Pale-maned horses grazing on a valley floor, a braided river leading to glaciers and snow peaks at the head of the valley.

Stubai and Ötztal

Two Tyrolean valleys of dark rock under glaciers, walked between alpine club huts and valley inns.

All three regions
Country
Austria
Fly into
Innsbruck
Best months
Late June to mid September
Where you sleep
Alpine club huts and valley inns
Routes here
2
 routes

Trips in this region

See all trips
Dusk over the valley of Gasthof Wildbach, a stream winding along the valley floor under a pink and grey sky.
Stubai and Ötztal
 · Grade 
3
 of 5

Stubai Ridge Walk

Five days along the ridge between two Tyrolean valleys, sleeping in alpine huts and one valley inn.

5
 days · 
52.4 km
 · 
3,135 m
 up
£1,180
See the route
A path cutting across a green slope high above a deep valley, a white river far below and mountains beyond.
Stubai and Ötztal
 · Grade 
2
 of 5

Ötztal Hut Taster

Three days and two nights, the shortest way to find out how you walk at altitude.

3
 days · 
28.2 km
 · 
1,478 m
 up
£640
See the route

Stubai and Ötztal are two neighbouring valleys in the Tyrol, cut into dark crystalline rock, mostly gneiss and schist, rather than limestone. Glaciers fill the heads of the valleys, and their meltwater runs grey and fast in the streams below. Paths climb from hay meadows and larch woods onto old moraine, and neither route crosses a glacier.

Of the two routes here, the Stubai Ridge Walk, grade 3, follows the ridge between two valleys and spends one night in a valley inn. The Ötztal Hut Taster, grade 2, is the shortest trip we run. Its high point, Grauer Joch at 2,860 m, is a broad saddle crossed with no scrambling.

Nights are in alpine club huts, where everyone eats together at shared tables, and in two valley inns, Gasthof Wildbach and Gasthof Ronach. Lena Gruber, an International Mountain Leader, guides both routes.

Guides in this region

Lena Gruber, Guide, outdoors: walking with a pole and a rucksack, a camera at her hip, among yellow flowers in Stubai and Ötztal.

Lena Gruber

Guide
·
Stubai and Ötztal

International Mountain Leader

She ran the kitchen of a 60-bed hut for four summers, so she knows when dinner is served and why.

Fernerblick Hut, stone and timber buildings with red and white shutters on a rocky slope, old snow on the ridge behind.
Drawn map of the eastern Alps cut to Stubai and Ötztal: the region shaded, with the short train and bus leg that reaches it from Innsbruck.

Stubai and Ötztal

Fly into

Innsbruck

Fly into

Innsbruck

Start

Stegenau, 1,177 m

Stubai Ridge Walk
Start

Ventrach, 1,483 m

Ötztal Hut Taster

Getting to the start

Lena Gruber meets the group at 9am on day 1, in Stegenau for the Stubai Ridge Walk or Ventrach for the Ötztal Hut Taster. Both villages are a train and a bus ride from Innsbruck, the one airport for this region, and your route notes list the connections.

Grey limestone walls and pale scree above a deep wooded valley.
Next region
Slovenia

Julian Alps

Paths climb from deep wooded valleys over limestone karst to high lakes, with nights in mountain huts and village guesthouses.

See the region