Route: Franzensfeste railroad station -> Peissersteig -> Spiluck -> Vahrn
The starting point of Franzensfeste - named after the imposing fortress of the same name a little to the south - experienced an enormous boom at the end of the 19th century, particularly as a transport hub (Eisacktal and Pustertal railroad). In future, trains to the Pustertal Valley will no longer pass through Franzensfeste, but those coming from the Brenner Base Tunnel will. This is where its south portal is located. The material from the Brenner base tunnel is being used to fill the Riggertal valley and this huge construction site can be seen from the lonely and exciting Peissersteig.
This tour is taken from the book “Öffi Touren in Südtirol” by Rosmarie Rabanser Gafriller (Athesia Tappeiner Verlag).
From the train station (754 m), turn south on the cycle path and come to a crossroads where you keep right. Follow the road until a sign directs hikers left up onto trail 3A. Follow this path number from now on. You cross a ditch and reach a forest road. Continue along this until you reach a bend to the right, soon after which the markings lead you left onto a hiking trail. Pass a chapel-like wayside shrine and cross the forest road one last time near the Obersalcherhof farm. The hiking trail climbs quite steeply in places, overcoming a few rocky sections secured by ropes, then flattens out again and at a small clearing with birch trees and a bench, you continue straight ahead through the meadow. The path is quite narrow in places and you should always pay attention to the ground. Finally, after almost three hours of walking, you reach the Spilucker Platte, a fairground with great views. After visiting it, you walk uphill again, but now keep left up onto the Spilucker Rundweg and then left again towards Gasthof Ortner (refreshments available). Walk past it on the road (2B) down towards Vahrn and after two bends in the road, hiking trail 2 branches off to the left before the bridge over the Spilucker stream. It leads through a meadow and then through forest, sometimes quite steeply downhill, and joins path 2A, which comes down directly from the Spilucker Platte. After the Voitsberg ruins, you cross the Spilucker stream and now descend on its orographic right-hand side. The path joins the Karl-Toldt-Weg in Vahrn and leads into the Keschtnweg. Keep right and reach Schalderer Straße, along which you walk to the Waldsacker bus stop.
