Meran High Trail

One hundred kilometers. One mountain range. And you will not cross it — you will circle it, like sizing up an opponent before you shake hands.

Meraner Höhenweg is a circuit marked number 24 that circles the Texelgruppe massif in the South Tyrolean nature park above Meran. Roughly 100 km, around 5,100 m of climbing, five to eight days depending on pace and how much you want to get home. And home will be the last thing on your mind.

Why this route? Because it is not designed from a desk. In 1985, after nearly a decade of work, old footpaths came together — trails where mountain farmers drove cattle to pasture for a hundred years — into one loop. "A bond of friendship from farmstead to farmstead, valley to valley." The local Alpenverein opened it June 30. You walk through history, not new tarmac.

Terrain has two faces. The north side is high alpine — bring fitness and a sure step, because the circuit's crown, the Eisjöchl pass at 2,895 m, will really test you. The south side is gentler: a sunny balcony above the Etsch valley, manageable even for less experienced walkers. Above your head the entire time hang the glacier-carved peaks of Texelgruppe; below your feet vine and apple orchards of the South Tyrolean valley. That contrast the Alps give nowhere else.

Stages? Typically you start above Partschins, at the Giggelberg inn reached by the Texelbahn cable car. Right away comes the famous gorge 1000 Stufen Schlucht — the name promises a thousand steps and delivers 987 (we counted for you), with a suspension bridge over a waterfall since 2017. On via Katharinaberg into the wildest corner of the route toward Eishof — a farmstead which until the late 19th century was the highest permanently inhabited settlement in old Tyrol, first documented in the 13th century. The summit day leads over Eisjöchl to Stettiner Hütte at 2,875 m. This hut was swept away by an avalanche in February 2014; the new, modern one has stood since 2022. Then descent to the gentler south side and a hut to the south, and back around the balcony above Meran.

For whom? For anyone who can handle a multi-day hut-to-hut trek and won't panic at exposure on the north half. Families and people wanting pleasure over suffering do the gentler south variant. Those doing the full circuit should be able to walk 6 to 8 hours daily.

When to go? Main season is July through September — high-altitude sections without snow, Stettiner Hütte open. The south balcony is walkable much longer, spring through autumn, when it is winter up top or still coming. Spring smells of apple blossoms, autumn paints the larches gold.

How to book? Huts and farmsteads on the circuit are largely run by Alpenverein or private operators. Reserve beds ahead — especially at Stettiner Hütte and Eishof where capacity is limited and August is full. Alpenverein membership (AVS, ÖAV, DAV) gives you a hut discount and better booking access.

One hundred kilometers around one mountain range. You will shake its hand the first day — and it will not let you go until you have circled the whole thing.