Grossglockner High Alpine Road

The Alps of Austria are world-renowned for their fantastically sinuous mountain roads that make for incredibly scenic motorcycling. Among them, however, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road is the cream of the crop.

The Grossglockner covers roughly 22 miles between the small towns of Ferleiten and Heiligenburg, in northern Austria near the German border. Over those miles, it climbs high into the Alps—higher than any other road.

Reaching an altitude of 8,215 feet, the Grossglockner is the highest paved mountain pass road in Austria. It reaches that high point at the Hochtor Pass. To the north of Hochtor, the road rolls over Fuscher Törl, another mountain pass that climbs to 7,966 feet.

From these passes (and most places between them), you get to admire stunning and diverse vistas. You’ll see rugged walls of rock, green mountain meadows, bare-scraped glacial flow paths, and banks of snow virtually year round. Of course, you can also see Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria at 12,461 feet.

When you’re not going ooh and aah at the scenery, the Grossglockner offers you a technical and challenging riding experience. The road rises steeply into the mountains, and its length is littered with hairpin turns, each tighter than the last.

Considering the curves, it shouldn’t surprise you that there used to be Pikes Peak-type hill climb races on the Grossglockner in the 1930s. These days, the racing is over, so you have the road to yourself.

However, you shouldn’t try to run through the Grossglockner like a motorcycle racer. The turns are so tight that you’re sure to scrape your floorboards, and there are no guardrails to keep you from plummeting down the alpine cliffs.