Karwendel Nature Park

The Karwendel covers about seven hundred and twenty square kilometres between the Inn valley and the German border, which makes it the largest protected area in Tyrol, and its structure is unusual: four long parallel limestone chains separated by deep valleys running east to west, most of them with no through road, so the interior is reached on foot, by bicycle or by the shuttle buses that serve a few of them. Protection here is old, going back in parts to 1928. The Nordkette rises directly above Innsbruck and its cable car takes you from the city centre to two thousand metres in twenty minutes, which is the quickest access from any Alpine city to high mountain terrain. Golden eagles, chamois and one of the last near-natural river systems in the Alps, the Isar headwaters, are inside.

What you actually see

• Tyrol's largest protected area - 720 square kilometres of limestone chains.
• Long roadless valleys - reached on foot, by bike or shuttle bus.
• The Nordkette cable car - Innsbruck city centre to 2,000 metres in twenty minutes.
• The Isar headwaters - among the last near-natural river systems in the Alps.

When to go

June to October for the high ground; the Nordkette runs all year. Two days.

Honest expectations

Valleys are long - eight to fifteen kilometres in from the road heads - so plan bikes or the shuttle. Huts book out. Weather turns fast on the ridges. The Nordkette top is crowded.

Nearby

Innsbruck is directly below the Nordkette; the Achensee is east.