Discover Kaunerberg: Waterway, Nature and Chapels

Kaunerberg combines distinctive landscapes with trails, a history of water management and small sacred buildings. Anyone looking for a holiday apartment in Kaunerberg will find a starting point here for hikes and mountain bike tours into the surrounding mountains. At the same time, the Kaunerberg Waterway, the Kauns-Kaunerberg-Faggen nature reserve and several chapels invite visitors to discover the surroundings at different paces.

Waterways and tours in the mountains

A central experience is the Kaunerberg Waterway. The hike can be started from Kaunerberg and leads from the mouth of the Inn at Faggen and Prutz via Kauns and Kaunerberg through the hamlets of Unterfalpetan and Oberfalpetan to the Gallruth tunnel. The route includes an irrigation tunnel approximately 1 kilometre long. This makes it possible to enjoy a hike during which not only the landscape but also the history of irrigation becomes visible.

The Kaunerberg hillside canal was built at the end of the 1940s with funds from the Marshall Plan. The 13-kilometre-long canal brings water from an altitude of around 2,000 metres to the dry slopes in Kaunerberg, Kauns and Faggen. Anyone interested in the connection between landscape and human use will encounter a tangible piece of regional history here.

Various options are available for additional days of hiking. The Aifner Alm–Falkauns Alm panoramic trail is a high-altitude hike on the sunny balcony of the front Kaunertal and connects two pleasant alpine pastures with little elevation gain. The wheelchair-friendly hike at Aifner Alm starts at the car park on Kaunerberger Straße or at the turn-off to Aifneralm and ends at Aifner Alm; both points are in Kaunerberg. The pilgrimage routes from Kaunerberg and Kauns are also worth noting: they meet shortly before the Engelsbach stream. Another hiking trail leads from Kaunerberg via Unterfalpetan, Oberfalpetan and Wiesenhof to the pilgrimage church of Kaltenbrunn.

Dry Grasslands, Ponds and Exceptional Biodiversity

The Kauns-Kaunerberg-Faggen nature reserve comprises dry grasslands, rock bands, shrub and woodland islands, as well as overgrown dry-stone clearance walls. Together with the sunny slopes of Fließ, it forms Tyrol’s largest dry-grassland complex. Surveys conducted in the 1970s recorded more than 500 plant species, 1,100 butterfly species and around 150 beetle species there. Kaunerberg is also an important part of the protected area for the brown brook, the Tyrolean native bee.

The Schnadiger Pond at the foot of the Hohe Aifnerspitze offers a different landscape experience. The irrigation pond is surrounded by a small patch of woodland. The car can be parked at the car park; from there, an approximately ten-minute gravel path suitable for pushchairs leads to the pond. Fishing in the Schnadiger Pond above Falpaus, a district of Kaunerberg, is possible from April to September and requires proof of having completed the fishing instruction course.

Chapels, Pilgrimage Routes and Regional History

The chapels also make Kaunerberg interesting for travellers with an interest in culture. Unterfalpetan Chapel is located in the district of the same name. In the hamlet of Prantach stands Prantach Chapel, a large single-nave building with a 3/8 apse dating from the 17th century. It contains a carved statue of the Virgin Mary of Grace; the base is marked 1640.

The Chapel of St Martin stands in the Obwals district. It was built in 1866 and dedicated to Saint Martin. Maierhof Chapel is a small octagonal central building in the hamlet of Mairhof dating from 1677. The small barrel-vaulted Brauneben Chapel is located in a forest in the Brauneben district and dates from the 17th century. A Stations of the Cross route to Nufels Chapel was established in 1781. Since 1947, Kaunerberg has also been home to one of North Tyrol’s largest fruit orchards.

When choosing your holiday apartment, you can therefore consider which daily rhythm suits your trip: Would you like to start hikes directly from Kaunerberg, plan an excursion to the pond, or combine trails, alpine pastures and chapels? The different destinations allow for varied planning without every day of your holiday having to follow the same pattern.

More destinations for trip planning

For further comparison, you can also view Nauders, Feichten in the Kaunertal, Fiss, Serfaus, Sankt Jakob am Arlberg, Spiss, See and Kappl.

For the overarching travel overview: Landeck.