If you know me, you already know that Allgäu is my absolute favorite hiking area in Germany. Fellhorn in Allgäu is one of the most touristed hiking mountains. As someone who loves writing detailed hiking blogs, it only seemed fair that I dedicate a blog post to Fellhorn and gush over this relatively easy ridge walk. Therefore, in this blogpost,I will share everything you need to know to hike up Fellhorn from Germany, walk across the ridge to Austria and have a wonderful day in the Alps!
Contents
- Why Fellhorn?
- Getting to Fellhorn
- Public Transportation
- Car/Motorbike
- Hike to Fellhorn
- Best time to visit Fellhorn
- Things to know about Fellhorn
- Costs
- Transportation
- Food
- My Fellhorn experience
- Ready, Set, Go!
Why Fellhorn?
Fellhorn is located in Kleinwalsertal. Despite being a hiker’s paradise, this spot heavily reeks of tourism. Therefore, if you are looking for a quiet, calm hike, this is definitely not the hike for you. On a sunny weekend, with the endless cable cars up the multiple summits, you will encounter plenty of families, tourists and the occasional influencer with flip flops and straw hats! Nevertheless, the very fact that it is strewn with cable cars is the mere appeal of this hike. It can easily be done by both beginners and advanced hikers.
TLDR; there is something for everyone in Kleinwalsertal!
In case you are a hiking beginner interested in testing the waters by doing this hike, I would highly recommend glancing through my beginner’s guide to alpine hiking to be fully prepared for this adventure!
Getting to Fellhorn
It is possible that this hike could be a little long to be done as a day trip from Munich using public transportation. The travel time to Oberstdorf is just under three hours from Munich. A better alternative would be to start from somewhere like Kempten or even Oberstdorf. However, as Munich is the biggest city in the area, this section will feature directions from Munich.
Public Transportation to Fellhorn from Munich
Getting to the trailhead of this hike from Munich takes approximately three hours. Depending on your time of departure from Munich, you will either take a direct train to Oberstdorf or switch at Buchloe, Immenstadt or Kempten and continue in another regional train (RE) to Oberstdorf. More information regarding the train schedules can be found here (The departure and arrival stations must be mentioned as ‘München Hbf’ and ‘Oberstdorf’ respectively).
There are three main trailheads for this hike. The one that I chose is the longest one and starts at the parking lot of Söllereckbahn and leads to Fellhorn via the summit of Söllereck. To hike up Fellhorn my way, you will have to take bus number 1 to Kleinwalsertal Baad, Österreich and get off at Söllereckbahn. Alternatively, you can also continue in bus number 1 and alight at either Kleinwalsertal Riezlern Post or Kleinwalsertal Kanzelwandbahn in Riezlern, Austria. Both of these stops have routes heading to Kanzelwand which leads to Fellhorn and if you choose to hike more, descend via Söllereck. Lastly, if you want to take the cable car directly to the summit of Fellhorn, you will have to take bus number 7 to Alpe Eschbach and alight at Fellhornbahn, Brücke. The timetable of bus number 7 is linked here.
Car/Motorbike to Fellhorn from Munich
Driving from Munich to Fellhorn is far easier than opting for public transportation. If you would rather take the cable car instead of hiking up Fellhorn, put this GPS co-ordinates in your navigation device! The co-ordinates correspond to the paid parking lot of the cable car station. The drive time from Munich to this location is just over two hours.
If you choose to hike up Fellhorn, you could start the hike at Söllereck like I did. In this case, put this GPS co-ordinates in your navigation device. If you choose to go with this option, this is not a round trip trail. I descended via Kanzelwand to Riezlern in Austria. You will have to take Bus number 1 back to Söllereck.
Hiking Trails - Fellhorn
Trailhead – Link
The trailhead linked above corresponds to the paid parking lot at the base of Sollereck. Fellhorn is a very popular mountain and has lots of different trails leading to the summit. This section features the hiking trail that I did,
- Sollereckbahn (990m) – Solleralpe (1522m) – Sollereck (1706m) – Schappoldkopf (1968m) – Fellhorn (2037m) – Kanzelwandbergstation (1565m) – Gehrenspitze (1857m) – Riezlern (1087m)
This trail can also be done in reverse! In total, it took me approximately 8 hours with lots of photo stops and breaks. I descended via Kanzelwand to Riezlern. Although the trail is very easy, from an endurance perspective, I don’t recommend this hike for beginners. Therefore, if you are just starting out, this is probably not the trail for you! However, feel free to start the hike and descend at any time! There are numerous trails that go downhill once the ridge is reached. A comprehensive overview of the area is linked here.
Söllereck - Fellhorn - Kanzelwand - Riezlern
The first part of the hike from the valley station of Söllereckbahn up until the mountain station of Söllereckbahn is a bit boring. The trail is mostly asphalt and I hate those! However, after this part, the trail is really nice and cuts through some gorgeous regions of Allgäu. Alternatively, if you do not want to walk on tarred roads, you could also get to this part via Freibergersee.
After about two hours of hiking, you should be at the first peak, Söllereck. From here on, we start the ridge walk to Fellhorn and it is the BEST part of this hike! It is also interesting that when you are on the ridge walking towards Fellhorn, you are on the country border between Germany and Austria. Everything on your right is Austria and towards your left is Germany. Unlike other ridge walks, this one is also relatively easy and suitable for kids. Therefore, even if you are someone with no hiking experience, I would highly recommend taking the cable car up and doing this ridge walk!
Soon you will spot a tiny lake called Schlappoltsee and shortly after, you should reach the summit of Fellhorn. At any point in this hike, there are many trails going down. So, if you feel tired, feel free to take one of the many trails going down! I continued to Kanzelwandbahn and further to the third summit, Gehrenspitze from where you can start the descent to Riezlern!
Although this is a very easy hike with respect to terrain with an altitude difference of just 1000m and plenty of flat areas, it is a rather long one! The entire hike took me around 8 hours with plenty of photo stops and breaks.
Best time to visit Fellhorn
I visited Fellhorn in the middle of June on an overcast day and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The breeze was so refreshing. If hiking is your goal, I would highly recommend visiting Fellhorn in the summer months (June to September). As Kleinwalsertal is very popular with tourists, weekends can get really crowded. I am of the opinion that crowds can really take the beauty away from raw nature! Therefore, I would recommend visiting Fellhorn on a weekday instead.
This area is also very well known for skiing. Therefore, if skiing is on your agenda for the upcoming winter, Kleinwalsertal is definitely a great addition to your winter itinerary.
Things to know about Fellhorn
- The area around Fellhorn belongs to ‘Naturschutzgebiet Allgäuer Hochalpen’ (Allgaeu High Alps Nature Reserve). Free camping, campfires, paragliding, and drones are strictly prohibited within the national park! Moreover, there is also a heliport in Mittelberg. You are not allowed to fly a drone in the vicinity of a helipad.
- There are three cable cars in the area: Söllereckbahn, Fellhornbahn and Kanzelwandbahn. Due to the easy accessibility of the summits with these cable cars, this region is perennially crowded. Therefore, in order to truly appreciate the beauty of Kleinwalsertal, I highly recommend hiking on a weekday.
- Hiking poles are not exactly a necessity for this hike as the trail is very family friendly. But, I would recommend having hiking shoes on if you are planning to do the full hike as listed in this blogpost. A general overview of all the other necessary equipment required to hike in the Alps is listed in this blog post. Although not all of them are required for this hike, it is very helpful to be aware as to why hikers opt to carry certain equipment!
Costs
Transportation
If you are traveling from Munich with a group of friends, I would highly recommend purchasing the Bayern ticket! Bayern Ticket is a day ticket that lets you travel all around Bavaria in regional trains. This Ticket costs 26 EUR for one person and 8 EUR for every additional person (upto 5 people). i.e.,
- If you are traveling alone, you would pay 26 EUR
- If you are traveling with a friend, you would pay 26 + 8 = 34 EUR (for 2 people, 17 EUR per person)
More details regarding Bayern ticket is linked here.
If you are planning to take the cable car up, Fellhornbahn and Kanzelwandbahn are both priced at 33 EUR for a round trip. Söllereckbahn is priced at 24 EUR. More details regarding the cable cars (opening hours, one way price etc.) can be found here. Fellhorn Parkplatz and Söllereck Parkplatz both charge a parking fee of 4 EUR.
At the moment (June, July, August 2022), the German government is offering a subsidised monthly ticket due to the rising fuel prices. This ticket is called the 9 EUR ticket and is valid for the whole month for travel across Germany. The 9 EUR ticket is also valid for this trip to Fellhorn from Munich.
Food
It is a hiking tradition in Germany to dine at mountain huts after summiting. Therefore, for a complete alpine hiking expereince, I would usually suggest indulging in a hearty meal at one of the huts! In any mountain hut, a meal with a drink of choice would cost you between 15 to 20 EUR. As Fellhorn is a bit touristy, it could be that the rates here are a tad bit higher!
Therefore, it is always a good idea to carry some snacks to munch on during the hike. I typically get trail mixes, snickers and banana. If you need some insight regarding the kind of snacks to buy, the ‘smart snacks’ section of this blogpost should give you a fair idea! The snack costs for two people from a decent supermarket would be around 10 to 15 EUR.
My Fellhorn Experience
Fellhorn had been on my radar for quite sometime now! Initially, I was a bit skeptic because of how many tourists frequent Kleinwalsertal. However, almost everybody I knew had already been to Fellhorn and repeatedly gushed over how beautiful and easy the ridge walk is. This meant that I obviously had to give it a shot and assess for myself! Thus, on an overcast June morning, one of my dear friends and I set out to Fellhorn! Coincidentally, it was my hiking buddy’s birthday week as well and honestly, what better way to celebrate a lap around the sun than be in the mountains?!
Fellhorn Hiking Experience
We parked at Söllereckbahn and started the climb on an asphalt road to Sölleralpe. Halfway up, we realised that we forgot to place the parking ticket on the car window. Germany loves rules. Getting a parking fine after having paid for parking is definitely not ideal. But, the beauty of the mountains quickly made us forget all about the misery of our misplaced parking ticket.
Shortly after, we reached Sölleralpe and had our first snicker break before continuing further to Söllereck and the infamous ridge walk. Hiking with friends is always a different experience compared to hiking alone. Since it was also my friend’s birthday, there was a total sense of contentment and celebration clubbed with complete relaxation! We spoke about the layers of life, lessons in love, laughed about legacies all while surrounded by the mighty Alps.
Soon enough, we reached the ridge and experienced the magical feeling of hiking on the border in between two countries. Imagine having one foot in Austria and the other in Germany for an hour! It is definitely not an experience that happens daily! At that moment, I was simply so grateful that we decided to hike up Fellhorn on a cloudy Friday morning. There was not a soul present and we had the entire area to ourselves! What a blessing!
After a quick detour to our last summit of the day, Gehrenspitze, we made our way down to Riezlern and took the bus back to Söllereckbahn. Although we got back home past midnight tired and knackered, Fellhorn will always be the most relaxed, adventure filled getaway I have ever done 🙂
Ready, set, go!
Although Fellhorn is hardly a secret, it is still a very rewarding experience and make you fall more in love with the outdoors. Therefore, I highly recommend adding this hike to your summer hiking itinerary!
Before you embark on your hiking adventure, I highly recommend skimming through my mountain hiking guide for an unparalleled overview on alpine hiking. Further, all the equipment required to conquer an alpine hike is also discussed in this blog post.
If you are looking for another hiking experience in Germany, I cannot recommend the following hikes enough:
- Schrecksee – The highest mountain lake in the German Alps
- Archenkanzel – Hidden viewpoint over lake Königssee
- Rubihorn – A complete Allgäu Experience with postcard views
- Rotwand – An easy beginner appropriate summit hike
- Kramerspitz – The perfect day hike from Munich
- Jochberg – Quick Beginner Mountain Hike in Kochel
- Brauneck – Day Hike easily accessible from Munich
Have any other questions? Leave them in the comments below!
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