Through Almbachklamm gorge to Ettenberg

Your tour starts at Kugelmühle in Marktschellenberg. After just a few meters, you’ll enter the Almbachklamm gorge. At first, follow the right bank of the Almbach before a series of walkways and bridges takes you deeper into the gorge at the foot of Untersberg. A total of 29 bridges and walkways, one tunnel—watch your head, it’s only 1.60 meters high—and 320 man-made steps make the route through the gorge possible. In the upper section, the gorge opens into a somewhat wider valley before narrowing again at Theresienklause. At the 14-meter-high dam, the trails split: turn left toward Maria Gern or right toward Ettenberg.

From Theresienklause, the trail climbs gently through the forest above the gorge toward Ettenberg. A few meters after leaving the forest, you’ll pass an old farmhouse that served as “Lorenzhof” in the German TV series Lena Lorenz. Continue through the forest to the pilgrimage church of Mariä Heimsuchung on Ettenberg. The small church, together with the neighboring inn and Untersberg rising behind it, creates a picture-perfect scene.

For the descent, you can choose from several routes, including one via Hammerstielwand. Follow the alpine trail down numerous switchbacks into the forest above Kugelmühle.