Austria · Hohe Tauern · Premium route guide
Großglockner Hochalpenstraße
48 kilometres, 36 hairpins, 2,504 metres at the summit, and one of the best-surfaced Alpine roads in Europe. The full route on the map, a GPX you can drop into your GPS, and the motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have already vetted within 30 km of the road.
- Distance
- 42.5 km
- Peak elevation
- 2,519 m
- Elevation gain
- 1,961 m
- Best months
- Jun–Sep
The route
North toll gate at Ferleiten (near Bruck an der Glocknerstraße) up through Fuscher Törl and over Hochtor, then down to the south toll gate at Heiligenblut. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
Interactive map needs cookie consent.
Accept cookies at the bottom of the page to load OpenStreetMap tiles for this route.
Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route — how to load this into your GPS
What you're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zūmo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner → new trip from track) if you want turn-by-turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive — it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it doesn't re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour — Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these don't read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX-capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line — pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~778 m at the base to 2519 m at the top — 1,961 m of total climbing across the route.
North toll gate at Ferleiten (near Bruck an der Glocknerstraße) up through Fuscher Törl and over Hochtor, then down to the south toll gate at Heiligenblut. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
The road, honestly
The Grossglockner opened in 1935 and Austria has been maintaining it like a jewel ever since. If you've ridden the Stelvio and thought "great road, shame about the surface" — this is the answer. Long, flowing third-gear sweepers, well-cambered hairpins that let a big tourer settle rather than fight, and paint that looks like it went down last summer. It's a toll road (currently €28 for motorcycles, pay cash or card at the gate), open roughly May to October depending on snow.
Take the Edelweißspitze spur near the top. It's a 1.7 km stub of cobbled hairpins climbing to 2,571 m — the highest paved point on the road — and 90% of car drivers skip it because "cobbles". Their loss. The 360° view of the Hohe Tauern from the top is the photo you'll actually use.
Two toll gates, one road
The road runs Ferleiten (north) ↔ Heiligenblut (south) with the Hochtor tunnel roughly in the middle. Both toll gates take the same fee, both open around 05:00 in summer and close at 20:00 — which sounds generous until a Sunday afternoon queue. Ride early. Be through the gate by 08:00 and you'll have the road mostly to yourself; by 11:00 the coach tours from Zell am See roll up and the photo-stop conga begins.
Weather, altitude, and what to pack
2,504 m is high. A T-shirt morning in Bruck can be 6°C at Hochtor even in August, with wet cloud drifting through the tunnel. Pack a warm base layer — every rider gets this wrong exactly once. Weather can close the pass with an hour's notice in September; the operator's live status page (grossglockner.at) is the source of truth.
Fuel: last stations before the toll are in Bruck (north) and Heiligenblut (south). Nothing on the road itself. A tank should cover it comfortably.
What to see along the way
- Fuscher Törl (2,428 m) — First big lookout on the north side. Wide flat parking, marmots occasionally wandering across the tarmac.
- Edelweißspitze (2,571 m) — The cobbled spur. Best 360° in the range. Do it.
- Hochtor (2,504 m) — The summit tunnel and the official highpoint of the road.
- Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe — Separate 8 km spur south of the main road ending at the Pasterze glacier viewpoint. Add another 45 min return if you want the glacier view.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Großglockner Hochalpenstraße
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Bruck / Zell am See — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
Rentals powered by BikesBooking. StayToRide may earn a small commission — no extra cost to you.
Rider-verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route — no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
Ridden this road and stayed somewhere great?
This whole directory grows one rider recommendation at a time. Add a stay and it'll appear on this guide automatically if it's within 30 km of the route.
Suggest a stay