Heiligenblut is a village of 1,000 people (2018) in Carinthia (Kärnten) at one end of one of Austria's most scenic roads.

Understand

Main square

Heiligenblut is located in a high valley of the High Tauern range within the Central Eastern Alps. It is at the foot of the Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria, and of the Pasterze Glacier. Neighbouring peaks include the Johannisberg and the Fuscherkarkopf in the north, both part of the Alpine divide marking the Carinthia-Salzburg border.

The construction of the nearby railway tunnel to the Fleißalm mountain area at 1,798 m (5,899 ft) is unique in Europe. The 1.6 km-long (1-mile) tunnel is filled with water during the summer but serves as a railway tunnel leading to the Fleißalm winter sports region in winter.

See

Church of Heiligenblut

• 1 Pfarr- und Wallfahrtskirche Heilige Vinzenz.  
• 2 Apriacher Stockmühlen. Mills in Apriach with nine flume mills  
• 3 Großglockner. The highest mountain (3,798 m) of Austria.  . None of the approximately 30 paths to the top are easy, and they all take 1 or 2 days (incl. descent). The easiest are south paths and those mostly start from the hut 1 Stüdlhütte  . The northern paths passing 1 Hofmannskees glacier and around 2 Glocknerbivak are not easy nor marked, consult some specialized alpine-hiking guide.
• 4 Heiligenblut-Schareck. The cable car climbs up to 2,604 m (8,543 ft) 
• an open-air museum,
• Lake Kachelsee to the west, the Möll, Gößnitz and Leiter waterfalls, the 5 Margaritzen reservoir  , and Lake 6 Sandersee  .
• 7 Wasserfallwinkelkeessee. A tiny picturesque lake at the Gamsgruben path. Obviously the whole path provides view on the Grossglockner massif. (updated Aug 2021)

Do

View from Glockner road

• 1 Großglockner High Alpine Road (Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße). Enjoy the views from this toll road (€35.50 per car) across the central alpine chain, connecting Fusch and Heiligenblut. Built in 1935, it is one of Austria's most scenic roads. Many parking areas and visitor platforms provide breathtaking views of the high alpine scenery on Austria's highest mountain, Großglockner (literally:Big Bell), its largest glacier, Pasterze glacier, and many other features. The road rises up to 2503 m above sea level and is only open from the beginning of May until the beginning of November. During the rest of the year it is covered with huge amounts of snow. There are two dead end roads that both end in scenic viewpoints. One goes to the 2571-m-high Edelweißspitze, the other one to the visitor center on Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe (2369 m) with views to the Pasterze glacier and Großglockner. The road is closed between 21:30 and 05:00 in the high season (between 15th of June and 15th of September) and between 20:00 and 06:00 otherwise. Last entry is 45 minutes before closing. Should it be snowing on the top, and you have no 4×4 vehicle or snowchains, you will not be allowed to get on the road. (updated Nov 2017)

Eat

• 2 Oberwalderhütte. An alpine hut located at an altitude of 2973m above sea level, on the summit of the Großer Burgstall, a cliff in the surrounding glacier landscape. Accessible by foot under 3h from the parking lot at Franz-Josefs-Höhe, or in 6h from Heiligenblut. (updated Aug 2021)

Go next

• Hohe Tauern National Park
• Kaprun
• Zell am See at the other end of the alpine road.