Half a Dozen Beautiful Rides from Seefeld & Scharnitz

Sitting on a high plateau on the western edge of the vast Karwendel National Park, Seefeld and Scharnitz have long been mountain sport meccas, popular amongst adventurous tourists from across Europe. The 2 towns are quite different - Seefeld is quite gentrified and touristy whereas Scharnitz is much more "rough and ready" - a real mountain town! It's only a 10 minute drive between the 2 places but they feel much further apart than that and most people generally prefer to base themselves in one or the other.

The riding accessible from the 2 towns is remarkably diverse, with many of Seefeld's best trips being cruisy journeys through forests whereas Scharnitz's best known adventures are wild affairs into high mountains. As such, a week spent based around the 2 towns will provide an exceptionally diverse trip, with both the terrain and difficulty of the rides being so varied. The 6 routes we've suggested here all have their own character and they cover all lengths, from short half-day hits to a huge, high mountain missions. The 4 rides from Scharnitz all lead you into the Karwendel mountains - these are amongst the wildest peaks in the Alps and offer a complete contrast to the nice forest journeys which begin in Seefeld.

The best way to work through this list is to pick off the easier routes (the 2 from the Seefeld and the journey up to the Kastenalm) on days with poorer weather, and save the 3 bigger rides for the sunniest parts of your trip. The journey to Achensee - the toughest ride in here - is a great way to finish and will take you over to one of Austria's best known lakes, where yet another load of adventures await!