Hohe Tauern National Park

Hohe Tauern National Park lies in the Austrian Alps, stretching for 100 kilometres along the Hohe Tauern range. Owned by the Austrian Alpine Club, it covers 1,834 square kilometres, making it Austria’s largest national park and the Alps’ biggest nature reserve. The park divides into a core zone of 1,198 square kilometres, including the Grossglockner and Grossvenediger massifs, where farming is banned. A fringe zone of 636 square kilometres allows forestry and alpine-meadow farming. Five special nature sanctuaries remain untouched by human activity. Protection began in 1971 with a declaration signed at Heiligenblut, though the first parts around Grossglockner and Hochschober were not safeguarded until 1981. The remaining areas joined in 1992, reducing harm from tourism while preserving traditional Alpine ways of life. The park’s glaciers, including the Pasterze, feed the Krimml Waterfalls, one of Europe’s tallest. Glacial valleys, alluvial fans, tundra and forests shape the landscape. Visitors walk through forests of Swiss Pine along the tree line, where alpenrose and Saxifraga rudolphiana grow up to 2,800 metres. Chamois, Alpine ibex and red deer graze in open areas, while griffon vultures and golden eagles circle overhead. Bearded vultures and Alpine marmots, once extinct here, have been brought back successfully. The park’s quiet valleys and high peaks offer clear views of glaciers and waterfalls.