Walgau

The Walgau is a broad valley in southern Vorarlberg, Austria, stretching about twenty kilometres along the Ill river. It lies between the Rätikon mountains to the south and the Walserkamm range to the north, forming a natural corridor from the Rhine valley at Feldkirch to Bludenz. The valley floor holds scattered villages and pockets of flood-plain woodland, while steep slopes carry scattered hamlets and small farms. Two hydro-electric plants on the Ill and Lutz harness the water power of the region. The valley has long been a crossroads of languages and cultures. Roman place-names survive in local records, and medieval texts speak of a rätoromanisch-speaking majority until the 17th century. Today the region is predominantly German-speaking, yet traces of its past appear in micro-toponyms and local memory. Bludenz at the eastern end is the valley’s largest settlement, anchoring a ribbon of villages that together hold more than fifty thousand people. The Walgau also links to the Montafon, the Great Walser valley and the Brandnertal, offering walkers and motorists alike a gateway to the High Alps. Visitors find a quiet landscape of meadows, orchards and wooded slopes framed by rugged peaks. The Ill winds through broad meadows where cattle graze in summer, and the valley sides rise quickly to forested ridges. Small parish churches with painted ceilings stand beside farmsteads, while the river itself is spanned by modest bridges and power-line crossings. From the valley floor minor roads climb to hamlets such as Thüringerberg or Bürserberg, each offering long views over the Rhine valley and the distant summits of the Silvretta.