Classic hut-to-hut routes · Austria

Berliner Höhenweg

The Zillertal's high circuit: nine huts above the glaciers, the grand old Berliner Hütte at its heart, and the Olpererhütte's suspension bridge for the photograph everyone takes.

In short

The Berliner Höhenweg is a loop of about 70 km around the main Zillertal ridge in Austria, taking 7–9 walking days. It links nine huts above the glaciers, among them the historic Berliner Hütte and the Olpererhütte with its famous suspension bridge. The season runs from July to September, and our table holds 12 huts and shelters along its stages.

Also written as: Zillertal high circuit

Distance
~70 km
Days
7–9
Total ascent
not in our source
High point
not in our source
Season
July to September

The Berliner Höhenweg loops around the main Zillertal ridge from hut to hut, staying high above the valley for a week. It passes the Olpererhütte with its famous footbridge over the Schlegeis reservoir and the Berliner Hütte, a listed nineteenth-century building with a dining room that belongs in a different century.

It is a serious high route. Several stages cross boulder fields and moraine, the passes hold snow into July, and two or three days are long. The reward is that you rarely drop below 2,000 m and the glaciers of the Zillertal are in view for most of the walk.

Who it suits
Level: Confident walkersFit walkers with some Alpine hut experience who want a full week without valley days.
The nights
Alpine Club huts every night, all bookable online, several with a winter room for the shoulder season.

Stage points and the shelters near them

Published path grades around the stage points run T1 to T5, from 8 of 9 stages. That describes the terrain there, not the exact line of the route. A via ferrata grade appears somewhere along it.

12 shelters within 4 km of the stage points, from the shelter table. Distances are from the stage point, not walking distances.

  1. 01Mayrhofen

    No shelter in our table within 4 km of Mayrhofen; this stage usually ends in a village or a private inn.

  2. 02Gamshütte

    • Gamshütte

      1,921 m · wardened · sleeps 38 · 3.7 km

  3. 03Friesenberghaus

  4. 04Olpererhütte

  5. 05Furtschaglhaus

  6. 06Berliner Hütte

    No shelter in our table within 4 km of Berliner Hütte; this stage usually ends in a village or a private inn.

  7. 07Greizer Hütte

  8. 08Kasseler Hütte

  9. 09Karl-von-Edel-Hütte

How booking works

Alpine Club huts on this route take reservations through hut-reservation.org, the shared system of the German, Austrian and Swiss clubs. We link straight to it and earn nothing from a hut booking.

Members of any Alpine Club pay a reduced rate at all club huts, whichever club they joined, and membership usually includes mountain rescue cover. On a week of hut nights it pays for itself. Join the DAV

What it costs and how to book

The huts on the route belong to German and Austrian Alpine Club sections, so the shared tariff applies: in 2026 a member pays at most 15 euros for a bunk in a large dormitory and 25 euros in a smaller shared room, and non-members at least 12 euros more. Half board usually costs 40–60 euros on top of the bed, and a bed booking cannot be made conditional on it.

Most huts are booked through hut-reservation.org; some take bookings only by phone or email, which each hut's page here shows.

Getting there from Tel Aviv

Munich is the convenient airport, with two Lufthansa flights a day from Tel Aviv since August 2026, and from there the train via Jenbach into the Zillertal and Mayrhofen, the starting point.

After the disruption of 2026, direct routes from Tel Aviv open and close often, so check the current schedule before fixing dates, and book the huts before the flight.

Plan Berliner Höhenweg around my datesOpens the planner with this route's area and length filled in.

Common questions

Every answer below is counted from the 12 shelters our table holds along this route. Where a shelter does not state something, it is counted as not stated rather than assumed.

How long is Berliner Höhenweg, and how many days does it take?
About 70 km, usually walked in 7–9 days.
When can you walk it?
The season is July to September. None of the shelters along the way publish their warden months, so plan from the route's season rather than from ours.
Where do you sleep?
In 12 shelters within 4 km of the stage points, of which 12 are run by an Alpine Club. 0 of them can be booked online through the clubs' own system; the rest take a phone call, and every number we hold is on the shelter's own page.
Do you need to book ahead?
1 of the 12 shelters state that a reservation is required and 1 that it is recommended. The other 10 do not say either way, which is not the same as saying no.
What if you arrive out of season?
4 of the 12 shelters state that a winter room is left open. That is a room, not a service: no warden, no meals, and you carry what you need.
What is the highest place you sleep?
The highest shelter we hold on this route is Schwarzensteinhütte - Rifugio al Sasso Nero, at 3,026 m.
How much is a hut night on the Berliner Höhenweg?
For an Alpine Club member, at most 15 euros for a dormitory bunk and 25 in a smaller room under the 2026 tariff, plus 40–60 euros for half board if you want it. Non-members pay at least 12 euros more for the bed.

Guides for planning it

Other classic routes

Distance, days, ascent, high point and season are approximate and taken from Wikipedia (German), Berliner Höhenweg. Shelters from refuges.info (©Les contributeurs de Refuges.info, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR) and OpenStreetMap (ODbL).

Facts last checked: 25 October 2026

Sources