The Big Train Ride to Bregenz

Posted on August 28, 2015 in Austria Inghams Lakes & Mountains Summer Destinations by Kevin.Holland Tags: , ,

Hello again from Michelle, your Inghams Resort Rep this summer in Obergurgl!

After enjoying my recent day driving over the Timmelsjoch mountain pass and down to Merano in Italy, this time I decided to do something completely different: my mother came over from England to visit and I have been promising my two sons for ages now, that we would go somewhere on the train as they had never both been on a ‘big’ train (!). We set about looking at options from Ötztal Bahnhof, the closest station to Obergurgl and situated on the main Vienna-Salzburg-Innsbruck-Zürich line.

After much deliberation we settled on going to Bregenz, as it promised much in the way of keeping all of us entertained and represented a journey of just over two hours, travelling west through the Arlberg and up toward the Germany border.

As one can imagine the scenery en route was simply stunning. The train stops at a handful of stations on the way to Bregenz but not so many that the journey feels like it drags at all. The trains themselves are simply fantastic! To start with, let me share with you this: in 2014, 96.7% of trains across the country arrived on time, the definition of which is that a train arrives within 5 minutes of its scheduled time. The trend for 2015 is already headed in the same direction.

The trains are modern and clean, and neither the tickets themselves nor the onboard refreshments are overpriced. We caught the 8.04am train and the Hobbits..; sorry, boys (!) were hankering after a ‘second breakfast’ so a visit to the restaurant car was made. Fresh coffee and juice, accompanied by freshly-baked produce did the trick.

After breakfast we just sat back and enjoyed the scenery, which as you may be able to imagine, is just stunning. I’ve included a couple of shots below:

(The village of Roppen, soon after leaving Ötztal Bahnhof in the morning)

The journey seemed to pass incredibly quickly, and just after 10am we arrived in Bregenz, the western-most provincial capital in Austria and the seat of local government for the province of Vorarlberg. It has a reputation as having a bit of Mediterranean flair due to its typically lovely summers and its location right on the shores of Lake Constance, the third largest freshwater lake in Europe, shared with neighbours Germany to the north and Switzerland to the west. The area has been inhabited as early as 1500 BC and today houses a population of some 30,000 or so. Something I found of interest: Bregenz is twinned with Bangor in Northern Ireland!

Bregenz is best-known for its annual ‘Bregenzer Festspiele’ music festival, where every year an Opera is produced on a special lake-side stage. Every second year a different opera is performed and the event attracts thousands of visitors from around the globe. The location has even starred in a Bond movie!

(The ‘Festspiele’ stage, in 2015 ‘Turandot’ is the production)

Our first planned activity for the day was to go in the cable car, up the Pfänder mountain. The lift station is some 15 minutes walk from the train station and well sign-posted (as is the city in general). We happened to visit Bregenz on a day that a large food market was set up in the town centre so after having a look at that, we arrived after a few minutes at the lift base station.

The short journey takes you up to a height of 1064m, which is not huge by Austrian standards I know, but nevertheless the views from the top are simply breathtaking. Facilities at the top are good, with a children’s play park and a restaurant catering happily for visitors.

(The views from the top of the Pfänder mountain)

Aside of the cable car ride, the next attraction lay for us in the form of the Alpenwildpark, a small animal sanctuary at the top of the mountain. It takes about half an hour to walk around the trail and see all the animals. Sadly in 2015 the eagle viewing centre is closed for refurbishment but will be back open in 2016, where twice daily a flight show will again be put on for visitors to enjoy.

(The animal sanctuary)

We enjoyed a hearty lunch then at the restaurant before making our way down to the harbour and lakeside and a bit of an explore in general, eventually ending up on a tiny peninsular park, where steps lead down to allow us to cool off by dipping our feet into the water!

(Lake Constance, view toward the main promenade of Bregenz)

Once we’d cooled down sufficiently it was agreed by all that it was time for afternoon refreshments before taking the return train back to Ötztal Bahnhof (our return train was booked for shortly after 4pm). There are a multitude of cafés along the waterfront and all seemed very inviting. Certainly we were not let down with our choices of Hugo aperitifs and ice creams!

(A ‘Coupe de Danemark’ on the left with hot chocolate sauce to pour over the ice cream, and a ‘Hugo’ for the grown-ups on the right: in my opinion the best summer aperitif you can have!)

We could have stayed for HOURS more to be honest! The surroundings were simply lovely and we felt very well looked after indeed (as the pictures above hopefully show!). Alas, we did have a train to catch and, in fairness, the views on the journey home helped admirably to make us feel better!

I can only summarise the day as perfect for all of us, both old and young alike. I will definitely return to Bregenz and if you are interested in visiting, as well as the option of travelling on the train (meaning it is very easily accessible from the resorts of Brand, Lech, St Anton, Ischgl, Obergurgl, Seefeld, Neustift, Igls and Innsbruck – anything further east might make the day very long to be honest), Inghams sells holidays to a number of resorts on Lake Constance itself, namely Bregenz, Lindau and Constance. Rest assured, whichever you choose, you will enjoy a truly unforgettable stay!

Blog by Michelle Robinson, Resort Representative in Obergurgl.