Silbertal: Mining History, Legends and Nature

Among its featured attractions, Silbertal combines mining history with legends and nature experiences. When planning your stay, you can therefore choose according to your interests: highlights include a mining museum and trails with different themes, as well as activities for discovering nature. This lets you include historical traces of mining, tales from the valley or learning about nature in your travel plans.

Mining History at Kristberg

The permanent exhibition at the Montafon Mining Museum Silbertal focuses on mining in Montafon during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The museum shares an old schoolhouse dating from the 1920s with the Silbertal municipal office. The heights of the Kristberg slope are also part of the area’s mining history: miners dug there for silver, copper and iron.

St. Agatha Chapel on Kristberg also has a connection to mining. It was dedicated to Saint Agatha of Catania, the patron saint of goldsmiths and bell founders, and is associated with copper and silver mining on Kristberg.

The Silver Trail on Kristberg is a 2.7-kilometre educational trail with twelve partly interactive stations that convey the fascination of mining. If you want to focus on this subject, the trail offers a clear emphasis on mining history. At the end of the Silver Trail, by the Miners’ Chapel, you’ll find the “Silver Play World.” It is located below the Kristberg Panoramic Inn and is an additional attraction for children.

The Gaglaweg Silbertal combines old mining traces with legendary figures, wild nature and tales from the valley. Its mix of themes is therefore broader than that of the Silver Trail, which is dedicated specifically to mining.

Legend Trails and Nature Experiences

Stories take centre stage on the Legends Hiking Trail: it leads to ten legendary places and shares captivating tales and valuable information. The trail starts at St. Agatha Chapel after taking the Montafon Kristberg cable car uphill. It also offers a view of the Wildried, one of the highest-altitude raised bogs in the Alps. This brings together the theme of legends and views of a distinctive landscape.

The Litzbach Adventure Trail is a nature trail with eleven interactive stations. It offers a playful way to experience nature and is particularly suitable for children and families. The Wildbach Litz stream rises in the Verwall European protected area in Vorarlberg, which has been in place in Silbertal since 1995 and covers a total of 12,122.91 hectares.

The Montafon Forest School offers guided forest tours for children and adults. Participants explore the forest using their senses and learn about its functions. Unlike the interactive stations on the Adventure Trail, the focus here is on guided exploration of the forest.

The activities therefore offer families different kinds of experiences: the Litzbach Adventure Trail combines nature education with interactive stations, the Silver Play World adds a children’s attraction to the Silver Trail, and the Forest School offers guided forest tours for children and adults.

Plan Your Journey

The Silbertal Kristbergbahn stop is served by bus route 680. Check the current timetable before travelling.

Discover more destinations: Bartholomäberg, Fontanella, Gaschurn, Sankt Gerold, Gargellen, Bludesch, Nüziders, Vandans.

Back to the main travel overview: Bludenz.