Wattenberg

Altitude: 1,050 m a.s.l.

Wattenberg in the Hall-Wattens region extends at the slope of the Wattental valley. Already in prehistoric times, the alpine pastures were farmed here - today, the village includes numerous hamlets and farms. The coat of arms of the municipality illustrates a school kid with exercise book and pen that stands on one hill with each leg, reminding on former times, when the local school was attended by children of both sides of the valley. A school was first mentioned already in 1524!

Part of the picturesque mountain village is the Wattentaler Lizum, a hiking area in summer and ski touring area in winter. It includes the east end of the Wattental valley ("Lizum" means "alpine pasture at the valley head"), where the Lizumer Mountain Hut is located. It became one of the six best refuges for ski touring in the East Alps, while to the Glungezer & Geier-Route, which leads past the hut, was awarded the official quality seal for hiking paths "Tiroler Bergwege-Gütesiegel".

Other peculiarities of Wattenberg are its Swiss pine forests which belong to the largest of Tyrol - already farmed in the times of Maria Theresa of Austria - and the beautiful farms and chapels. Some of them were built by the miners of the Mölstal valley, where the most ancient iron mine of North Tyrol was opened back in 1315. It was located at an altitude of 2,500 m a.s.l.