Travel Report
Characteristics
We visited the park in the autumn. The park is located in the heart of Austria literally as seen on the map:
The Gesäuse, selected as a national park in 2002 is known for its breathtakingly beautiful, unapproachable landscape. Since the alpine beginnings, the Gesäuse has stood for fascinating natural experiences for hikers, mountain bikers, climbers, water sportsmen, and ski-mountaineers.
The official information about the Gesäuse National Park says also the following:
For centuries the Gesäuse has been famous for its breathtakingly beautiful, inaccessible scenery. Over millions of years, the waters of the Alpine river Enns have deeply eroded this mountain range. In the process, it created a water gap, with steep walls which soar up to 1,800 meters into the air. The Gesäuse is home to the last unregulated sections of this great Alpine river, starting at the entrance to the Gesäuse, where the gentle Enns turns into white water. It drops more than 150 meters over the 16-kilometer course of the water gap.
The breathtaking scenery is shaped by the mountains: the Buchstein massif to the north of the Enns, the peaks of the Admont-Reichenstein group, the Hochtour massif, and the Zinödl-Lugauer massif rise up to the south of the river.
Further official information about the park you find here.
RV Places
Unfortunately, the National Park Gesäuse is not camper-user-friendly as might be and as many camper visitors expect.
The rather small parking lot in the main park center called National Park Pavilion Gstatterboden serves as a day parking only, its coordinates are: 47.5916667,14.6377778.
All official information says that camper visitors have to use only camping on the territory of the national park named Forstgarten situated near that parking lot in Gstatterboden.
(Un)Fortunately, we are not fans of camps, so we decided to overnight outside of the national park. There is a nice place for camper travelers in the town of Eisenerz, 25 km far from Gstatterboden.
Overnight there is free of charge. The coordinates of the camper’s site: 47.54338,14.88855.
There is an option for power source, the price is 1 Eur for 8 hours.
There is an option for the drinking water source, the price is 1 Eur for 10 minutes.
The camper parking site is open all year around.
The town of Eisenerz is a very interesting smaller mine town with a historical center and a lot of historic buildings. The center is located near the camper site within walking distance. The further photos of the town center at night are published in the gallery.
During the mountain biking trail that we did there, we found a parking lot on the territory of the National Park where is allowed to overnight for the camper visitors. It is here:
The coordinates of the parking lot: 47.5922222,14.7055556. It is allowed to stay one night there.
Mountain biking and hiking trails
There is no official map of hiking and cycling trails on the territory of the National Park Gesäuse. However, there are many hiking and some mountain biking trails.
We did our own mountain biking trail which was a combination of two existing trails, with that we started and ended on the parking lot Gstatterboden.
The map of our trail that we named Gesäuse National Park Loop Trail is shown here, our trail is marked in purple with white arrows:
An interactive map of the trail together with the downloadable recorded GPX file you find here:
Attractions:
There are many attractions and interesting places in the Gesäuse National Park like:
- Many hiking trails providing an insight into the fascinating variety of habitats. The secured paths provide literal “in-depth insights” into the impressive Enns water gap, whilst other routes traverse gentle mountain meadows and are an open invitation to linger over a hearty mountain snack whilst you contemplate the majestic scenery.
- A few mountain biking trails combine cycle paths along the river Enns with two main mountain biking trails on the territory of the Gesäuse National Park.
- Another exciting way to discover the national park is an experience with the spectacular river scenery offered by the guided rafting tour down the river with trained National Park rangers.
- The region’s wealth of culture and history, which is inseparably linked to the history of iron ore mining, logging, and charcoal burning like Admont, Hieflau, Johnsbach, Landl, and St.Gallen.
- The center of the Gesäuse National Park – is home to the National Park Pavilion, with a multi-media geology exhibition, a National Park information center, and a restaurant.
We recommend visiting the National Park Gesäuse because of its amazing beautiful alpine nature. Although the park is not camper-user friendly and there are not so many mountain biking trails on the territory on the national park itself.
You can see our photos in the gallery.
Our video blogs about the National Park Gesäuse you find here.
