Excursions

Käsehaus Montafon stands out for the fact that it provides tour groups with the opportunity of experiencing the region with all their senses and even of taking a part of it home with them. 

This interactive centre is the region’s most visited museum and one of the most high-tech nature museums in Europe, with underwater cinema, avalanche simulator, science centre, and more. 

This palace is regarded as one of the most important Renaissance buildings in western Austria. Its construction dates back to Cardinal Markus Sitticus III of Hohenems. The palace is now owned and lived in by the Waldburg-Zeil family: Countess Stephanie Waldburg-Zeil can even give a personal tour of the palace on request.

Vorarlberg is blessed by an abundance of water. From glacial ice to the shores of Lake Constance, the crystal-clear wet stuff seeks its way, is collected, filtered, drunk and – increasingly – is converted into electricity.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pfahlbauten tells the story of life in the Stone and Bronze Ages. You start your visit with a virtual 360° dive in the Archeorama. Here, the life and building structures under water are made visible.

The Fenkart family specialise in a variety of delectable hand-made chocolates and pralines. They now offer tastings and guided tours in their showroom where visitors can find out everything about the cultivation of cocoa and the production of chocolate. 

The Jewish Museum Hohenems, located in the former Heimann-Rosenthal Villa, commemorates the rural Jewish community of Hohenems and its contributions to the development of Vorarlberg and surrounding regions. 

Vorarlberg has a long and proud history of beer brewing. In fact, in years gone by almost every inn brewed its own beer. A number of these traditional breweries are still active today, such as the Fohrenburger brewery in Bludenz, the Mohren brewery in Dornbirn, the Egg brewery and the Frastanz brewery cooperative.

What does it mean to be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve? Who is Burmenta? And how is mountain cheese actually made? The guided tour of the biosphärenpark.haus does not only provide the answers to these questions, it also offers rare insights into the history of the Grosses Walsertal (Great Walser Valley).

The little sister of the elegant Hohentwiel steam ship has been back gracing the waters of Lake Constance since May 2019. The MS Oesterreich is a motor ship first launched during the 1920s golden age, and was considered a luxury liner at the time. 

Austria is famous for its schnapps production, and there’s none finer than here in Vorarlberg. The local Prinz distillery in Hörbranz offers a unique behind-the-scenes look of how their spirit is produced. Visitors are able to watch master distillers at work and gain fascinating insights into the fine art of distillation. 

The Stoffels Sawmill Museum is an open-air museum in Hohenems with a unique cultural-historical documentation of 2000 years of mill technology. On display here is the historical and technical development of saws and mills from their origins to modern times.

Largely underground and barely noticeable from the outside, Skyspace Lech is nestled snugly amidst the high alpine landscape of the Lechquelle Mountains. In 2018, the contemporary American artist James Turrell created a work of installation art at 1,780 metres above sea level, part of a series of over 60 fascinating light space creations worldwide. 

The Bregenz Festival is a must for any culture vulture, with a varied programme of opera performances, orchestral concerts, music and poetry presentations at its outdoor stage, the Festspielhaus (festival hall) and the Lake Studio.

Situated just outside the city of Dornbirn this is one of the largest gorges in central Europe. A signposted trail and spectacular wooden footpaths lead past breathtaking views sculpted by prehistorical geological process – as the Mesozoic sea retreated and formed the mountains of the Alps.