I went to St Anton in Austria on a ski trip and one of the non-ski activities that we did was visiting the Valluga viewpoint 2811 meters high. I really had no idea what to expect apart from being told that from the top of the Valluga it’s possible to see over 5 Countries on a clear day– Austria, as this is the country it’s in, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein (which I’d never heard about until researching it) and Italy! Pretty cool hey.
How to Visit Valluga Viewpoint from St Anton
Visiting the Valluga viewpoint is definitely a trip worth doing whilst in St Anton whether you are a skier or non-skier!
The journey up there was a mix of awe at the mountains but also a mix of impatience from the queues, however once at the top it was totally worth it and thankfully, because most of the skiers go up in the gondolas but ski down, it’s a lot quieter on the way down.
From St Anton town, we took the Galzig Bahn gondola all the way up to the first stop. This is a gorgeous ride and takes a good 10 minutes or so, it was nice seeing the town of St Anton below, going over the bars and hotels that are slightly further up the mountain and before I knew it we were being pulled right up into the mountains. The gondola car is pretty big fitting 15 or so people, I went in it 2 days running, one day it was packed and the other I had it all to myself!
On exit, I was surprised to see a fully catered platform including shops, restaurants, a bar, toilets and an amazing view of St Anton.
From here we queued to get onto the Valluga Bahn I, this took a bit of time but there is a good system (thanks to German engineering) and once we were at the top of the stairs we were straight on the next gondola. We weren’t sure how far this car was going to take us but not only did it take us high it also took us far, right along the mountains. This gondola was another car that could fit a lot of people and their skis in so it was a bit tight at full capacity but the view’s were incredible so it was ok!
The next stop is another well-catered area, it’s a little smaller but it has toilets and a restaurant. The restaurant is a bit old school but the views from it are pretty awesome.
This is where we queued for quite some time and it did get quite tight with some people queuing for the next Gondola right to the top and others trying to get into the restaurant but we were eventually at the end of the queue and getting into a very small cable car which only fit 5 adults! I believe this is called the Valluga Bahn II (original!).
The views from this part of the journey were incredible as we were so high up!
This gondola only took a few minutes and we were soon disembarking onto the lower Valluga viewing platform before heading up to the 360 viewing deck! The views up here were truly amazing and the viewing deck has signs all around it showing the names of each of the mountains we could see which spread over the 5 Countries! We were so lucky with the weather as you can see in the photos and it was absolutely gorgeous!
It’s worth noting that there are no facilities up here at the Valluga viewpoint, just the 2 viewing decks.
After this, it was time to go back down to St Anton town for a beer. Overall, including stopping for lunch it took just a few hours and they were a few hours well spent! As I said, it was also a lot quieter on the way down and quicker as a lot of people skied down from the top.
You can use your ski pass to get up all of the gondola’s if you already have one, and if you are a non-skier or a non-skier that day you can purchase a walking pass to get you to the top!
If you are a non-skier and you’re not sure what to pack for your trip see –