Leg 1: Hollbruck – St.Oswald – Kartitsch
From the beautifully situated hamlet of Hollbruck, the trail first takes us through woodland and then along the edge of the meadows of the Fasching, Draschler, Walcher, Segger and Schuster farms on the “Kartitscher Schattseite”. Then the path follows the Gailbach stream and takes us past the former mills of the “Gail” and “Wies” farms. A short detour to the Walcher mill is worth your while, and this mill is still in operation. Via the Innerwies farm we walk up to the “Sonnseite” towards St.Oswald and from there we continue through a structured and scenic cultural landscape along the meadow path to Kartitsch.
7.2 km
2:15 h
Ascent: 245 m
Descent: 269 m
Possibility of joining at Sillian:
The starting point is directly at the Sillian railway station. The path first takes you along the Drau, soon it goes in a wide turn over meadows to the edge of the forest and then along a meadow stream called “Laue”.
The trail leaves the bottom of the valley of the Drau in the Heinfels district of Rabland (there is another railway station here). The gentle ascent to Hollbruck begins at the Mariahilf Chapel of the Similer farm via an ancient path. A cart track takes you through the forest via a few bends and uphill.
Back at the top in open meadowland, the flatter path through the beautiful and panoramic hamlet of Hollbruck offers magnificent views over the Pustertal valley and you can catch first glimpses of the Tyrolean Gailtal valley.
4.5 km
Ascent: 300 m
Descent: 4 m
Leg 2: Kartitsch – Obertilliach
The second lap of the Höfe Trail takes us from Kartitsch to the Sonnseite towards Innerlerch and then up along the edge of the forest towards Kartitscher Sattel. Here the route leads us through the picturesque larch meadows, cleverly laid out cultivated land that is used twice – as larch wood and meadow on the same area. From here, the path follows the course of the “alter Kirchsteig” or old church path past the Äußerst, the old Prünster farms, before it continues into the forest and heads towards Obertilliach. Via the district Rodarm we reach the village centre of Obertillga with its many old farms side by side.
10.8 km
03:30 h
Ascent: 458 m
Descent: 353 m
Leg 3: Obertilliach – Untertilliach/Wacht
The tour starts from Obertilliach in the direction of Untertilliach via the village fields with their many barns and the two venerable chapels. Passing meadows and pastures, the route follows the Gail, with the option of a detour to the Klammberg in Untertilliach to Josef Schmidhofer’s apiary. From here you can see the Lesachtal valley for the first time. After the village centre of Untertilliach, where the Niescherhof farm has just renovated its mill next to the house, the trail takes us to the last and most charming section of the Höfe Trail: across the Kirchberg mountain to Eggen. An incredibly varied cultural landscape with many different types of flowering meadows, individual trees and wooden stables accompany us on this part of the trail. We pass remote farms and then the path takes us slightly downhill into the “Wacht”. Particularly noteworthy on the Kirchberg and in Eggen are the many renovated granaries which store the farms’ grain for the whole family in a way that’s fire-proof, theft-proof and mouse-proof.
12 km
04:15 h
Ascent: 391 m
Descent: 685 m