Nockalm Road

The Nockberge are made of old crystalline rock that weathered into rounded grass-covered domes rather than the limestone spires and glaciated peaks that define most of the eastern Alps, so a range topping two thousand metres looks more like uplands than mountains - the local word Nock means a rounded hump. The Nockalmstrasse runs about thirty-five kilometres over the range in fifty-two hairpins, opened in 1981, tolled and closed by snow for much of the year. Along it are alp huts, information points on the geology and the arnica and gentian flora, walking routes over the domes, and larch forest. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve and part of it was a national park before the designation changed; grazing continues on the alps as it has for centuries.

What you actually see

• Rounded grass domes - old crystalline rock weathered unlike the limestone Alps.
• Fifty-two hairpins - the toll road crossing the range over thirty-five kilometres.
• Working alp huts - grazing continuing on the pastures beside the road.
• A biosphere reserve - the Nockberge and their flora under UNESCO designation.

When to go

May to October; the road closes in snow. A day.

Honest expectations

The road is tolled and shut for a good part of the year. Cloud sits on the domes often. It is a driving and walking route - there is little else along it besides huts.

Nearby

Bad Kleinkirchheim is south; the Millstätter See is south-west.