Alpbach

Alpbach sits at about a thousand metres in a side valley off the Inn, and it looks the way it does because of a decision: from the 1950s the village imposed building rules requiring new construction to follow the local vernacular in timber, with prescribed proportions, balconies and roof pitches, and it has held to them, so the whole settlement including the modern buildings reads as one thing. It won a European village competition on that basis and is routinely called the most beautiful village in Austria, which is a claim built by policy rather than accident. Since 1945 it has hosted the European Forum Alpbach each August, a conference bringing politicians, academics and students together, held in a purpose-built congress centre dug into the hillside so as not to break the skyline.

What you actually see

• Enforced vernacular building - all new construction in local timber style since the 1950s.
• A congress centre in the hill - dug in so it does not break the village skyline.
• The European Forum - the August conference running since 1945.
• A ski and walking valley - lifts linked with the Wildschönau since 2012.

When to go

June to September for walking; August for the forum; winter for skiing. A day.

Honest expectations

Forum weeks fill the village and accommodation entirely. The uniformity of the building style strikes some visitors as staged. It is a resort valley, priced accordingly.

Nearby

Rattenberg is down the valley; the Zillertal is east.