South Tyrol's Diverse Landscape

The air is clear, the horizon extends far beyond your sight and is caught in the craggy and angular karst landscape. Anyone who hikes or climbs in our mountain world of the Dolomites immediately notices that everything moves at a different pace. Just you and the mountains in the here and now, which have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their staggering beauty. 

Across the region, you will find 350 peaks higher than 3,000 m. The highest of all the peaks is the Ortler, which has a summit elevation of 3,905 m and therefore towers above all the mountains of the Eastern Alps. On your hikes you will set foot onsunny high- altitude Alpine pastures and walk around crystal clear mountain lakes, discover edelweiss and Alpine roses that have grown through the barren soil. And you will discover farms on extremely steep slopes. It’s where mountain farmers have been raising livestock and cultivating crops for centuries. Even today, more than 10,000 people lead this life in harmony with weather and seasons.

If you meet one of them, you may be greeted with a warm bun dé and seen off with a friendly A s'udëi. This is Ladin, an ancient Rhaeto-Romanic language spoken in some Dolomite regions. Here you move through unique landscapes and experience how nature has shaped our region and its people.

On a balmy summer evening, the sun says goodbye with warm colors behind the lush green vineyards. You sit in the open air with a glass of Alto Adige wine, marvelling at rolling hills, wide valleys and high plateaus. Near you persimmon trees and palm trees grow. A little further away you can glimpse cypresses stretching toward the sky. This is also South Tyrol.

If you want to get to know our Mediterranean facet deeper, bathe in Kalterer See lake, the warmest swimming lake in the Alps, on one of our 300 sunny days. The lake experiences water temperatures as high as 28 °C in the summer.

Or maybe you'll explore our medieval castles and manors, take a tour in our vineyard landscape, and stop by our vintners. It’s where you can taste the variety of our ripened wines.