Koppenvalley Trail

The 10km long trail leads from Bad Aussee to Obertraun through the romantic Koppen valley. Total walking time is around 3 hours. You will need sturdy walking shoes. There is an opportunity to stop off for refreshments in the Koppental valley.

Hiking suggestion:

Travel to Bad Aussee by train from either the "Obertraun Koppenbruellerhoehle" stop or the "Dachstein Hoehlen" railway station. Here we join a forest track which runs adjacent to the River Traun and the railway line. This brings us after about 1.8km to the so-called "Exit" where we approach the neighbourhood of Sarstein. To do this we need to cross the Traun and taking the gently ascending path. In Sarstein itself there are 2 places where you can buy refreshments.


After a short stretch through this romantic part of Aussee we reach a forest track. Here we make our way up to a mountain hut (the "Vogelhuette") and now and again we get a lovely view of the Krippenstein. The hut provides shelter when necessary. At this point we have already completed half of the walk. From here we bear left and walk down towards the Traun again. We cross the river via a newly built swing bridge. After 300m we pass the "Schutzhütte Koppental".


What now lies before us is 3.5 km of what is the most wildly romantic part of this new trail. This has been built on the old railway embankment which runs alongside the babbling Traun. The embankment was washed away by flooding in 1897 and then built up subsequently. We pass through the old railway tunnel which was the only defence against these water torrents and arrive, through a small detour, at the rugged Koppenbrüller Cave. These limestone, water-bearing caves with stalactites and stalagmites are open from the end of April to the end of September. There are guided tours daily from 10am to 4pm.


Now we are only 10 minutes' walk from the end of the actual Koppental trail, but there is an opportunity to take a diversion to the idyllically situated Lake Koppenwinkl and then to the Koppenwinkalm (mountain pasture). This is a round trip of around half an hour. The usual route (about 3,5 km long), however, takes us back to our starting point (Obertraun Dachsteinhoehlen station).


For those who wish to extend this comfortable, half day walking tour a little further there it is possible to follow the well-known "East bank hiking trail", 10 km trail along the eastern shore of Lake Hallstatt to Steeg. 

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