Raggaschlucht Canyon, Austrian Alps

A "Seven Ladders" to the 10th power

Access

From Seeboden at Raggaschlucht Canyon, in localitatea FlattachIt is 37 km to the northwest, which can be covered by car in 30-45 minutes via the B106. This is my recommended approach to this fabulous sightseeing. The 106-it starts in Lurnfeld and then follows the Mölltalerstrasse along the Möll river valley passing through picturesque villages where every square meter of pasture is manicured and where I didn't see a single pet!

On the presented direction of travel we have until near the destination on the left the river valley, on the right a dug railroad line that keeps a higher trajectory than the road crossing several viaducts. We pass by a beautiful church - Filialkirche Dainelsberg - and a castle - Burg Falkenstein - both on our right. In Obervellach we leave the railroad and shortly on the left, at a hairpin bend with a secondary road, we turn left towards the parking lot for the Raggaschlucht, located after the bridge over the Möll river, which we have followed, and which has a high flow.

About hiking

Have you been to "Seven Stairs" in the Piatra Mare Mountains in Romania? It's wow! The "Seven Stairs" canyon in Romania boasts that it is the narrowest canyon you can visit. Is it, isn't it? I don't know.

But I invite you in Carinthiain Austrian Alpsin Kreuzeckgruppeon Ragga streamthe Raggaschlucht. A canyon that bears a striking resemblance to the "Seven Stairs" and boasts that it is the longest canyon that can be visited by ordinary hikers, i.e. without special canyoning or climbing equipment, the access being on a trail with bridges and stairs right above the raging and very nervous parape, which has dug impressive gorges and built numerous waterfalls squeezed between rock walls.

Program

For example in the year 2021, from May 30 to September 12, the canyon was open daily from 9 am to 5 pm, with the last entrance at 5 pm. Important! The program varies depending on the season and weather conditions! In direct translation it is more than useful to find out beforehand if you can visit the canyon when you propose to visit it or to adapt your program accordingly.

Rates

Entrance to the canyon costs 7 Eur per adult / single ticket, whole. Children between 6 and 18 years pay only 4 Eur / person. If you are in a group of at least 15, you will pay 6 Eur per person, with the specification that you announce that you are a group and that each person can pay individually, but at the group rate. Payment can be made by card or cash.

If you are in possession of a Kärnten Card, an access card to several attractions in the area, which can also be purchased online, then you don't have to pay the entrance fee to the canyon.

At the ticket office you can buy maps, souvenirs, have a cup of coffee in the open air at a wooden table next to a spring or ask for useful information.

In the area there are also several access trails to cable cars that go up to the glacier area.

Important recommendations

Wear boots or boots with grippy soles as you will be crossing many wet passages on wooden or metal surfaces. Step firmly, firmly, and instruct children or the inexperienced not to slip.

In the canyon it is a few degrees cooler, there is shade, so have something to put on even if it is a hot summer day in general.

Once you start on the trail and enter the canyon, after the first passage, you can't turn back as the one-way rule is in force.

At the ticket office we found a tourist-friendly staff, who allowed an elderly lady in the group, who was not convinced that she would be able to get through the first free passage and then decided whether or not to go for it. And guess what, she did! And she came back loaded with an unforgettable experience, in fact, on her return, the lady of the house didn't want to collect any more money from her, bonus or achievement prize. Bravo, Doina!

Access with leashed dogs is allowed, but each owner must assume that they can cross without undesirable events, a slip could be fatal.

Route map

(click on objectives for extended version)

Technical box

Difficulty: easy

Duration / distance: 1,5 hours / 3 km

Bookmark: unmarked

Water sources: spring at the ticket office

Minimum elevation: 700 meters above sea level, at the bridge over the Möll river

Maximum altitude: 940 meters, at the resting point at the exit of the canyon (in the direction of travel)

Level difference: +260 m / -260 m

Observations: paid access, landscaped trail

1. Canyon crossing

45 min / 1 km / unmarked, landscaped

This is what the landscape looks like in the background as we approach the Raggaschlucht Canyon. Let's proceed along the very solid and well-maintained wooden, railed, handrailed Ragga Valleyupstream. We enter the canyon. Wow! It's fabulous! Under the bridge over which we walk, the cold water of the creek paradoxically seems to bubble. A short distance after entering the canyon, I look up and notice that we pass under a mega boulder propiled more than 30 meters above us by the two flanks of the high canyon. So by my reckoning, the canyon here is narrower than 4 meters, which is what the "Seven Stairs" boasts is the record for the narrowest canyon it would hold. And to be clear about the force of the water, you don't have to look too far down. The maximum height of the walls flanking the canyon reaches 200 meters. The direction of the canyon changes several times, which makes the violence of the rapids even greater. In a landscape like this, you can't miss the waterfalls, photo opportunities. We climb up without realizing it, so beautiful is the natural setting, as if cut out of the world we know. Throughout the canyon, the route gives a feeling of confidence and safety. A plus compared to the "Seven Stairs", besides the longer passage, is the way the route has been designed so it still climbs in shorter pieces, this does not mean that there are no vertical stairs, but not as vertical as in Romania. A look near the exit of the canyon, towards the back. What a pity we can't come back this way! It's not over, there's still a little bit left....

wooden footbridge to the canyon entrance

the boulder above the canyon

me at Raggaschlucht

canyon

waterfall

Kreuzeckgruppe

2. Back over the canyon

30 min / 1 km / unmarked, landscaped

At the end of the canyon, the stairs wind up in serpentines, a bit steeper, breaking away from the steep valley between the cliffs, reaching a sunny spot with a bench to rest. You won't believe this, but I came out of the earlier flume, admittedly in a different dreamy setting. The descent is an easy one through the forest, on a wide path, which would fit a car, even if at some point it descends more seriously to the arrival point, the same as the departure one.

to the way down

our group

going downhill through the forest

River Möll

Alpii

The landscape up the canyon

Superlative

For me Raggasclucht has moved up to number one on the list of canyons visited. The most spectacular, the longest, the most visitable, the most landscaped. Not to mention that on the route there are also explanatory panels about how the canyon was formed, about fauna and flora. Raggaschlucht is not only for me a superlative, it is nicknamed "Die Schlucht der Schluchten - "The precipice of the precipice".

Since 1978 is declared monument of nature.

Other destinations in Carinthia and the Austrian Alps:

or Seeboden.

All the best!