Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Leogang and Fieberbrunn are towns between Salzburg and Innsbruck, promoted as the Austria’s largest bike region. I spent a week there in July this year and there is indeed a lot to do there, although under the slogan “largest in Austria”, I expected it to be even bigger.
The 4 mentioned towns form 3 bike parks: Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Leogang, with several trails each, and Fieberbrunn with one trail. All bike parks have one bike ticket and are within reach by bike from one to the other, although it is quite a long journey, especially from Saalbach-Hinterglemm to Fieberbrunn.
When booking accommodation, it is worth choosing a place that offers the Joker Card. The card gives a 30% discount on the bike ticket or 2 free cable car rides a day.
What bicycle?
I ride a trail hardtail (Trek Roscoe 7) on a daily basis, but for this trip* I left it at home and rented a full suspension bike from Bike Garden Service in Wrocław. Unused by anyone before, the carbon Specialized Stumpjumper Evo Expert performed great there and I am very happy that I had this bike there, not my own. On mine, I would only have fun in Fieberbrunn. In Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Leogang there are also flow trails, but the ubiquitous washboards make them definitely not hardtail-friendly trails.
* The photos and text in this article are from my 2022 trip, but the movies from 2024 trip or are not mine.
Bike park in Saalbach-Hinterglemm
Saalbach and Hinterglemm are 5 km apart and connected by cable cars, i.e. you can take the lift in Hinterglemm and go by bike to Saalbach and vice versa, as shown in my track:
I haven’t been to the Alps for a long time and what amazed me were the landscapes that appeared after leaving the cable car. It’s beautiful out there!
In addition, the length of the trails, greater than what I was riding in Poland and the Czech Republic. But the trails themselves – nothing special. I don’t know what was missing there, maybe my expectations were too high, but I expected it to be a big wow when I hit the trails there, and it wasn’t. Probably mainly due to the washboards.
The bike park in Saalbach-Hinterglemm offers a total of 13.7 km of blue trails, 11.6 km of red trails and the same number of black ones. From the black trails I rode only the X-Line (reportedly the easiest of the black ones).
I liked the combination of the red Hacklberg trail and the blue Buchegg trail the most, especially the first kilometers of Hacklberg. A very scenic trail, with a natural character, with several places to detach the wheels from the ground.
I also had a lot of fun on the red Z-Line due to its diversity. There are rocky, rooted sections, wallrides, a folded bridge, berms, tabletops and best of all – at the end a renovated or newly built section without washboard! ;) And a fun fact – there is a photo trap on one of the wallrides. You can take a picture of yourself and download it from saalbach.com.
The combination of two blue lines – Panorama and Monti also ensures long fun. You can fly around on a few tabletops, and in the restaurant on the route you could get a free glass of cold water, which in the heat of that time was just great :)
A great addition to the trails is also the bag in Hinterglemm, with three kickers of different difficulty levels.
In Saalbach, on the other hand, there is a beginners’ slope – a standing lift and lines of approx. 300 meters long with small berms, drops, sections with small stones, etc.
These are actually the only routes for complete beginners in this bike park. There are no green lines, and the blue lines are more difficult than, for example, the easiest trails in the bike park in Zieleniec, the blue trail in Dolni Morava, Twister in Bielsko-Biała, or single tracks in Strzelin. Therefore, I do not recommend going there just to start learning to ride a mountain bike. People who already have certain skills will definitely have a better time.
Bike park in Leogang
Leogang offers 14.3 km of blue lines, 8.9 km of red lines and 16.2 km of black lines. I didn’t run the black ones, and I liked the combination of the red Hangman I, Flow Link and Flying Gangster the most.
First, a lot of stones and roots, and then, as the names indicate, flow and flying :) Only if not for these washboards…
The blue trails in Leogang is mainly the Steinberg Line, which separates into two variants on the end. Several kilometers of berms and a few tabletops along the way.
As in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, there are no complete beginner trails in Leogang, only a training park. And just like there, there is a bag :)
No free water, but the mist windmills did the job too :)
Leogang – Saalbach connection
Between the upper stations of cable cars in Saalbach and Leogang, there is a 10 km trail connecting these bike parks, which I traveled once both ways and I did not want more ;)
The Wurzel-Trail leads first from the Saalbach side. 5 km along the roots, on more or less flat terrain, but slightly uphill. It’s so hard to ride a bike on this…
The effort is slightly compensated by the views in the second part of the route (Asitz-Trail) and a pleasant path, not counting only a short fragment, which was impossible to me to ride a bike in both directions. It’s good that I had a light one, at least it was easy to carry.
Bike park in Fieberbrunn
There is only one line in Fieberbrunn – the blue Schweinestberg, 3.1 km long. Quite easy, flow-like and best of all, it is not as worn-out as the trails in Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Leogang.
It starts approx. 500 m from the cable car, behind a beautiful pond.
An interesting fact is the cable cars in Fieberbrunn. They do not go individually, but three in a row and stop for getting in and out, which makes it much more convenient than in the other two bike parks.
A trip by bike from Saalbach or Hinterglemm to Fieberbrunn and back is an all-day trip.
The trail runs on nice gravel roads, but you have to make your way through the mountains in between, so you do get some elevation.
I was glad to have a damper with a blockade. On a long gravel climb, it makes a difference.
On the way back, I completed one more red line – Höllentrail. Nice forest trail, but short – less than half a km.
For next year I am saving money on a full-squish bike and a decent camera and I do not know where yet, but I will definitely want to visit some alpine bike park :)
Thank you :)
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