St. Jakob in Defereggen

Altitude: 1,389 metres a.s.l.

The holiday village of St. Jakob in the Defereggen Valley is located in the heart of the magnificent Hohe Tauern National Park in East Tyrol. Its centre exhibits some very old stone houses, like the “Barmer Haus”. A very good example for the mountain architecture in the Defereggen Valley, however, is a farm group called "Hirbe”, which can be reached on a beautiful meadows trail starting from the centre of the village. From there, you can enjoy wonderful views to the bottom of the valley. The church in St. Leonhard, one of the hamlets of the municipality of St. Jakob, is a masterpiece of Tyrolean Gothic: built in the 15th century, it hosts some beautiful frescoes of the South Tyrolean artist Michael Pacher.

Passionate hikers will find a lot of different routes in and around St. Jakob: for example, in a 2 hours walk (1 hour if you take the lift), you can reach the Brugger Alm (1,818 m), an alpine pasture par excellence. Also very recommendable is a hiking tour to Tögitsch, another hamlet of St. Jakob, boasting a wonderful view of the village. A water adventure trail ("Großer Wassererlebnisweg“) leads you to the pilgrimage site “Mariahilf“, from where you can reach a magnificent waterfall. A very nice hiking destination is the Alpine hamlet Jagdhausalm, consisting of 15 very old stone houses.

The Lake Obersee near St. Jakob is not only popular with fishers, but also with mountain bikers, who often make a rest here on their “Giro delle Vedrette di Ries“, a 100 km long mountain bike tour leading all around the Rieserferner mountain range in South and East Tyrol.

In winter, the ski region St. Jakob in Defereggen - Brunneralm awaits you with 27 kilometres of perfectly groomed ski slopes and 8 ski lifts. Moreover, St. Jakob offers 70 km of cross-country ski runs and 25 km of romantic winter hiking trails.