A county in the mountains and one in the West
Tyrol is defined by mountains. It is the third largest county with 4884 square miles and 675 000 inhabitants but only 12 percent of the area – about twice the size of Hamburg – is useable. The rest are forest, high alpine and glacier regions. Wherever you are in Tyrol, you can always see the mountains. Especially the valleys south of the Inntal are carved deep and impressive into the Alps. The Oetz Valley, Stubai Valley, Pitz Valley and Samnaun Valley are great ski resorts with guaranteed snow in the winter and fantastic hiking areas in the summer. Aquatic athletes will like the Achen Lake which look like Norwegian fjords. The Mieminger plateau and the area of the Wilder Kaiser are very family friendly holiday regions. Between Lake Constance, the forest of Bregenz and the Arlberg there is Vorarlberg – with an area of about 1000 square miles and 352 000 inhabitants the second smallest county. Despite its small area, the county’s landscape is amazingly versatile. From Lake Constance, the land rises towards South up to the peak of Piz Buin at 10,800 feet. The Arlberg is not only the political and cultural boarder to Tyrol – Vorarlberg is for example the only county with the Allemanian dialect – but also a climatic zenith between Rhein and Danube in form of a water shed. The appreciation for practical matters of the regions inhabitants led to their own, contemporary architecture, which can be found in many functional buildings and private homes. The reduced style and use of pure materials like wood, concrete, glass and metal are striking.
