two more. None of them went near our bait. Then came a pull, a wiggle, and a fish on the line. Martin grabbed the rod while I filmed. It was maybe 40 cm (15.7 in) and it fought hard enough to snap the line clean. “What an asshole,” said Martin, which was startling from someone who had been so soft-spoken.
We set up again as a school group arrived for a tour of the lake and an ice cream. I had expected the waiting to bore me and instead found the calm that hobbyist fishers talk about. Martin said there are sometimes 20 people fishing here and more again just watching.
I caught nothing and still did not go hungry. Martina brought out an appetiser of cucumber, carrot, radish, cured meats, grapes and cheese that would have been a meal on its own, and then the smoked fish arrived. Pure smoked fish, no sauce to hide behind. She does not smoke fish every day, so if you want some, call ahead or drop by the day before.
People kept arriving while I ate, to say hello, lend a hand or have a coffee. What Martina has built is not just a fishing lake and not just a cafe. It is somewhere locals and visitors sit down together, and I would send anyone there.
7. Check out the Almabtrieb festival
The Almabtrieb is the autumn cattle drive that brings the herds down from the high pastures, decorated, through the villages. The Almabtrieb happens across the Zillertal at the end of the alpine grazing season, and if your trip lands in September or early October it is worth arranging your days around. Full details are in our Almabtrieb festival guide.
Where to stay in Zillertal
Fügen is the practical base, because it sits low in the valley with a cable car, a bus network and hiking and biking routes starting from the village. I stayed three nights at the Haidachhof, a family-run four-star superior boutique hotel of 31 rooms next to the Fügen cable car station.
In winter a free ski bus runs from the door to the Hochfügen ski area, and in summer the hotel organises regular hiking and biking tours and lends out poles and rucksacks. It also provides yoga mats, and runs summer yoga classes by the outdoor pool.
The wellness area has several saunas, a hot tub, a steam bath, a solarium, a large heated indoor pool, a large outdoor pool and a relaxation lounge, with bathrobes and slippers provided. Massages and treatments cost extra. There is a playroom for children, a billiard table, and occasional evening activities such as a casino night.
Half board gets you a full breakfast buffet with fresh coffee and eggs cooked to order, an afternoon salad and snack buffet of vegetables, tapas, fruit and cake, and a three-course dinner that starts at the salad buffet. The first course is always a choice between a hearty and a lighter soup, and the main is meat, fish or vegetarian, with an asparagus option added in season. There are two desserts, though you can ask for plain ice cream instead. None of it is the heavy version of typical Austrian food; the dishes were refined and I was still full at the end of every meal.
The staff were welcoming and spoke fluent English. I was there in low season with the hotel half empty and was upgraded to a suite, which gave me views both down the valley and up the mountain. Current rates and availability are on Booking.com.
How to get to Zillertal
Fly and then drive, because the Zillertal has a valley railway but no way to reach most of the trailheads on it. Getting from the station to the Bochra See, the Hintertux car park or a Fügen hiking route means taxis or a hire car, and the hire car wins on both cost and time if you are staying more than two days.
Innsbruck and Munich are the useful airports, and flight options across both are searchable on Trip.com, which shows you which month is cheapest for your route. For the car, DiscoverCars compares more than 900 rental companies across the Innsbruck and Munich pick-up points.
Travel insurance for the Zillertal
Travel insurance matters more here than on a city break, because half of this list involves mountains, ladders and ice. It covers a cancelled trip, illness or injury abroad, and often stolen or broken electronics as well. I make sure I am covered on every trip I take.
If you do not have cover, look at SafetyWing. You can sign up after you have already left, they were the first travel insurer to cover COVID, and when I had COVID they reimbursed my costs without an argument.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
Five things are worth knowing before you book any of this, from what has changed since I visited and what I learned on the ground.
- Book the Natur Eis Palast online before you go up. Guaranteed admission needs an online ticket through natureispalast.info, and the on-site alternative is hourly registration between 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. with no promise of a place.
- Take the last ice cave tour of the day, off season if you can. I had a group of two in June. Summer groups run to 20 people in narrow halls, which changes both the comfort and how much of the guide you hear.
- Check the date before you plan a walking trip to the glacier. The summer pedestrian tariff runs 19 June to 11 October 2026, and outside it the mountain is set up for skiers rather than hikers.
- Keep your rest stops under 3 minutes on the Tuxerjochhaus climb. My guide Rasmus taught me this and it works: longer breaks let your heart rate and muscles drop out of rhythm and the restart costs more than the rest gained.
- Ask at the Bochra See the day before if you want smoked fish. Martina does not smoke fish daily, and the day card covers €10 of what you catch rather than a fixed weight.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her summer trip to the Zillertal, based in Fügen, with hikes at Hart im Zillertal and Hintertux, a tour inside the Natur Eis Palast and an afternoon fishing at Stumm. The team covers Austria and Tyrol for independent travellers, including the hotels, cable cars and guided activities worth booking, and updates this page when prices, opening hours and seasons change.
