Hiking to the Olpererhütte: The Suspension Bridge Above Schlegeisspeicher

By Urvish Shah•

The hike from Schlegeisspeicher up to the Olpererhütte in the Zillertal Alps - a short climb ending at the famous suspension bridge over the reservoir, and why late afternoon beats early morning.

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Hiking to the Olpererhütte: The Suspension Bridge Above Schlegeisspeicher

The hike to the Olpererhütte is one of the most rewarding short hikes in the Austrian Alps, and it ends at one of the most photographed spots in the country: a narrow suspension bridge strung across a ravine, with the turquoise Schlegeisspeicher reservoir filling the valley far below.

It starts from the Schlegeisspeicher dam in the Zillertal and the climb takes somewhere between one and two hours depending on your pace — a short effort for a genuinely spectacular payoff. I did it as part of a 4-day Austria road trip.

Trail overview

Start: Schlegeisspeicher reservoir car park, Zillertal Time: Commonly quoted at about an hour up; we took closer to two at an unhurried pace Difficulty: Moderate — a steady, consistent climb with no technical sections Season: Roughly June to September, once the access road is open End point: The Olpererhütte, and the suspension bridge a few minutes beyond it

Getting to the trailhead

The hike begins at the Schlegeisspeicher, a man-made reservoir cradled between peaks at the head of the Zillertal. The approach is up a toll road, and there's a car park at the dam.

The road is seasonal — it closes outside the summer months, which effectively sets the hiking season for this route.

The walk

The trail climbs steadily from the reservoir up the valley side. It's a consistent uphill effort rather than a scramble: no exposure, no route-finding difficulty, just a solid hour of ascent on a well-used path with the reservoir dropping away behind you.

The Olpererhütte sits at the top, a working Alpine hut serving food with a terrace looking back down the valley.

The bridge is a few minutes past the hut. It's the reason most people make the climb — a narrow suspension span over a ravine, framing the reservoir directly below. It's the single most photographed spot in the valley, and in the middle of the day it's a bottleneck, because everyone wants the same shot from the same few metres of walkway.

Go late in the afternoon

This is the most useful thing I took from the day, and it happened by accident.

We arrived at the reservoir later than planned and didn't start walking until 3 PM, reaching the top around 5 PM. I'd been braced for a queue at the bridge and there simply wasn't one — by late afternoon most of the day's walkers have already been up and come back down.

In summer this costs you nothing. There was still plenty of daylight for the descent even setting off from the top well into the evening, and the light on the reservoir at that hour is better than it is at midday.

The obvious caveat: this only works in high summer, when the days are long enough to absorb a late start. Earlier or later in the season, don't try it.

Worth knowing

  • Late afternoon beats early morning for crowds at the bridge, provided the daylight is on your side.
  • Bring cash if you plan to eat at the hut. We didn't stop, but it's a working hut serving proper food and a terrace looking back down the valley.
  • Mountain weather changes fast. Take a layer and a waterproof even on a clear afternoon.
  • Proper footwear. The path is uneven in places.
  • You don't need to stay overnight. The hut takes bookings, but this works perfectly well as a half-day return trip from the car park — which is how we did it.

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