Surrounded by the mountain skyline of the Reschen Pass lies the tragically beautiful Lake Reschen. Entangled by the deep blue of the water a lonely steeple peeks out ouf the lake. It is the only remaining testimony of the willful destruction of two villages of the Upper Vinschgau Valley through a water stowage back in 1950 - and at the same time a surrealically beautiful and popular motif for photos. Due to the stowage hundreds of homes were destroyed and all of their inhabitants were forced to resettle.

In the museum in Grauen visitors can discover the whole story of the sunken villages in an interesting historical documentary of the events.

„Stiegen zum Himmel" (stairways to heaven) is a unique hiking project, connecting numerous cultural highlights on it's way: midieval castles, impressive Châteaus, colourful ornated churches and lonely, quiet chapels, historical settlements and landscapes, dreamy villages and cities between the swiss Engadin, South Tirol and the Trentino are waiting to be discovered by you!

The collection of travel routes and hiking suggestions of the project cover the area where once settled the people of Rhaetia.  In Vinschgau, along the Via Claudia Augusta, lie some of the oldest churches of the german language area. At the dawn of the 8th century Charlemagne founded the monastery St. Johann in Müstair here. The Marienberg Abbey in Burgeis is Europe's highest abbey at 4.400 ft.

Our Hotel St. Jakob is not far from the Marienberg and most of our holiday flats and apartments have a wonderful view on the impressive Abbey and the midieval castle Fürstenburg nearby.

More infos: http://www.stiegenzumhimmel.it/

No other region of the Alps possesses as many castles as the Vinschgau. Near the Reschenpass lies the Churburg, one of the mightiest and best conserved castles of all South Tirol. It contains the world's largest private armour chamber incorporating armour for almost an entire castle entourage. One of the largest pieces is a 2,10 m tall and 40 kg heavy armor from 1450. At the foot of the Churburg, near the village Schluderns, the annual „Südtiroler Ritterspiele“ (South Tirol Joustings) take place. They re-enact the midieval tournaments and set the visitor back into a historically auhentic ambience between camp life and midieval market.

Since 1983 the Château Juval in the Vinschgau Valley is the residence of the famous mountaineer and explorer Reinhold Messner. The castle hosts a museum that incorporates several art collections. If desired, guides lead you to all sectors of the exhibition.

The Museum in Château Juval is part of Reinhold Messners unique "MMM - Messner Mountain Museum-Project": Five different thrilling Mountain Museums spread all over South Tyrol. Three of these five museums lie in Vinschgau: The MMM Juval "Myth Mountain" in Kastelbell/Tschars, the MMM Ortles "Ice and Crystal Worlds" and the MMM "Alpine Curiosa" in Sulden.

More infos: www.messner-mountain-museum.it

The small village of Laas in Vinschgau has gained worldwide fame due to it's pure white marble. According to experts of the field, Laas delivers the most beautiful white marble in the whole world. Marble from Laas has been used all over the world, for example in London (monuments in the Holloway College of London University), Vienna (Mozart Statue), Rome (monument of Pius IX. in the church San Lorenzo fuori le mura) and New York (Grand Central Terminal in Manhatten).

Glurns is a somewhat magical midieval village and takes it visitors back in time. A massive town wall with four gates grantes access to tiny alleys, alcoves and corners as well as houses at close quarters.

South east of Burgeis lies the spa town Meran. It's esplanade has a rich mediterranean flora and in the urban centre there are plenty of cosy cafés and bars as well as italian boutiques. In the outlying area are the Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle. Empress Sissi loved to promenade and relax in these gardens. In 2005 the area was votet Italy's most beautiful garden and came to the 6th position the following year in the vote for Europe's most beautiful gardens.

The Stilfserjoch Road is a pioneer work of pass road engineering. Follwing only five years of constructiont, from 1820 to 1825, engineer Carlo Donegani managed to develope a connection between Sponding (Vinschgau-South Tyrol) and Worms (Bormio) accessible for horse-drawn post carriages.
The Road covers a total length of 49,2435 km. 48 hairpin turns lead from Spondinig up to the summit (2763 m), 34 others lead from there to Bormio. The Stifserjoch Road connects three neighbouring valleys of the Central Alps: the Vinschgau, the Münster Valley and the Veltlin.