Today we’re showing you around one of the most picturesque corners in all of Austria
(Österreich): the Alpbachtal Valley located in Tyrol (Tirol).
This was our first time visiting Austria and I don’t think we could have chosen a better
place to start.
While we only had 3 days in this region, we managed to pack lots of time in the mountains,
sample the local cuisine and befriend more than one cow along the way.
The following is our mini-travel guide to Alpbachtal:
So these are the views from our chalet.
Isn't it amazing?
It is amazing.
It is such a small cozy little place.
Yeah.
Just a few rooms so I'll give you a quick little tour.
And we're actually sharing the place with a few travel blogger friends.
Yeah.
So come on in.
This is our room.
This is the room.
Are you going to wear shades indoors and be all cool.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll be all cool.
No, I can take them off.
Um, so yeah here is the bed.
So cozy.
Yeah, and everything is made out of wood.
Yeah.
It is like a log cabin.
Really, it really is.
And then look over here.
We have a spare bed.
Maybe this will be our sofa.
We'll probably just throw all of our belongings there.
After getting settled into our farmhouse it was time for lunch and boy were we hungry.
We drove to Brandenberg where we ate at Kaiserhaus, a restaurant and guesthouse tucked out in
nature.
What makes this place so special is that it was once a favourite holiday spot for Emperor
Franz Josef and Empress Sissi.
So we've just arrived at this beautiful little restaurant called Kaiserhaus right at the
foot of the mountains and we're going to be sampling some Austrian food.
Everything on the menu was very hearty and filling with lots of gamey meats and noodle
dishes.
You can see the cheese stretching.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Look at all of that cheese.
That looks so good.
So we just finished having a wonderful meal.
I ordered Spätzle which is like a tiny little noodle maybe the size of like my thumbnail
and it was so cheesy.
Yeah.
So so cheesy.
It was so so cheesy and so good like your when you would take a bite the cheese would
stretch long strings oh my gosh.
So good.
And what did you get?
And I had deer also with a little bit of Spätzle but that didn't have cheese but the deer was
really good.
It came with like gravy and it just had like a really rich taste.
It was really tasty.
And you know what is happening next?
We're going to have some cake but first we're going to learn how it is made.
Exactly.
Let's go.
So we just finished watching a Pruegeltorte demonstration and it is a cool cake that is
cooked on a cylinder.
Now it is time to try it.
The cake is ready.
Finally time to try the Pruegeltorte.
So yeah, the guy was just like layering the dough and then spinning the cylinder until
it cooked so you can kind of make out the layers here.
They are covered in icing sugar.
Yeah, that is really thick.
And I love how they've filled it with it looks like whipped cream and some kind of berry
sauce.
OMG.
How does this work?
First time sampling this cake.
Let's just break a chunk.
Grab some of this.
Mmmm.
Is that good?
That is very tasty.
And remember how I mentioned that the Emperor and Empress used to vacation here?
Well, after dessert we visited their old room in the guesthouse, which was surprisingly
humble!
So now it is time for a little walk in the woods.
We've had a lot of food and dessert and my gosh do we need to burn off those calories.
Oh, them bellies.
Them bellies.
We be stuffed.
Haha.
This was a really nice walk (Kaiserklamm) that followed the course of the river and
took us over a series of bridges and tunnels.
We enjoyed the scenery and also worked off some of that lunch.
Our only tip: wear sturdy hiking shoes as the path can be wet and slippery.
So here we are a walk through the woods in true Bill Bryson style.
Exactly.
Bumbling through the woods.
Yes.
Like we don't really know what we're doing.
Actually not so much the woods.
We're walking along a gorge.
Yeah.
To be precise.
And that was it for our first day in the Alpbachtal Valley.
After that we returned back to our town (Reith im Alpbachtal) where we had some more hearty
Tyrolean food and listened to a bit of live music.
Well good morning from our cozy little farmhouse here in Alpbachtal.
Good morning.
Sam how did you sleep?
I slept pretty well.
I slept through the night.
I did wake-up early like five in the morning and I'm just slathering on the sunscreen because
it is going to be a sunny day.
Yeah, and today we're going e-biking which should be a lot of fun.
We've never tried this.
First e-bike.
Yeah, for both of us.
Very 1st time to try it.
On day 2, we lucked out with clear blue skies, so after having breakfast in our farmhouse,
we drove to the town of Alpbach.
Here we got quick e-biking lesson, and set off to tackle the Alps in style.
Alright, so we are ready for today's activity.
We're going riding on e-bikes and this is actually my first time on one of these.
It sounded a little complicated at first but basically it gives you a nice little push
when you're biking up hill.
Yeah, let's show that menu there.
Yeah.
So you can set your speed.
Basically yeah it gives you that extra like oomph to get up the hill.
Allow me to demonstrate.
So it has been really fun so far.
The electric boost has really helped.
Like seriously.
There have been some hills that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed going up just on my
own.
So this electric bike has allowed to explore some really cool areas so far.
It wasn’t long before we left the town behind and found ourselves in the middle of nature.
We rode up valleys, over streams, through forests, and tackled some pretty steep inclines
along the way.
And so we've stopped again and found a nice natural place here to replenish our water.
Look at that.
Fresh mountain water.
It doesn't get any better.
OMG.
We have arrived.
We have reached the top of the mountain.
That was hard work.
Yeah.
I feel like it was 95% steep inclines and I mean the e-bike helps but it is still exhausting.
Well put it this way if we didn't have that e-bike we wouldn't have made it here.
No.
In the first place but it was definitely some serious exercise.
Yeah.
And the last part was the trickiest which means after we're done lunch going down will
be a lot easier.
Yeah.
But okay we've heard it is a 22 kilometer outing so I'm not sure how much we've covered.
I think we still have a ways to go.
But right now we're going to eat lunch and yeah I mean the scenery is beautiful.
I can't really complain because check that out.
That is stunning.
Snowcapped mountains.
Yeah.
And we're sure hungry too.
Yeah, let's go order food.
Chow time.
Let's go.
So we've earned our lunch.
What are we having?
We sure have.
So I've ordered the Tiroler Specknoeder Noodle which is basically a giant dumpling.
Yeah.
Look at the size of that.
And when we say giant we're not kidding.
Yeah that thing is the size of my fist.
That thing is huge.
And it comes in a soup in a clear broth.
So let's try this.
This is my first time having it.
I wonder how that is going to taste.
Never tried anything like that.
Mmmm.
Is it good?
It is kind of like bready with pieces of bacon inside.
Okay.
That is pretty good.
And what is the broth like?
I would venture a guess and say it is beef.
Haha.
Beef broth.
Okay.
Alright, so I ordered some giant sausages.
You sure did.
I can't remember the name to be honest.
Um but apparently it is probably the length of your arm.
Look at that.
Haha.
Right from my elbow all the way to my fingertips.
So yeah apparently there is two kinds.
One of them is spicy and I'll remember the name afterwards I'm sure.
I'll let you guys know what it is.
But for now let's try it with the mustard.
I'm just going to pick it up caveman style, dunk it in.
Mmm.
Oh yeah.
That is really nice.
That mustard has a bit of a kick to it.
It is a little bit spicy.
I like how you're eating it like jerky.
Yeah, just picking it up.
Why not.
I'm too tired to use my cutlery right now.
After dropping our bikes off, we then drove to the nearby village of Kramsach, where we
stopped off for - you guessed it - more food!
We were famished after all that biking, and we didn’t hold back.
We plopped ourselves down at Rohrerhof, where we proceeded to order cappuccinos, massive
dessert platters and schnapps.
I'm trying my first apricot schnapps.
Here we go.
Once we had eaten again, we were ready to focus on our next attraction: the Tyrolean
Farmhouse Museum (Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe), where Sam got schooled on how farmhouses work.
Less parties, more work.
So let's pretend it is 1675.
That is the year this houses dates to.
Yeah.
How would you have enjoyed living in here?
Well, look at the size of this behemoth.
I think it is massive.
I would have enjoyed the size that is for sure.
It would have been great for entertaining.
Great for entertaining.
Hahaha.
Entertaining?
Maybe if I had like 10 babies or something.
You would have been working the farm.
There you go well we would have probably needed all the space then but it is quite an impressive
architecture though.
Yeah.
Alright, lead us in.
Let's go.
Have a grand tour.
I love that you're thinking about entertaining.
Haha.
Yep.
So this is the house would have entertained in.
Yeah.
Entertained your cows?
Apparently not.
But look.
Here is the tool shed.
Maybe you would have picked up some carpentry as a hobby.
Yeah.
But over here we could have entertained.
Alright.
Good morning good morning.
It is day 3 and we're getting started early.
Yeah.
Today we're going to be riding the ski lift here in Alpbachtal (Wiedersbergerhorn) to
the very top of the mountain.
We should be able to get some beautiful views.
Apparently there is already snow up there.
Yeah, we were shown a live feed yesterday and there is already quite a bit of snow so
we actually have layers to put on as we get up to the top.
Mmmhmm.
It is so bright but we are in the little gondola we're going up the hill.
There is actually a whole bunch of cows in the pastures right below and we hear their
little bells.
Ding ding ding ding.
It is kind peaceful actually hearing the little cowbells.
There is goats.
It makes us less aware that we are high up in the air.
Yeah.
And you get some beautiful views of the town off in the distance right behind me.
Look at that.
After a leisurely walk and enjoying the impressive views, something else caught our attention
- a mountaintop restaurant with an outdoor terrace!
We already had lunch plans, so we couldn't really linger here, but that didn’t stop
us from grabbing a mid-morning coffee al fresco.
Alright, it is time for a coffee break and I have to say it is a lot warmer today than
we expected.
We brought a lot of clothes.
Yeah.
I probably could have walked around in my t-shirt to be honest.
I know.
We've got snow but it is really warm.
The sun is out.
The sun is very intense up here.
So the sun came out and here we are on top of a mountain short sleeves, snow everywhere
enjoying a coffee.
It is cool.
It is quite the contrast.
If the sun was somehow blocked behind the clouds there is no way we'd be wearing short
sleeves.
Haha.
So we've just had some lunch and the main event is about to begin.
You can probably already hear the music in the background.
But basically we're in the town of Reith im Alpbachtal and every year at the end of September
they have this huge celebration (Almatrieb) where the cows return from the pastures and
they parade through the town and they're all decorated with like these flower crowns and
yeah it is a huge event.
There is like thousands of people in the town right now and this festival is called Almatrieb.
So yeah, it is going to be a lot of fun.
Let's go see some cows.
(Cowbells)
Cows!
Oh my gosh that was so cool.
And they just keep coming and coming in waves.
So I think we're going to see a whole lot more.
Yeah, don't they look so pretty.
They're all dressed up in their flower crowns.
Yeah, they are beautiful and just ding dong of the bells.
It is pretty fabulous I have to say.
By noon, the festivities were in full swing.
But it wasn’t all about cows.
There were also craft demonstrations, food stalls, and lots of bands playing for jovial
crowds who created their own dance floors.
(Austrian music)
(Crackling whips)
And that pretty much sums up our trip to the Alpbachtal Valley in Tyrol (Tirol) - cows,
mountains and a whole bunch of delicious food.
We hope you really enjoyed following along we’ll see you in Vienna (Wien) for our next
video.