Destination List > Hohe Tauern National Park
Hohe Tauern National Park
Photo by Sander Hoogendoorn
The history...
Hohe Tauern National Park is the biggest national park in Austria and the largest nature reserve in the Alps! It covers a massive area of about 1,834 square kilometers (708 square miles), making it a truly special place for nature lovers.
The park has two main areas:
- A core zone where nature is left alone, covering 1,198 square kilometers (463 square miles). No farming or building is allowed here.
- A fringe zone that’s used for forestry and farming, covering 638 square kilometers (246 square miles).
There are also five special nature sanctuaries in the park where absolutely no human activities are allowed, so the animals and plants can live peacefully.
Hohe Tauern is home to the Pasterze Glacier, the longest glacier in Austria. You’ll also find the Krimml Waterfalls, beautiful valleys shaped by glaciers, tundra lands, and forests filled with tall Swiss pines and Saxifraga flowers that grow all the way up to 2,800 meters (9,200 feet) high!
The park is full of amazing animals like chamois, Alpine ibex, and red deer. You might even spot a griffon vulture or a golden eagle soaring above! The bearded vulture and Alpine marmot have also been reintroduced after once disappearing from the area.
Hohe Tauern National Park was officially established in 1971 when several states signed a declaration in Heiligenblut. By 1981, the first parts of the park, around Großglockner and Hochschober, were fully protected.
