The Lechweg trail - feeeeeeedback pleeeeease! Or other similar ideas nearby?

Posted by Hank (City of Seattle) on 10/10/24 10:14 PM

Hi travel peeps!

Got the Lechweg hiking trail on my radar now for some outside family fun July 2025. There is an older thread with a little bit of solid info courtesy of local's local mchpp, but that thread has been closed due to old.

The trail is in the Alps, Arlberg and Tirol, so in the west of Austria. It runs from a pretty lake above Lech to Fussen Germany. Something like 75-80 miles to do it all, but we are not completist. Rather we'd like to pick the juiciest sections for 2 or 3 full day of walking.

Back out from trail specific just a bit, I will already be in Europe when my family arrives to Frankfurt on a Sunday at noon. My plan is to whisk them away by car to the Alps. Spend the night somewhere nice along the way maybe (maybe lovely Kempton in Allgäu), or direct to a starting point on the trail and stay there. Then walk two or three days, stay overnight in villages along the way. Carry backpacks with only the most necessary stuff.

We've done this sort of trekking village to village before, and it's a nice way to travel. Great way to start a trip - nothing beats jet lag like exercise in the fresh air and sunshine.

It doesn't have to be the Lechweg, but the Lechweg looks pretty cool. As far as I can tell, the best stages are the 3rd and 1st, with the 4th also right in there. So we might walk Stage 1 from Formarinsee to Lech. Then use bus skip Stage 2 Lech to Warth. Continue through the next two stages, bus back to car (or park at end and bus to beginning) and then head out for other activities.

Somehow I doubt anyone on this forum has walked the Lechweg? I'm quite interested in the general area, but don't necessarily need to walk the Lechweg. Maybe there is some similar mini-trek one could stitch together outside of Oberstdorf? That would be more convenient to be sure. But that valley's main trail, if I remember correctly, is a bit more of a flat multiuse path? I'd like hillside hiking trails if possible, of which the Lechweg sections at which we are aiming have a good bit.

So yeah - thoughts, feedback, specifics, alternate areas with similar treks, happy to hear it all :)

Posted by mchpp

Oberpfalz, Germany

10/13/24 03:42 PM

1384 posts

I would just do it, If you have the time and means. July should be great weather. Be prepared and take it as it comes. Seek out the Bauernhof and Alm. I spent my time in Hintertux and Ramsau in Dachstein this year. My long hiking days are over, and I wish you well.

Posted by Robert

Austin, TX

10/15/24 01:03 AM

110 posts

It requires more planning, but linking together some mountain huts might be more interesting than hiking along a river between towns. Rappensee Hut is near Lech, for example.

Posted by Hank OP

City of Seattle

11/03/24 08:09 PM

1951 posts

A few add on to this thread for posterity.

Previously I said we might do Stage 1 and then skip Stage 2. Now we are planning the opposite, skip Stage 1 and do Stage 2.

Stage 1 is the highest elevation stage, with the most elevation drop. It requires a bus ride south from the village of Lech, and then you backtrack to Lech from Formarinsee. So this section is more like a bus ride and day hike back to where you started than a true through hike type section. Also, in the media I've seen the terrain is above treeline but not particularly spectacular. We of course are spoiled by living in a place with an enormous amount of eye-watering high alpine beauty, and we wouldn't drive in our own area to see Stage 1 of the Lechweg. We'd rather use that day for a more spectacular high country part of the Alps elsewhere.

As for Stage 2, more review of media has shown it might be the most beautiful day on the Lechweg. 2, 3 and 4 look like the meaty core of the Lechweg's Austrian mountain joy country. Now Stage 2 from Lech to Warth is the stage I'm most looking forward to.

A commenter above suggested that a hut to hut hike might be harder to plan but more rewarding than "walking along a river." While I could quibble with harder to plan - in both cases you simply email the places you will be sleeping and make a reservation - the idea that the Lechweg is a simple walk along riverside gravel paths is inaccurate. Stage 2 for instance climbs nearly 2000 vertical feet over a nine mile day, much of it on gnarly single track trails, occasionally with fall exposure. Stage 3 is 10.5 miles with 1000 feet of up. Stage 4 is 8.5 miles and 1700vf of climbing. The first comment on Stage 4 from all trails: "This hike was more challenging than expected. Lots of tight edges and tree roots along the way. Glad it wasn’t raining."

Which is all to say while the Lechweg isn't the haute route across Switzerland, we will be challenged enough, and tired at the end of the day. We wilderness backpack regularly and have hiked hut to hut in Europe. I don't see the Lechweg as a major downgrade to hut to hut hiking. Just different in that you visit traditional agrarian Alpine villages along the way instead of mountain huts and high passes. All but the most intense mountain jocks would find this trek beautiful, challenging enough, and satisfying.