Silvretta High Alpine Road

The Silvretta-Hochalpenstrasse crosses the Bielerhöhe at two thousand and thirty-two metres between the Montafon in Vorarlberg and the Paznaun in Tyrol, about twenty-two kilometres with thirty-four hairpins, built in the 1950s alongside the hydroelectric scheme and tolled. At the top is the Silvretta reservoir, held by dams begun in 1938 and first filled to the top in 1951, with the Piz Buin and the glaciated peaks of the Silvretta group behind it - the same mountains that gave a well-known sunscreen its name, after the chemist Franz Greiter was sunburned climbing the Piz Buin in 1938. There is a path round the reservoir, boats in summer, huts, and routes onto the ice. The road closes with the first heavy snow and reopens when it is cleared, typically late spring.

Highlights

• A pass at 2,032 metres - thirty-four hairpins between Vorarlberg and Tyrol.
• The Silvretta reservoir - the dams begun in 1938, under the Piz Buin and its glaciers.
• Glaciated peaks - the Silvretta group, and the sunburn story that named a sunscreen.
• A lake circuit path - the walk round the reservoir at the top.

When to go

June to September; the road is closed by snow the rest of the year. Half a day.

Practical notes

Tolled and shut for much of the year. Weather at the top turns fast and is often cold and wet. Motorcycle and cyclist traffic is heavy at weekends. The glaciers have retreated substantially.

Nearby

Galtür and Ischgl are east; the Montafon and Bludenz are west.

Key facts