In a wheelchair in the mountains of Tyrol

"It was always my dream that Eelke would be able to experience what she did during those days. I never thought it would be possible!" says Dineke, Eelke's mum, who accompanied her daughter to Kaunertal in Tyrol. Eelke sits in an electric wheelchair and is a journalist for the Dutch Support magazine. Like Tim and Christian, who are also dependent on a wheelchair, she accepted an invitation from Tirol Werbung to attend an event on the subject of "Barrier-free active holidays in the Tyrolean Kaunertal". Harald (also in a wheelchair) is there as a carer, Catherine is researching the topic but is not disabled. Together we want to explore the Kaunertal and its barrier-free infrastructure.

The majority of tourist highlights in the Kaunertal have now been made accessible to wheelchair users - and that means much more than 'just' providing wheelchair-accessible toilets! "Wheelchair users are often restricted to urban areas, where accessibility is usually better catered for. Yet it is often the proximity, the direct contact with nature, that many wheelchair users miss," says Harald Hörmann, a passionate disabled sportsman from Innsbruck. He himself was also amazed at how close you can get to nature as a wheelchair user in the Kaunertal. Picking up stones at the edge of the path again, looking at mushrooms and cranberries up close, smelling wet moss, touching tree trunks, looking down into the valley from far above and feeling the cool, rough wind at 3,100 metres. These are experiences that wheelchair users rarely get to have, which makes them all the more intense.

Barrier-free excursion destinations in the Kaunertal

To make this nature experience possible, the Kaunergrat Nature Park House, for example, offers the opportunity to hire Swiss Tracs free of charge, which can be used to explore the Piller Moor, the Falkaunsalm and some themed hiking trails. On the Sommerberg Fendels, after a hike along the animal nature trail, a speedy descent on a mountain cart awaits and on the Kaunertal Glacier you can enjoy a fantastic 3-country view in fine weather. The "Gacher Blick" and "Adlerblick" viewing platforms are also barrier-free.

Barrier-free accommodation in the Kaunertal

If you spend the whole day in the fresh air, you naturally also need suitable accommodation. The Kaunertal also has plenty of them: The 4* Hotel Weissespitze, which was converted for wheelchair access decades ago, is particularly well-known. Barrier-free holiday flats can be booked at Appartment-Haus Renate, for example. You can discover more accommodation, including a test report, at www.tirol.at.