Hohe Tauern Attractions

The short and deeply slashed valleys on the northern side of the range, descending in a succession of steep steps, flow as regularly as the teeth of a comb into the Salzach valley, which runs parallel to the mountains from west to east. The streams flowing down from the glaciers, known as Achen, tumble down the valleys in great waterfalls (Krimmler Fälle, Kesselfall, Gasteiner Fall) or carve out deep gorges (Siegmund-Thun-Klamm, Kitzlochklamm, Liechtensteinklamm). On the southern side, however, a series of subsidiary ridges, some of them with peaks of considerable height, slope down from the main massif towards the Drau valley. Here the side valleys - the Iseltal in Eastern Tirol and the Mölltal in Carinthia - extend far into the main range between these outliers. Wider, friendlier and relatively densely populated, thus better equipped to cater for visitors, these southern valleys form a striking contrast with the austere grandeur of most of the valleys on the Salzburg side of the range.