Lake Piburg, Tyrol, Austria - A Hidden Gem in the Mountains
Welcome back to the blog and to another blog post. As it seems, I’ll be getting to know my own country for the next few months, and I think that’s not necessarily bad. As I learned, Austria, and Tyrol especially, have lots of beautiful hidden corners that I’ve never seen before. So let me present one of these pretty places today: Lake Piburg, the ‘Piburger See’.
How to get there?
The lake is located just a bit more than 30 minutes from Innsbruck, near the beginning of the Ötztal valley. You may have heard about that valley in my ‘Winter Sports in the Alps’ series, I was very sad had to end so early. But just like all the other valleys in Tyrol, you can do much more than just skiing and snowboarding. You can either park in the parking area just 5 minutes distance from the lake, or you can start from Oetz and hike a little longer.
The lake …
The lake is rather small, and its maximum depth is 25 metres. Therefore, in winter, you can ice skate when it’s frozen. In summer, locals love to head to the lake to go swimming and relax in its surroundings. The water gets a temperature of up to 25 degrees Celsius which is rather unusual for a mountain lake. There’s even a restaurant on the southern end of the lake.
A walk around the lake …
If you make it to the lake, be sure to not miss out and wandering through the surroundings. There’s a beautiful walk along the lake that is suitable even for unfit people and really easy. If you carry a stroller, be sure to stick to the western path as the eastern one is not suitable for strollers and has a few ups and downs. Nevertheless, in my opinion, you don’t need to have a certain level of fitness to enjoy the walk.
Honestly, the Piburg lake is one of the prettiest lakes in Tyrol. As you can see, I only visited on days with rather bad weather. I love the view of the clouds surrounding the mountain tops as I feel it gives the place much more depth and makes it kind of moody.
Also, I love how it seldomly gets overcrowded in spring (I’m not talking about summer). What I think is very special about the Piburg lake is the combination of the perfect reflection of the mountains, the serenity and of course the beautiful panorama of the surrounding Ötztal Alps. It’s a shame I have been there only very few times but I definitely plan on coming back in summer to swim there for the first time.
Read more about other beautiful places by clicking on the link below. Lot’s of more content on Austria is coming in the next weeks and moths, so don’t be sad if there’s something missing you’d like to read. If you want, you can leave some suggestions in the comments below, or by sending me a message. I’d really appreciate hearing what you want to read.
