Munich Day Trip - Pertisau / Achensee (Austria)

At my prior company, we had an annual weekend retreat in Pertisau, Austria.  It's really a classic destination for Germans and Austrians:  in the gorgeous Alps, lots of "Sporthotels" to stay in (focus on healthy/organic food, have a good spa, mountain bikes to rent, etc.), petting zoos and park playgrounds for the kids... colleagues brought their families along each year and it was a real highlight.

Pertisau is a bit more than 90 minutes from Munich, with good traffic.  (That's another future post - parts of the autobahn have no speed limit, but good luck taking adantage with the crowds.)  Like many trips near Munich, Pertisau is located in the Tirol section of Austria.  Tirol has 2 primary mountain ranges:  the Karwendel and the Rofan (also called the Brandenbergs).  They're the quintessential peaks for hiking in summer and skiing in winter.  In the area around Achensee (Lake Achen) they have over 200km of cross country skiing trails and over 500km of well-marked hiking trails!  Plus, they maintain 12 live webcams to try and temp you into a day trip or holiday.

Here is Pertisau on Google Maps:

Below is the hotel where my old company put us up for the weekend.   Nice, right?  Green Alpine meadow, gray limestone cliffs, and blue skies.  The rooms (no photo) are typically utilitarian, with modest size, hard beds, a tiny television (they expect you're not there to watch the tube), and usually a small balcony.  Most guests get up early for vacationers - tables are pretty full for breakfast by 6:30!  If the sun is up, they want to be outside.

Obviously my visits there were in the Summer, which means hiking.  The path we took climbs from about 1100m to 1400m and takes 1.5 hours one way.  It's graded as "easy" so you see a lot of families with children.  Along the way, we saw a group a cows that looked like they came right from a tourist brochure.  My colleague went over to say hello.  Notice also the tiny flowers.  It is such a stereotype, but the Alpine meadows are picturesque.

As you get higher and round the corner to see the lake again, the view gets good.  The Achensee water is especially colorful (it's mainly glacial runoff), and the peaks in the back are very close.  The hotel is sitting the tiny valley below.  Many folks prefer to hit the beaches along the lake or even sail, but over a week you could do something different every day.



One thing I did not (and never have) done is paragliding, but I saw a lot of paragliders here and caught this guy on camera.  You also notice a small lookout over the lake with people resting, watching the paragliders.  This is definitely on my shortlist -- they say the updrafts here are strong enough but not too unpredictable or violent.

The destination, as usual, was a hut (and a little higher for a nice view).  The "menu" is typically Austrian:  cold cuts and bread, goulash soup, wurst and potato salad, and of course water/beer/juices.  There are a lot of huts on the trails, but we stopped at the Dalfaz Alm (see photo below).

For kids, one of the highlights is pigs that the hut keeps.  Here is my co-worker again, this time interacting with the pigs - who are eagerly sharing his banana.

Speaking of animals, the other things I love to see is people hiking with their dogs.  A couple brought along their pair of Huskies.  The summer heat can be tough on them, but at altitude (even only 1500m) it's more pleasant for these guys.

Well, that's a brief view of the opportunities that Pertisau / Achensee provides.  Check it out, or look at other options for an Austrian getaway in any season.