Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse was built between 1930 and 1935 as a Depression-era jobs programme. Three thousand workers blasted and carved 48 kilometres of road through the central Alps at a time when Austria was struggling to stay solvent. The economic logic was straightforward: the government needed to keep people employed, and a mountain road could be a tourist attraction the moment it opened. It has been one ever since.

What makes this road worth driving in 2025 is the same thing that made it worth building in 1935: nothing else in the Alps puts you this close to a 3,798-metre peak and a genuine glacier while remaining fully accessible by ordinary car. The Hochtor Pass at 2,504 metres is the highest surfaced mountain road in Austria. The side road to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe ends at 2,369 metres with direct views of Grossglockner summit and the Pasterze, the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps.

The Toll and Opening Season

The road is privately operated and charges a toll. In 2025, a day pass for a car costs 46 euros at the gate or 42.50 euros if booked in advance online. Motorcycles pay 36.50 euros at the gate, 33.50 euros online. Autumn rates kick in from 11 October: cars drop to 35 euros, motorcycles to 28.50 euros. A round-trip ticket valid for multiple entries costs 54 euros for cars.

The road typically opens in mid-May, weather permitting, and closes in early November. In 2025 the autumn closure date was extended to 2 November. Summer hours run 06:00 to 19:30; last entry is 18:45. The road can close at any point due to snow, even in July, so check grossglockner.at before setting out.

The Best Stops

Most drivers take the road north to south from Fusch an der Grossglocknerstrasse through to Heiligenblut. The key stops in order are:

Edelweissspitze at 2,571 metres is the highest point you can drive to on the main road (the Pasterze side road goes lower). There is a lookout tower, a café, and views of more than thirty peaks. It tends to be quieter than the glacier viewpoint because it requires a short detour.

Fuscher Törl at 2,428 metres has a monument listing the names of workers who died during construction. That detail, which most visitors walk past without reading, is the most historically grounding stop on the entire route.

Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe is where most people stop longest. The visitor centre here has detailed displays on the Pasterze Glacier’s retreat. When the road was built in the 1930s, the glacier extended to the base of the viewing platform. By 2025, reaching the ice requires a 50-minute walk down a marked trail. The glacier has retreated by several kilometres in under a century. This is not an abstract statistic when you can see the extent of the ice-free moraine from the parking structure.

The Glacier Trail Pasterze (Gletscherweg Pasterze) runs from Glocknerhaus at 2,132 metres up to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe. It takes around three hours, is well-marked, and suitable for most fitness levels. This is the best way to see the mountain properly rather than through a car window.

Wildlife

Marmots are effectively guaranteed along the roadside; they are so accustomed to visitors that they often sit on rocks within a few metres of parked cars. Alpine ibex (Steinbock) can be seen on higher rocky sections, particularly around Edelweissspitze and the Hochtor area. Golden eagles are present but require patience and luck. Keep binoculars in the car.

Where to Eat

Panoramarestaurant Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe at the glacier viewpoint is the main on-road option and handles the volume it receives reasonably well, with Austrian staples and hot drinks. Glocknerhaus at 2,132 metres serves lunch and is a good stop before or after the glacier trail.

In Heiligenblut, at the southern end of the road, the village bakery handles breakfast and pastries and the village itself is worth a short walk for the church, which has an unusual Gothic winged altar dating to the 1490s. Most visitors miss it entirely because they are back in their cars before they reach town.

Where to Stay

Heiligenblut has a range of guesthouses offering traditional Austrian hospitality at mid-range prices, typically 70 to 120 euros per room per night in summer. Staying here rather than in Zell am See or Salzburg gives you first access to the road in the morning and means you can drive sections twice without paying twice (the round-trip ticket covers this).

On the northern side, the villages of Fusch and Bruck an der Grossglocknerstrasse offer further options. Bruck is slightly larger and has better dining outside the peak season.

Getting There

Salzburg is the most practical base for the northern approach. The drive from Salzburg to the Fusch entry point takes about one hour. For the southern approach, Lienz or Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia are around 45 minutes from Heiligenblut. Klagenfurt Airport (KLU) is roughly 90 kilometres from the southern toll booth; Salzburg Airport (SZG) is roughly 100 kilometres from the northern entry.

There is no practical way to experience the full road by public transport. Regular buses serve Heiligenblut from Lienz, but the road itself has no regular scheduled service along its length.

Practical Tips

Drive a weekday if possible. Weekends in July and August see significant traffic at major viewpoints and parking can be tight at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe. Entry at 06:00 (the road opens before most tour buses arrive) gives you the best light for photography and the quietest experience at each stop.

Temperatures at altitude run 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the valley even on warm summer days. A fleece or light jacket is sensible in July; a proper wind layer is necessary in September and October. The road at Hochtor can be covered in low cloud while the valleys on both sides are clear, so do not turn back early based on conditions at the first hairpin.

The road has 36 hairpin curves and a maximum gradient of around 12 percent on the hairpin sections. It is well-engineered and poses no particular difficulty for a standard car, but caravans and motorhomes over a certain length are not permitted. Check the restrictions at grossglockner.at if you are travelling with a larger vehicle.