The furthest corner of the Gastein Valley. Wild clear streams and waterfalls right at the foot of three-thousand-metre peaks. Alpine huts are scattered across the valley floor like small islands, as the last refuges before the high mountain region of the Hohe Tauern. After a loop through this wonderful valley floor, the route leads over an ancient and very beautifully developed mule track through the deeply cut valley of the Nassfelder Ache past thundering waterfalls down to the managed Astenalmen. The route is like a journey back in time: countless relics remind us of the mining era, but also of the First World War. The planned town of Altböckstein is now the next stop – a "city" that was first completely planned and then built according to these ideas. Altböckstein was the centre of gold mining in the Hohe Tauern. As early as the 14th century, the Gastein mining regulations for jurisdiction and tax regulation were issued here by the Salzburg archbishops. Today, Altböckstein is an architectural jewel with the Mining Museum, the World Exhibition Fountain and the Czernin Hunting Lodge. The Empress Elisabeth Promenade now leads comfortably to Bad Gastein. Wonderful Belle Époque houses, steep mountain slopes and the imposing waterfall as well as the typical terrain steps apparently embody what once attracted emperors and princes to this place. Known for its healing thermal water, the Gastein Valley has developed into the epitome of summer retreat.
This stage on the Gastein Trail is deliberately shorter so that there is plenty of time to discover the treasures of Bad Gastein.
