Vorarlberg is one of the nine federal states of Austria and is
located in the extreme west of the republic. It is often "lovingly"
referred to as the "Ländle".
The capital is Bregenz. Vorarlberg
only borders the rest of Austria in the east via Tyrol. In the south and
west it borders on the Swiss cantons of Graubünden and Sankt Gallen and
between them Liechtenstein and in the north on Bavaria and thus Germany.
Although Vorarlberg is the second smallest federal state in Austria, it
still has a remarkable variety of landscapes, ranging from the shores of
Lake Constance to the Bregenzerwald and the high mountains of the
Silvretta Group.
Vorarlberg has (also for geographical reasons)
strong historical and economic ties to Switzerland. This and the
language have led to the saying that Vorarlberg is Austria's westernmost
province and its only canton. The standard of living is slightly higher
than in eastern Austria. It is only connected to the rest of Austria by
a border with Tyrol, which in turn runs over high peaks and passes. The
only connection that is safe in winter is the Arlberg road tunnel (or
rail tunnel), which is the longest road tunnel in Austria. Other
developed pass roads from Vorarlberg to Tyrol lead via Warth into the
Lechtal, via Stuben and Sankt Christoph to Sankt Anton (Arlberg Pass)
and via the Silvretta High Alpine Road (closed in winter) from the
Montafon to the Tyrolean Paznaun.
The numerous preserved wooden
houses with their shingle facades are particularly typical of
Vorarlberg, as are numerous modern buildings. From the residential
building to the fire station, the Vorarlberg building culture is visibly
lived.
Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost federal state, is administratively
divided into four districts: Bludenz, Bregenz, Dornbirn, and Feldkirch.
These districts organize local governance, with Bregenz serving as the
state capital, while Dornbirn stands as the largest city by population.
For tourism purposes, the region is more intuitively grouped into six
distinct holiday destinations, each offering unique landscapes,
activities, and atmospheres:
Lake Constance-Vorarlberg
(Bodensee-Vorarlberg): The northern lowland area along the shores of
Lake Constance (Bodensee), featuring lively towns like Bregenz (famous
for its floating opera stage at the Bregenzer Festspiele), Dornbirn, and
Feldkirch. This zone blends cultural events, lakeside relaxation,
cycling paths, and easy access to neighboring Germany, Switzerland, and
Liechtenstein.
Bregenzerwald: A charming forested highland region
known for its traditional wooden architecture (Bregenzerwald houses),
dairy farming, and the famous Cheese Route. It offers rolling hills,
scenic villages, and a mix of cultural heritage and outdoor pursuits.
Bludenz Alpine Region (Alpenregion Vorarlberg): Centered around the
alpine town of Bludenz, this area serves as a gateway to several valleys
and is ideal for families and nature lovers.
Montafon: A long, scenic
valley stretching toward the Swiss border, renowned for its dramatic
peaks (including the highest in the state, Piz Buin at 3,312 m),
extensive hiking and biking trails, and world-class winter skiing.
Kleinwalsertal: A picturesque high-alpine valley that is geographically
unique—it can only be reached by road through Germany (Allgäu region).
It functions as a car-free zone in parts and is a paradise for hiking,
skiing, and wellness.
Arlberg: A legendary alpine region shared with
Tyrol, home to prestigious ski resorts like Lech and Zürs. It offers
superb winter sports and stunning summer hiking.
Mountainous
Regions and Valleys
Vorarlberg’s southern and eastern parts are
dominated by rugged alpine terrain, characterized by deep valleys,
crystal-clear streams, and imposing peaks. Key mountainous areas
include:
Bregenzerwald: Gentle mountains and forests transitioning
from the lowlands to higher altitudes.
Großes Walsertal (Great Walser
Valley): A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve known for its pristine nature,
traditional Walser culture, sustainable tourism, and biodiversity.
Brandnertal: A family-friendly valley with impressive rock formations,
caves, and outdoor adventures.
Montafon: A vibrant 39-km-long valley
flanked by major ranges, popular year-round for sports and nature
experiences.
Klostertal and Arlberg area: Mountain passes and high
valleys connecting to major ski domains and offering dramatic scenery.
Kleinwalsertal: Accessed via the Allgäu, this valley feels remote and
exclusive, surrounded by towering peaks.
Major Mountain Ranges
Vorarlberg forms part of the Central Eastern Alps, with several
prominent ranges providing breathtaking landscapes, hiking challenges,
and skiing opportunities. Notable ranges include:
Allgäu Alps: In the
north, shared with Germany, featuring accessible peaks and beautiful
vistas.
Bregenzerwald Mountains: Defining the forested region with
landmarks like the Kanisfluh.
Lechquellengebirge (Lechquellen
Mountains): Source of the Lech River, offering wild alpine scenery.
Lechtal Alps: Part of the broader Arlberg massif, known for extensive
ski terrain.
Rätikon (administrative group): A striking limestone
range forming the border with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, with
dramatic walls and peaks like Schesaplana. It is popular for challenging
hikes and via ferratas.
Silvretta Group: High-alpine terrain with
glaciers, including Piz Buin, ideal for experienced mountaineers and
hut-to-hut trekking.
Vorarlberg perfectly combines lakeside charm
in the north with high-alpine grandeur in the south. Whether you seek
cultural festivals by Lake Constance, traditional villages in the
Bregenzerwald, or adrenaline-filled adventures in the Montafon or
Arlberg, this compact yet diverse region rewards every visitor with
unforgettable alpine experiences. Ideal for hiking, skiing, cycling, and
immersing in local culture and cuisine.
Bregenz
Bregenz, the charming capital
of Vorarlberg in western Austria, sits picturesquely on the shores of
Lake Constance (Bodensee), where the Alps meet the lake in a stunning
blend of natural beauty and cultural vibrancy. With roots tracing back
to Celtic and Roman times, this historic city features a well-preserved
Upper Town (Oberstadt) with medieval cobblestone streets, the iconic
Baroque St. Martin’s Tower offering panoramic views, and the modern
floating stage (Seebühne) that hosts the world-renowned Bregenz Festival
every summer. Visitors can ride the Pfänderbahn cable car for
breathtaking Alpine vistas, stroll the scenic lakeside promenade,
explore the Vorarlberg Museum, or enjoy outdoor activities like swimming
and cycling, making Bregenz an ideal gateway to the region’s rich
heritage and scenic landscapes.
Bludenz
Bludenz is a picturesque Alpine town in southern Vorarlberg, Austria,
often called an "Alpine town" for its strategic location at the
intersection of five valleys, surrounded by majestic mountains ideal for
hiking, skiing, and nature exploration. Known for its charming old town
with historic buildings and lively shopping streets, Bludenz serves as
an excellent base for adventures into the Brandnertal, Klostertal, and
the Biosphere Reserve Großes Walsertal. Visitors can enjoy local
museums, panoramic mountain views from nearby peaks, and a relaxed urban
atmosphere combined with easy access to outdoor pursuits, all enhanced
by excellent public transport connections across Vorarlberg.
Dornbirn
Dornbirn, the largest city in
Vorarlberg, Austria, offers a perfect mix of urban energy, cultural
attractions, and natural wonders at the foot of the Karren mountain.
Famous for its impressive Rappenloch Gorge and Alploch Gorge with scenic
hiking trails, the interactive inatura natural history museum, and
vibrant cultural venues like the Kulturhaus, this dynamic city appeals
to families, nature lovers, and shoppers alike. Take the Karren cable
car for sweeping views over the Rhine Valley, enjoy modern architecture,
sports facilities, and excellent dining, or explore the surrounding
mountains—making Dornbirn a lively hub for both relaxation and active
exploration in the region.
Feldkirch
Feldkirch, Austria’s westernmost city bordering Switzerland and
Liechtenstein, enchants visitors with its exceptionally well-preserved
medieval old town, romantic arcades, and winding alleyways that feel
like stepping into a storybook. Dominated by the imposing Schattenburg
Castle perched above the town, this historic gem features Gothic
architecture, including St. Nikolaus Cathedral, and a
pedestrian-friendly center filled with cafes, shops, and cultural sites.
Ideal for day trips or longer stays, Feldkirch combines rich history,
scenic river walks along the Ill, and easy access to the broader
Vorarlberg region, offering a delightful blend of heritage and
contemporary charm.
Hohenems
Hohenems,
a historic town in Vorarlberg, Austria, is renowned for its impressive
Renaissance palace (Schloss Hohenems) and deep cultural heritage,
including a significant Jewish history documented at the Jewish Museum
Hohenems. Nestled at the foot of the Schlossberg with ruins of Alt-Ems
Castle offering panoramic views, the town boasts elegant architecture,
charming squares, and a legacy tied to literature through discoveries of
the Nibelungenlied manuscripts. Visitors can explore its rich past,
attend cultural events like the Schubertiade, and enjoy the blend of
history, nature trails, and proximity to Lake Constance, making Hohenems
a rewarding stop for those seeking authentic Austrian heritage.
Neu-Ems Castle
Neu-Ems Castle, also known as Schloss
Glopper or Burg Neu-Ems, is a beautifully preserved medieval fortress in
Hohenems, Vorarlberg, built in 1343 by Ulrich I von Ems and offering
commanding views over the Rhine Valley. This Gothic gem, still in
excellent condition, features elegant interiors and serves today as a
unique venue for events and exclusive accommodations, allowing guests to
experience centuries of history in a luxurious setting. Surrounded by
Alpine scenery, it provides breathtaking panoramas toward Lake Constance
and the mountains, making it a captivating destination for history
enthusiasts and those seeking a romantic, atmospheric retreat.
Neu-Montfort Castle
Neu-Montfort Castle (Burgruine Neu-Montfort) is a striking medieval
hilltop ruin near Götzis in Vorarlberg, Austria, built in the early 14th
century by the Counts of Montfort and offering dramatic views over the
Rhine Valley. Though now in ruins, the impressive tower walls and
remnants highlight its former strategic importance, providing an
atmospheric site for hikers and history lovers exploring the region’s
feudal past. Easily recognizable from afar, the castle ruins blend
seamlessly with the surrounding landscape and serve as a peaceful
vantage point for appreciating Vorarlberg’s natural beauty and medieval
heritage.
Schattenburg
Schattenburg Castle, the iconic landmark towering above Feldkirch in
Vorarlberg, Austria, was constructed around 1200 by Hugo von Montfort
and remains one of the best-preserved medieval castles in the country.
Housing an excellent museum with 18 rooms showcasing the town’s history,
artifacts, a chapel, and the keep with panoramic viewpoints, it offers
visitors a journey through centuries of regional life amid mighty walls
and romantic courtyards. A must-visit attraction with a restaurant
inside, Schattenburg perfectly complements the picturesque old town
below and stands as a symbol of Feldkirch’s rich medieval legacy.
Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost state, stands out linguistically as
the only Austrian region where the primary spoken language belongs to
the Alemannic (or Alemannic German) dialect group rather than the
Austro-Bavarian dialects dominant elsewhere in the country.
This
makes it culturally and linguistically closer to Swiss German
(especially High Alemannic varieties in northern Switzerland), Swabian
(in parts of Baden-Württemberg), and dialects in Liechtenstein and
Alsace than to Viennese or Tyrolean speech.
Historical and
Geographic Context
The Alemannic dialects trace back to the Alemanni,
Germanic tribes who settled the area after the Roman period (around the
5th century AD). Vorarlberg’s isolation by the Arlberg mountain range
from the rest of Austria reinforced its distinct linguistic path, while
proximity to Switzerland and Lake Constance facilitated shared features.
There is no single uniform “Vorarlbergerisch”; instead, it forms a
continuum of local varieties. Sub-dialects vary significantly by valley
or even village, with notable differences in the Bregenzerwald (Bregenz
Forest), Montafon (with some Rhaeto-Romance influences), Lustenau, and
Bregenz (which shows Swabian traces).
Speakers of Vorarlberg dialects
can generally understand other Austrian (Bavarian) varieties better than
the reverse, due to greater exposure to Standard German and broader
Austrian media/culture.
Key Phonetic and Pronunciation Features
Vorarlberg Alemannic exhibits several characteristic sound shifts that
distinguish it from Standard German (Hochdeutsch) and Bavarian dialects:
Monophthongization: Diphthongs like “au,” “eu,” and “ei” often simplify.
Examples: Hus (Haus = house), Krüz (Kreuz = cross), si (sein = to be).
Conservative or archaic sounds: Retention of older forms, such as using
“gsi” (from Middle High German “gesein”) for the past participle of “to
be” (“been”), instead of “war” or similar. This led to the affectionate
nickname “Gsi-Berger” for Vorarlbergers.
Other traits: Softer or
shifted consonants; regional variations in vowel quality. The dialects
are often described as challenging for outsiders, even other German
speakers, due to rapid speech and local idiosyncrasies.
Grammar
and Morphology
Verb forms and auxiliaries: Use of “gsi” and other
Alemannic patterns. Question tags like oder are very frequent and
multifunctional (similar to “isn’t it?,” “right?,” or “or?”), e.g.,
“Isch eh klar, oder?” (“It’s clear, right?”).
Articles and pronouns:
Variations in weak articles (e.g., d before feminine/plural nouns in
some contexts) and pronoun forms.
Syntax: Overall structure remains
Germanic, but with dialectal word order preferences and constructions
(e.g., certain infinitive or modal verb patterns) that align more with
Swiss German than Bavarian.
Diminutives and other forms: Typical
Alemannic patterns, differing from the -erl/-el common in broader
Austrian German.
These dialects preserve more Middle High German
features than Standard German in some areas.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary includes many unique or shared Alemannic terms, some sounding
archaic to Standard German or Bavarian speakers. Examples:
Uf
Wiederluaga — Goodbye (cf. Swiss German influences).
Gigagampfa —
Children’s seesaw.
Lei — Only.
Losna — To hear/listen.
Des
dünkt mi — That seems to me / I think.
Schlüfa — To slip into.
Häs
— Clothing.
Ländle — Affectionate name for Vorarlberg (“little
country”).
Other terms: Bluomo (flower), Mintzla (cat), Schmelg
(girl), Hus (house), Öpfl (apple), Buab (boy).
Everyday speech
mixes these with Standard German, especially in formal, written, or
inter-regional contexts. Education and media use Standard Austrian
German (which itself has some regional flavors), so most Vorarlbergers
are bilingual in dialect and standard.
Mutual Intelligibility and
Usage
With Standard German: Moderately intelligible with effort, but
heavy dialect speech can be very difficult for northern Germans or
non-natives.
With other Austrian dialects: Vorarlbergers understand
Bavarian varieties better than vice versa.
With Swiss German: High
similarity, especially to neighboring High Alemannic varieties.
In
daily life, dialect dominates informal settings (family, friends, local
business). Standard German is used in schools, government, media, and
with outsiders. Younger generations may code-switch more toward standard
or show some leveling due to mobility and media.
Cultural
Significance
Language is a core part of Vorarlberg identity,
reinforcing ties westward (to Switzerland/Liechtenstein) over eastward
to the rest of Austria. It appears in local literature, folklore,
traditional costumes (Tracht), cuisine descriptions, and festivals.
Efforts exist to document dialects (e.g., Vorarlberger Sprachatlas,
dictionaries, and online resources).
By plane
Vorarlberg is well integrated into the European transport
system. However, the state does not have its own international airport.
The nearest international airports are in Zurich, Munich and Innsbruck,
the nearest regional airports in Altenrhein (Switzerland) and
Friedrichshafen (Germany). The Hohenems - Dornbirn (LOIH) airfield with
630 m asphalt runway is available for general aviation
(http://www.loih.at).
By car
The Arlberg expressway S 16
connects Vorarlberg with North Tyrol without crossing through the
Arlberg tunnel (13,972 meters), the Rheintal/Walgau Autobahn A 14 is
connected to the German Autobahn network and the Swiss Rheintal Autobahn
N 13 runs directly along the border. The Silvretta High Alpine Road from
Landeck to the upper Montafon is closed to caravans.
By train
International trains and Railjets stop in Bregenz, Dornbirn, Feldkirch
and Bludenz. From the east of Austria, the arrival is via the
Arlbergbahn.
The town of Feldkirch lies at the end of the Buchs
SG - Schaan-Vaduz - Feldkirch railway line, on which, however, only six
regional trains per day stop at all stations. As part of the
Liechtenstein S-Bahn local transport project, the entire route is to be
double-tracked in order to enable a general 30-minute interval. Regional
buses are currently also operating on the same route, which run much
more frequently than trains. Railjet, IC/EC and ÖBB Nightjet trains
stopping in Feldkirch on the Zurich - Berne - Feldkirch - Innsbruck -
Salzburg - Linz - St. Pölten - Vienna route usually pass Schaan/Vaduz
and Buchs SG without stopping. In addition to these Railjet trains,
Railjet lines also operate between Bregenz (and thus through the entire
Rhine Valley) and Vienna (or Vienna Airport).
The road network is well developed, but is concentrated in the Rhine
and Ill valleys. The Arlberg area can also be reached from Bregenz via
the B 200 through the Bregenz Forest, via the Hochtannberg Pass and the
Flexenstraße. Rail traffic is limited to the Bregenz - Feldkirch -
Bludenz - Arlberg route and the private Montafonerbahn (Bludenz -
Schruns).
Numerous trains operate in the Rhine Valley in
particular, i.e. S-Bahn (mostly stopping at all stations), regional
express (with fewer stops) and the Railjet (with stops only in the
larger cities) to Vienna (or to Innsbruck in the off-peak times). The
network of cycle paths in Vorarlberg can be described as exemplary by
Austrian standards, all larger towns are accessible and routes on the
mountain are also advertised in the same way as the hiking routes. The
number of kilometers to the destination is always indicated on the
signposts.
Country, city and local buses operate in and between
the towns and cities.
Art, culture and museums
Kunsthaus Bregenz. The Kunsthaus Bregenz
looks like a luminous body - seen from the outside. Depending on the
weather, perspective and position of the sun, it reflects light and
color and reveals part of its inner workings. In his own words, the
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor committed himself to the actual task of a
museum, namely to be a place for works of art and a place for people who
would like to encounter these works of art in peace and quiet with his
design for the Kunsthaus Bregenz. Next to the new Vorarlberg Museum and
the State Theater, the building is positioned as a self-confident
solitaire in the center of the city and on the shoreline of Lake
Constance.
inatura experience nature show. The inatura experience
nature show in (Dornbirn). Interactive nature show with science center
and many stations to try out and experiment. Housed in a modernized
historic industrial building.
Rolls Royce Museum. The largest
Rolls-Royce museum in the world is in Dornbirn! It took almost half a
century to build up the valuable collection with more than 1000 museum
pieces. In the "Hall of Fame" you will only find vehicles built between
the world wars, in which famous personalities such as Queen Mum,
dictator Franco, King George V or Prince Ali Khan were chauffeured.
Vorarlberg Museum World. The focus here is on the basics of science and
technology and the communication of their historical developments.
Jewish Museum Hohenems, Schweizer Strasse 5. Tel.: +43 5576 739 89-0. In
the Heimann-Rosenthal villa built in 1864. Documents the history of the
Jewish community Hohenems in a multimedia exhibition and shows changing
special exhibitions.
Angelika Kauffmann Museum. The Angelika
Kauffmann Museum provides insights into the life and work of the
well-known baroque painter Angelika Kauffmann, who had close family ties
to Schwarzenberg. Worth seeing, old Bregenzerwald house with a modern
extension.
Hittisau Women's Museum. The Hittisau Women's Museum is
the only women's museum in Austria. Changing exhibitions deal with the
cultural work of women and make women's history(s) visible. The women's
museum is housed in a building in the style of modern Vorarlberg wooden
architecture.
Nature
Rappenloch Gorge. The accessible
Rappenloch Gorge is a well-known excursion destination south-east of
Dornbirn.
pledges. The local mountain of Bregenz on Lake Constance: A
magnificent panoramic view over Lake Constance and the Alpine peaks of
Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the German Alpine foothills make
the Pfänder the most famous vantage point in the region.
Biosphere Park and Nature Park
UNESCO Biosphere Park Grosses
Walsertal. with a total area of 19,200 hectares is an alpine side valley
in the south of Vorarlberg. The reserve promotes a sustainable economy
and tourism in the region. The biosphere reserve can be explored on
numerous hiking and biking trails. With the "Biosphere Park House", a
visitor center was built as an educational facility and there are guided
tours by the park rangers.
The Nagelfluhkette Nature Park. is a large
protected area between Bergenzerwald and Allgäu and thus a transnational
park between Austria and Germany. It has a size of 15,400 hectares.
"Protect and benefit" is the motto and makes it clear that nature
conservation and recreation are equally important.
architecture
In Vorarlberg you will find a mixture of traditional and first class
contemporary architecture. Vorarlberg is considered a model region for
energy-efficient and ecological construction, in which wood is
predominantly used. Traditional buildings are given a new lease of life
and blend gently into the landscape and surroundings.
Vorarlberg
Museum. A striking feature of the vorarlberg museum are the concrete
flowers by the artist Manfred A. Mayr on the facade of the house. They
were cast from PET bottle bottoms and refer to the building's function
as a "vessel" for the collections.
Kunsthaus Bregenz. The glass cube
on Lake Constance was built by the Swiss architect and Pritzker Prize
winner Peter Zumthor.
Montfort house. Congress and culture center in
Feldkirch.
Bregenzerwald workshop. The house for the craftsmen's
association "Werkraum Bregenzerwald" is a meeting and exhibition venue
and offers space for events. The open workshop building with the glass
facade was built by architect Peter Zumthor and local craftsmen.
Dornbirn City Library. The new Dornbirn City Library is a pavilion with
a spacious atrium and houses a library, games room, media center and
meeting rooms. 8,000 stylized ceramic books are placed in front of the
glass facade.
Bus: Stop Krumbach. Seven international architectural
offices are designing and realizing seven innovative bus stations in the
municipality of Krumbach together with local partner offices.
Skyspace Lech. The year-round accessible Skyspace Lech was designed by
the American artist James Turrell, who is known for his space-light
installations. The Skyspace Lech is located in a hill near the mountain
station of the Schlosskopfbahn.
Bregenzerwald Museum Railway: Alternating with the more than
100-year-old steam locomotive or one of the historic diesel locomotives,
the forest railway wheezes through the eponymous Bregenzerwald. Special
trains on the occasion, scheduled trains from May to October between
Bezau and Schwarzenberg.
V-Card: With the card, excursion
destinations and sights (e.g. cable cars, museums, indoor and outdoor
pools) in Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein can be visited free of charge.
The card costs 78 euros for adults or 58 euros (reduced with the
Vorarlberg Family Pass), for children 39 euros or 29 euros (reduced with
the Vorarlberg Family Pass). Children up to 6 years free. It is valid
from May to October.
The Vorarlberg Lines operate their ships on Lake
Constance and connect Vorarlberg with the other towns and regions on
Lake Constance via Bregenz.
Summer: hiking
A network of more
than 6,200 km of uniformly marked and signposted hiking trails invites
you to explore the Vorarlberg landscapes in the great outdoors.
Min
Weag is a 31-stage, 400-kilometer circular hike through Vorarlberg. The
circular route from Lake Constance to the glacier ice can be walked in
one piece or in sections, as well as clockwise or counterclockwise.
Winter: skiing and hiking
In winter, winter sports activities
include skiing, cross-country skiing, winter hiking and tobogganing. The
foundations for alpine skiing were laid on the Arlberg, which today is
the largest contiguous ski area in Austria. Around two thirds of
Vorarlberg is over 1,000 meters high and many ski areas are between
1,400 and 2,400 meters.
Regular events
Bregenz Festival
Bregenz Spring
Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and Hohenems
pool bar
festival in Feldkirch
Montafon Festival of Legends on the open-air
stage in Silbertal in the Montafon
Lech Classic Festival
Montafon
resonances
Alpinale short film festival in Bludenz
FAQ
Bregenzerwald
Bregenzerwald Festival
Feldkirch, city of light
Montfort nuances
Hohenems Choir and Organ Days
Cheese and dairy products play a major role in Vorarlberg cuisine and
can be found in many traditional dishes. Particularly well-known are the
Vorarlberger Alpkäse and the Vorarlberger Bergkäse with a strong, spicy
taste and Sura Kees, a low-fat cheese with a slightly hot to sour taste
and a salty undertone.
Typical dishes from the region are:
Käsespätzle or Käsknöpfle (dough dumplings with cheese and onions),
Riebel (corn and wheat semolina dish, served hot or sweet), Flädlesuppe
(broth with savory pancake strips), Grumpara mit Käs (jacket potatoes
with cheese), apple fritters (Apples baked in pancake batter, topped
with sugar and cinnamon).
Well-known high-proof drinks are the
Fraxner Kirsch, a cherry brandy from Fraxern, and the noble brandy
Subirer, a fruit schnapps made from sow pear.
Brennsuppe in the
Vorarlberg style - used to be considered a folk medicine against
indigestion and was served as a restorative food after illness.
Käsespätzle with roasted onions and sour cheese, usually served with
potato salad or apple sauce
Riebl (corn dish), served for breakfast
with coffee or cocoa as a sweet or savory dish
Vorarlberg offers a vibrant and varied nightlife scene, especially in
its main towns along the Rhine Valley. Whether you're looking for
relaxed cocktail bars, energetic dance floors, or live music venues, the
region has plenty of options to suit different tastes.
Popular
Bars and Clubs
Bregenz: A highlight is Paschanga 2.0 (now connected
with WandelBAR), a stylish spot in the city center known for its
cocktails, DJ sets, and lively atmosphere—perfect for a night out by
Lake Constance.
Dornbirn: This bustling town features several go-to
venues, including Anzieh, Hämmerle Bar, the iconic Conrad Sohm (a
long-standing live music and club favorite), Vakanz, and Steinebach
Clubbing. These spots draw locals and visitors for everything from
electronic beats to rock and indie nights.
Rankweil: Head to El
Capitan for a fun, welcoming vibe.
Feldkirch: Try the energetic Rauch
Club or the colorful Bunt Klub for dancing and parties.
Hohenems:
Otten Gravour stands out for its unique atmosphere.
Lustenau: Sender
Club is a solid choice for clubbing near the border.
Many of these
venues host regular DJ nights, live performances, and themed events,
making them great for experiencing the local music culture.
Summer Festivals
The warmer months bring an exciting lineup of
open-air events that transform the region into a festival hub:
Szene
Openair Festival in Lustenau (typically late July/early August at the
Alter Rhein riverside meadow) is Western Austria’s largest rock
festival. It features major national and international acts alongside
emerging regional bands, creating a fantastic summer atmosphere with
camping options and scenic views.
Poolbar Festival in Feldkirch runs
for over six weeks every summer (e.g., early July to mid-August). Set in
the historic Alte Hallenbad and surrounding park, it blends music (from
indie and pop to niche genres), art, culture, and social vibes—drawing
thousands with a mix of concerts, workshops, and open-air parties.
Lichtstadt Feldkirch (Light Art Festival) illuminates the old town with
stunning projections, light installations, and multimedia experiences,
usually in October. It’s a magical, family-friendly event that
highlights the architecture in a whole new way.
Vorarlberg’s
nightlife and festival calendar make it an appealing destination
year-round, but summer is especially lively. Many events are easily
accessible by public transport, and the compact size of the towns means
you can often combine a night out with lakeside or mountain scenery.
Check current schedules and tickets directly, as lineups and dates can
vary.
When traveling in Austria, it's essential to know the local emergency
contact numbers. All calls to these services are free of charge from any
phone, including mobile devices, and English-speaking operators are
often available, especially in tourist areas. Here's a comprehensive
list of key emergency services:
Fire Department (Feuerwehr): 122
Dial this number for fires, chemical spills, or other fire-related
emergencies. Austria's fire services include professional teams in major
cities and well-trained volunteer units in rural areas.
Police
(Polizei): 133
Contact the police for crimes, accidents, thefts, or
any situation where you feel unsafe or need law enforcement assistance.
Non-emergency police inquiries can be directed to 059 133 in some
regions.
Ambulance / Emergency Medical Services (Rettung): 144
Use
this for serious medical emergencies, accidents, or when immediate
ambulance transport is required. Paramedics (Rettungsdienst) respond
quickly across the country.
Mountain Rescue (Bergrettung): 140
Critical for hikers, skiers, climbers, or anyone in distress in alpine
or mountainous regions. Austria's renowned mountain rescue teams are
highly experienced in high-altitude and wilderness operations.
Medical Emergency Service / Doctor on Call (Ärztenotdienst): 141
For
urgent but non-life-threatening medical issues, such as when you need a
doctor outside regular hours. This service helps locate on-duty
physicians, especially useful for tourists.
Roadside Assistance and
Towing Services:
ÖAMTC: 120 — Austria's largest automobile club,
offering breakdown assistance, towing, fuel delivery, and more for
members and non-members (fees may apply for non-members).
ARBÖ: 123 —
Another major provider for accident and breakdown support, including
repairs and towing.
Additional Important Numbers:
European
Emergency Number: 112 — The unified EU emergency number. It connects you
to the appropriate service (police, fire, or ambulance) and works across
Austria and the EU. Highly recommended as a primary contact if you're
unsure which service to call.
For other needs like poisoning (01 406
43 43), crisis hotlines, or deaf emergency text services (0800 133 133),
consult local resources or your accommodation.
Tips for
Travelers:
Save these numbers in your phone before your trip.
Provide clear details when calling: your location (use GPS or
landmarks), the nature of the emergency, and any language preferences.
In mountainous or remote areas, signal strength can vary — consider
downloading offline maps or the 112 app.
Vorarlberg was at least since 500 BC settled by the Celtic tribe of
the Brigantier. In the year 15 BC The Romans conquered the area and
developed the town of Brigantium in the area of today's state capital,
Bregenz, into an important military base and port on Lake Constance.
Around 260 AD, the Alemanni invaded and settled here around 450 AD.
With the Alemanni, the area came to the Frankish Empire, and in 843 to
the East Frankish Empire. As heirs of the Udalrichinger, the Carolingian
counts and others. in the Lake Constance area, the Counts of Montfort
gained control of the Bludenz, Bregenz and Feldkirch areas around 1200.
From the 14th century, the individual rulers came under the rule of
the Habsburgs, who were striving to round off their territories in
today's Switzerland and their Austrian possessions:
1363 the rule of
Neuburg am Rhein
1375 the County of Feldkirch
1394 the rule of
Bludenz with the Montafon
1397 rule Jagdberg
1451 half of the
County of Bregenz
1453 the courts of Tannberg and Mittelberg
1474
the county of Sonnenberg (the stewards of Waldburg)
1523 the second
half of the County of Bregenz
Numerous dominions in southwest
Germany (Freiburg im Breisgau) and today's Switzerland (Fricktal in the
later canton of Aargau) were also in Habsburg possession
(Vorderösterreich). Up until the 17th century, a bailiff headed the
administration of the Habsburg territories in Vorarlberg.
Also in
the 14th century was the immigration of the Walser from Upper Valais
(Switzerland) and Graubünden (Switzerland). In the 13th century, the
Alemannic population in Upper Valais had grown so much that space became
too small for them. Expansion further west was not possible because of
the strong Romans (Duchy of Savoy), so they moved across the eastern and
southern mountain passes into the neighboring high valleys (Walser
migration).
In 1765 the county of Hohenems also fell to the
Habsburgs after the line of counts had died out in the male line. With
the establishment of the Tyrolean district office in Vorarlberg in 1786,
at that time for the lordships of Bregenz and Hohenems, the state
appeared as one for the first time. In 1804, the acquisition of the
Blumenegg and St. Gerold dominions, formerly owned by the Weingarten and
Einsiedeln monasteries, and finally in 1814 the former Reichshof
Lustenau rounded off the territory.
In Napoleonic times, between
1806 and 1814, the area of Vorarlberg belonged to Bavaria and then came
back to Austria except for the western Allgäu parts of the Bregenz and
Hohenegg dominions; it continued to be administered from Innsbruck.
In 1861, Vorarlberg became crown land and, like all crown lands,
received its own state parliament and its state committee as an
executive body, but remained under the jurisdiction of the k.k.
Lieutenancy in Innsbruck, which the emperor as sovereign and the k.k.
represented the government in Vienna. Remnants of this administrative
unit with Tyrol still exist today, e.g. B. in the judiciary (Higher
Regional Court Innsbruck) or in the chamber organization (architects,
notaries).
After the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy,
Vorarlberg separated its administration from that of Tyrol in 1918. A
referendum in 1919, which advocated negotiations with Switzerland on
Vorarlberg's accession to the Swiss Confederation, yielded a majority of
a good 80 percent, but failed due to the hesitant policies of the
(provisional) Vorarlberg State Assembly and the Swiss Federal Council,
which carefully balanced the relationship between languages and
denominations in Switzerland did not want to create an imbalance with an
additional canton with German-speaking Catholics, as well as the peace
treaties of St. Germain and Versailles. The derogatory designation of
Vorarlberg as the remaining canton, on the other hand, comes from an
opponent of the project who advocated annexation to Germany. With the
establishment of the Republic, Vorarlberg became an independent federal
state with its own state government and a constitution that is
essentially still valid today. Vorarlberg is the only Austrian federal
state that describes itself as an independent state in its state
constitution.
When Austria was annexed to the German Reich on
March 12, 1938, Vorarlberg and all of Austria were de facto annexed by
the German Reich to the jubilation of the local National Socialists.
Shortly after the National Socialists took power, Vorarlberg was
forcibly combined with Tyrol to form the "Gau Tirol-Vorarlberg" and
dissolved as an independent regional authority. In 1938 only very few
Jews were still living in Vorarlberg. The Jewish community in Hohenems,
which had existed since the 17th century, was forcibly dissolved and the
Jews deported to concentration and extermination camps.
In
Vorarlberg, too, which was almost completely spared from acts of war,
the National Socialist dictatorship and the Second World War claimed
human lives, including those killed for racist or political reasons and
soldiers who fell at the fronts. Shortly before the end of the war in
spring 1945, the local SS shot at civilians who had hung white flags out
of the windows “too early” when the French troops were approaching.
After the war, Vorarlberg was part of the French occupation zone
from 1945 to 1955, together with the state of Tyrol (with the exception
of East Tyrol).
In 1964, Vorarlberg made national headlines when
an angry crowd in the Bodensee municipality of Fussach managed to have a
ship christened “Vorarlberg” instead of the name “Karl Renner” intended
by the Federal Ministry of Transport. This local protest against the
central government became known as the Footach Affair.
In 1999
and 2005, severe flooding devastated parts of Vorarlberg and caused
major damage.
The area of Vorarlberg is generally given as 2,601.67 km². Without
the area of the High Lake of Lake Constance, which according to the
condominium theory prevailing in Austria and Germany is jointly
administered by all neighboring countries under international law, the
country's area is only 2,596 km².
The country lies between Lake
Constance and the Alpine Rhine in the west, the Lechtal Alps, the
Arlberg and the Verwall Group in the east, the mountain ranges of the
Rätikon and the Silvretta in the south and the Allgäu in the north. The
mountains north of the Klostertal and the Arlberg are counted among the
Northern Limestone Alps.
The country lies within the sphere of influence of several fault zones caused by the drift of the African tectonic plate beneath the Eurasian one. As a result, there are always noticeable earthquakes, both with epicenters in Vorarlberg and radiating in from abroad, especially from Switzerland. Such zones lie below the Rhine and Klostertal, in the area of the Spullersee and just below the surface of the earth near Lech and continue in the Inntal shear zone to the east in Tyrol. On average, every 30 years there is a strong earthquake in Vorarlberg, which leads to slight damage to buildings. In 1965 there was an earthquake of magnitude 4 near Dalaas, in 1992 one with magnitude 4.3 with an epicenter near Feldkirch and in 1996 two similarly strong earthquakes under Lech and in 2016 one with M=3.6 under Klösterle. An earthquake with M=3.3 on March 20, 1998 with an epicenter near Bludesch was perceived as a strong earthquake (EMS = 5) due to the low focal depth and was still below the damage threshold. Most recently, in early 2018, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.9 each, which were felt as far away as Innsbruck and Basel, shook Vorarlberg from the disturbance on Lake Spullersee. Another earthquake from the Spullersee fault with M = 3.1 followed in April 2018. About 2⁄3 of Vorarlberg is classified in a scale from 0 to 4 valid for Austria in earthquake hazard zone 1, the western third near the Rhine valley belongs to zone 2 ( "Individual major building damage" possible).
The mountainous Vorarlberg is geographically structured
mainly by the valleys and their rivers:
The Rhine Valley with the
Rhine and the Walgau with the Ill are the most populous areas.
Other valleys and their rivers are:
the Montafon (Ill)
the
Klostertal (Alfenz)
the Great Walser Valley (Lutz)
the Brandnertal
(Alvier)
the Laternsertal (Frutz)
the Leiblachtal (Leiblach)
the Bregenzerwald (Bregenzer Ach)
the Kleinwalsertal (Breitach)
the Lechtal (Lech) in the Arlberg area
the Silbertal (Litz)
Vorarlberg is divided into several large areas,
which are usually related in terms of traffic engineering or traffic
planning. The most important of these large areas is the Rhine Valley,
which runs from Bregenz to Feldkirch and, with almost 240,000
inhabitants, is the largest conurbation in Vorarlberg. This means that
around two thirds of Vorarlberg's population is concentrated in this
area in the westernmost part of the country.
The second largest
region is the Walgau with around 48,000 inhabitants. Other regions are
the Bregenzerwald, the Montafon, the Lake Constance region including
Leiblachtal and the Große Walsertal. A special geographical feature is
the Kleinwalsertal, which cannot be reached from Austria and can only be
accessed via Bavaria. Nevertheless, as a "functional enclave" it belongs
to the district of Bregenz.
A part of the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley
and a small part of the Walgau are also combined in the state green
zone.
rivers and bodies of
water
In Vorarlberg there are 3,933 watercourses with a total length
of 4,117 river kilometers. Bodies of water and wetlands make up around
3% of the country's area, which is weighted as follows: wetlands 2%,
flowing water 30%, riparian areas 9%, standing water 59%.
The
main river in Vorarlberg is the Alpine Rhine, which forms the national
border with Switzerland over a long stretch. The Ill is the second most
important river and flows through the Montafon and the Walgau before
joining the Rhine at Meiningen. Other important bodies of water are the
Bregenzer and Dornbirner Ach, as they drain large parts of the mountains
of the Bregenzerwald. The Lech rises from the Lechquellengebirge and
flows in a north-easterly direction towards Tyrol.
The
largest lake is Lake Constance, in which Vorarlberg has a share with a
shore length of a good 11% (28 km).
Other important lakes are the
Lünersee and the Kopsspeicher, although both are reservoirs owned by
illwerke vkw.
Vorarlberg is connected to the rest of Austria in the east by three
passes, which are not or only partially passable all year round. These
are the Arlberg, the Hochtannberg (actually connecting the
Bregenzerachtal with the upper Lechtal) and the Bielerhöhe in the
Silvretta (between the Montafon and the Paznauntal). The Flexenpass
creates the connection between the upper Lechtal, the Klostertal and the
Arlberg.
A pass that is not passable all year round is the
Furkajoch, which connects the Rhine Valley via the Laternsertal with the
inner Bregenzerwald (Damüls). Two other important inner-Vorarlberg
crossings are the Bödele (Losenpass 1140 m) between Dornbirn or the
Rhine Valley and the Bregenzerwald and the Faschinajoch, over which a
state road leads from the Bregenzerwald to the Großwalsertal and on to
the Walgau.
Important mountains and mountain ranges
The
highest mountain in Vorarlberg is the Piz Buin at 3312 m. Other
well-known mountains are:
the Zimba (Rätikon)
the Schesaplana
(highest mountain of the Rätikon)
the Rote Wand (Lechquellen
Mountains)
the Three Towers (Montafon)
the Three Sisters (near
Frastanz/Feldkirch)
the Diedamskopf and the Kanisfluh in the
Bregenzerwald
the Great Widderstein (highest mountain in the Little
Walser Valley)
the cart in Dornbirn
the pledges in Bregenz
Probably the best-known mountain massif is the Silvretta in the
south-east of the country. Vorarlberg's largest glaciers are also
located here. Another important mountain range is the Rätikon, which is
also located in the south of the country on the Swiss border. The
mountains drop steeply to the north. In the Bregenzerwald, the mountain
heights gradually increase towards the south-east up to 2650 m
(Braunarlspitze). The well-known local mountain of the state capital,
the Pfänder (1064 m) in the northwest of the state, rises more than 650
m above Lake Constance, but is still one of the lowest mountains in the
state.
In Vorarlberg there are a number of protected areas with different
characteristics. Such areas usually serve to preserve and safeguard the
beauty, uniqueness and diversity of the natural and cultural landscape.
The requirements and regulations for the establishment of protected
areas are correspondingly high. A region to be protected can be
characterized by its originality and be home to animal and plant species
worthy of protection or rare minerals or fossils. "Particular scenic
beauty" or the relaxation of the population can also be important
criteria. In some protected areas, (traditional) agricultural and
forestry use, such as the extensive management of hay and poor meadows,
are a prerequisite for an award.
The areas are decided by
ordinance of the Vorarlberg state government and, depending on the
protective purpose and protective content, are designated as a nature
reserve, European protection area, landscape protection area, protected
part of the landscape, quiet zone, nature park or biosphere reserve.
In Vorarlberg there are the following protected areas
39 European
protected areas with a total area of 24,132 ha (approx. 9.3% of the
country's area)
25 nature reserves with a total area of 14,256
hectares (approx. 5.5% of the country's area)
9 protected landscape
parts with a total area of 4,388 ha (approx. 1.69% of the country's
area)
3 landscape protection areas with a total area of 584 ha
(approx. 0.3% of the state area)
3 plant protection areas with a
total area of 4,300 ha (approx. 1.6% of the state area)
1 UNESCO
Biosphere Park Großes Walsertal with a total area of 19,231 ha. The
biosphere park is not completely closed off as a nature reserve, but can
be explored on numerous hiking and cycling trails. With the "Biosphere
Park House", a visitor center was built as an educational facility and
there are guided tours by the park rangers.
1 Nagelfluhkette Nature
Park with a total area of 15,410 hectares. This park is a large
protected area between the Allgäu and the Bregenzerwald. This park also
has a strong educational background and the rangers and nature park
ambassadors are available for guided tours or workshops. All aspects of
the Nagelfluhkette Nature Park are presented to visitors in the
“AlpSeeHaus” information centre
The Lünersee (in 2019), the Körbersee (in 2017) and the Formarinsee
(in 2015) were voted the "most beautiful places in Austria" by the
television audience and expert jury in the course of the television
program 9 places, 9 treasures of the Austrian radio.
The Zimba is
one of the most famous climbing mountains in Vorarlberg with a height of
2643 m above sea level. A. Since the shape of the mountain is
reminiscent of a horn from all sides, it is also called the Vorarlberger
Matterhorn. The highest mountain is the Piz Buin in the Silvretta at
3312 m above sea level. A
The Rhine Delta nature reserve is the
largest wetland on Lake Constance and is one of the most important
breeding and resting areas for birds.
The moor landscapes near
Krumbach/Bregenzerwald belong to the protected areas due to their
special biodiversity and relevance for species and flood protection.
They have been developed with a hiking trail for (tourist) educational
purposes and can also be visited with a guide. The installed information
stations and moor seats explain the geology and history of the moors.
One of the most spectacular natural spectacles in the Rhine Valley
is the Ebniter Tal with the Rappenloch, Alploch, and Schaufel gorges,
the Staufensee reservoir, the Kirchle and the Gunzenach/Kobelach. The
gorges can be reached via Dornbirn and are accessible from April to
October, outside of this period there is a risk of falling rocks.
The Gottesacker plateau in the Kleinwalsertal is a protected karst
landscape near the Hoher Ifen. The limestone expanses are remains of
coral reefs and other marine life from the Tethys Sea more than 120
million years old. Washed out, marked by grooves and ribs, marked by the
forces of nature over thousands of years.
The European nature
reserve Wiegensee is a moor complex in a wild mountain landscape high
above Partenen. Here you will find the oldest reservoir in the Montafon,
which was created naturally, and so-called blanket bogs, which are a
rarity in Central Europe.
Ice Age glacier activity and erosion by
rivers created deeply cut valleys and rugged gorges, such as the Meng
Gorge, the Bürser Gorge, the Samina Valley, the almost completely
undeveloped Radonatobel or the Kessana Gorge near Bad Rothenbrunnen.
The federal state is divided into four administrative districts of
different sizes. These each bear the name of their capital. Bludenz,
Bregenz, Feldkirch and Dornbirn are arranged in decreasing order of
area.
In addition to these administrative districts, there are
the five judicial districts of Bezau, Bludenz, Bregenz, Dornbirn and
Feldkirch. In general, the district courts located in the district
capitals each cover the entire district. The District Court of Bezau,
which covers almost the entire Bregenzerwald and the Kleinwalsertal,
limits the area of the District Court of Bregenz.
Vorarlberg is
divided into 96 independent political communities, which consist of a
total of 107 cadastral communities. Five Vorarlberg communities have
municipal rights (Bludenz, Bregenz, Dornbirn, Feldkirch and Hohenems),
and another twelve have been elevated to market communities.
The
seat of the highest organs of the state, the Vorarlberg state parliament
and the state government, is the state capital Bregenz. According to the
state constitution, the state governor could order their relocation to
another location in the state for the duration of extraordinary
circumstances.
Vorarlberg is divided into four political districts. These are in
order from north to south:
district of Bregenz
Dornbirn district
Feldkirch district
District of Bludenz
Although the cities of
Bregenz, Dornbirn and Feldkirch are of the required size, there are no
statutory cities in Vorarlberg.
Vorarlberg has a 321 km long national border over which it
110 km
to the Federal Republic of Germany (Free State of Bavaria),
107 km to
the Swiss Confederation (Canton St. Gallen and Canton Graubünden),
at
69 km to the Austrian state of Tyrol and
Borders 35 km on the
Principality of Liechtenstein.
Due to the unique feature of
international law in Europe, that there are no jointly defined national
borders outside the heap in front of the shore, i.e. in the so-called
deep area of Lake Constance, the upper lake belongs to all riparian
states together according to the condominium theory. However,
Switzerland raises territorial claims up to the middle of the lake and
no claims beyond the middle of the lake.
With 156 inhabitants per square kilometer of land area, Vorarlberg is
the second most densely populated federal state in Austria after Vienna.
Due to the large, sparsely or not at all populated mountainous regions,
however, 1129 inhabitants per km² of settlement area crowded in 2017.
According to this benchmark, too, Vorarlberg clearly surpasses all other
federal states (with the exception of Vienna). With the metropolitan
area between Feldkirch and Hörbranz, it has one of the most densely
populated areas in Europe. Due to the early industrialization compared
to Austria, Vorarlberg developed into a classic immigration country as
early as the 19th century. The country, which is small in terms of area,
has the highest percentage of immigrants after Vienna. In 2015, this was
around 16% of the total population. Residents of German origin make up
the largest migrant group, closely followed by immigrants from Turkey.
The third-largest immigrant group in Vorarlberg, far behind, are people
from former Yugoslavia.
Up until the middle of the 19th century,
Vorarlberg was still relatively sparsely populated. The regulation of
the Rhine, the railway construction and the associated upswing in
industry promoted the settlement of Trentino, who came to work in the
country. Numerous Italian surnames, including well-known ones such as
Collini or Girardelli, bear witness to this wave of immigration.
The first wave of immigration, beginning in the interwar period,
consisted mainly of people from eastern Austria, mainly Styrians and
Carinthians. During the Nazi era, a large number of South Tyrolean
optants immigrated. For this purpose, the prominent South Tyrolean
settlements, which are still preserved and inhabited today, were built
in the larger communities of the country.
After the Second World
War, several large waves of immigration reached the Vorarlberger Land,
which explains the large jump in population between 1923 and 1951
(despite the war) and between 1961 and 1971. In 1966, for example, 26.3
percent of Vorarlberg's population was born outside of the state. The
first wave consisted mainly of German expellees (Sudeten Germans and
Lower Styrians). The second major wave of immigration in the 1960s and
early 1970s came with guest workers, particularly from Turkey and
Yugoslavia, whose labor was needed primarily in the textile industry.
This wave of migration was brought about by the relatively good economic
situation in Vorarlberg and neighboring Switzerland.
In contrast to the rest of Austria, no Bavarian dialects are spoken in Vorarlberg, but Alemannic dialects, which are related to the Alemannic dialects in German-speaking Switzerland, the southern Baden and Alsatian Alemannic and Swabian. The popular designation of Vorarlberg as "Ländle" refers to the Alemannic language area. The northern Vorarlberg dialect (Bregenzerwald and the state capital Bregenz) is most closely related to the Allgäu dialect; the dialect spoken in the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley is based more on the dialects of the Swiss Rhine Valley (canton of St. Gallen) and Liechtenstein. Many Romansh terms have been preserved and spread, especially in geographical designations, but also for some everyday objects.
In the last census conducted by Statistics Austria in 2001, around
78% of Vorarlberg residents were Roman Catholic and around 2.2% were
Protestant. In 2015 there were still 241,037 Roman Catholics in
Vorarlberg, which corresponded to around 64% of the population. The
majority of the evangelical believers professed the Augsburg Confession,
but there was also a small group that professed the Helvetic Confession.
Muslims made up about 8.4% of the population in 2001; This makes Islam
the second largest religious community in Vorarlberg. The number of
Muslim residents has since increased and their share of the population
was 11.5% in 2012. This religion mainly includes Turkish and Bosnian
immigrants; it has an above-average presence in the Dornbirn district,
where various Muslim faith groups make up more than 10% of the
population. In the 2001 census in Vorarlberg, 20,945 people did not
belong to any religious community, which corresponded to about 6% of the
population.
Since the census in 2001 (with the exception of the
Roman Catholic Church), no reliable figures have been collected on the
religious affiliation of the Vorarlberg population. Only the religion of
the Vorarlberg elementary school students is systematically recorded. In
addition to the declining proportion of Catholics in the total
population, these figures indicate a major change in the religious
composition of the Vorarlberg population since 2001. Today (as of 2018),
61.3% of elementary school students are Roman Catholic, 1.5% Protestant,
4.1% Christian Orthodox, 22.5% Muslim, 2% belong to other religious
communities and 8.4% have no religious affiliation.
Vorarlberg is defined by its state constitution both as an "independent state" and as part of the federal state. Due to the federal structure of the Republic of Austria and the federal principle of the federal constitution, Vorarlberg as a federal state has its own executive and legislative bodies and, with the state administrative court, its own judicial body. The executive, legislative and state administrative courts are based in the state capital of Bregenz.
The Vorarlberg state government, as the government elected by the
state parliament, is responsible for the implementation of state laws
and special federal laws that fall under the enforcement of the states.
The head of the state government and head of government is the state
governor. In Vorarlberg, his deputy is not referred to as the "deputy
governor" as in the other federal states, but as the state governor. In
addition to the governor and the governor, the government also includes
other state councils with different divisions.
In the Wallner III
state government, which has been in office since 2019 under the
leadership of Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP), in addition to state
governor Barbara Schöbi-Fink (ÖVP), three other state councilors of the
ÖVP and two state councilors of the coalition partner The Greens are
represented.
The Vorarlberg State Parliament acts as the state’s legislative body
and state parliament. The 36 members of the state parliament are elected
every five years by the people of Vorarlberg and currently belong to
four different factions. After the election to the Vorarlberg state
parliament on October 13, 2019 (state election in Vorarlberg 2019), the
following are represented in the state parliament:
the Vorarlberg
People's Party with 17 MPs
The Vorarlberg Greens with 7 MPs
the
Vorarlberg Freedom Party with 5 MPs
the SPÖ Vorarlberg with 3 MPs
NEOS with 3 MPs
and a non-attached member of parliament (formerly
SPÖ).
The sessions of the Vorarlberg State Parliament are chaired
by the President of the State Parliament or his two deputies. Harald
Sonderegger (ÖVP) is currently President of the Vorarlberg State
Parliament, his deputies are Monika Vonier (ÖVP) and Sandra Schoch
(GRÜNE).
In addition to the legislative activities and the
control of the government, the Landtag also has the task of sending
three members to the Austrian Bundesrat, the state chamber of the
Austrian Parliament, in each legislative period. In the current, 31st
legislative period of the Vorarlberg state parliament, it initially sent
Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), Heike Eder (ÖVP) and Adi Gross (GRÜNE) as
Vorarlberg representatives to the state chamber, with Magnus Brunner
being replaced by Christine Schwarz-Fuchs (ÖVP) after his appointment as
State Secretary at the beginning of January 2020.
Since the beginning of the Second Republic, Vorarlberg's politics
have been dominated by the conservative Vorarlberg People's Party,
previously, during the First Republic, by its predecessor, the Christian
Social Party. The SPÖ Vorarlberg left the state government in 1974. For
a long time, Vorarlberg was the only Austrian federal state in which,
according to the state constitution, the seats of government were not
allocated according to the proportional representation principle but
according to the majority principle. However, since 1999 the majority
principle has also applied in Salzburg and Tyrol.
Up until the
2014 election, the ÖVP always had an absolute majority in the state
parliament, with one exception between 1999 and 2004. For this reason,
the government seats granted to the respective junior partner in the
governing coalition in previous state governments were not a political
necessity. After the state elections in Vorarlberg in 2009, in the
run-up to which there had been a rift within the ÖVP/FPÖ coalition, the
Vorarlberg People's Party with its then governor Herbert Sausgruber
decided for the first time since 1945 to form a sole government. After
the state elections in 2014, the ÖVP and the Greens formed a coalition
for the first time, which was continued after the state elections in
2019.
Since 1984, Die Grünen Vorarlberg have been represented as
the fourth party in the Vorarlberg state parliament. After the split of
the BZÖ from the FPÖ, the Vorarlberg Freedom Party initially opted for
an independent third path, but subordinated themselves to the Federal
FPÖ again in 2006. Since NEOS entered the state elections in 2014, the
Vorarlberg state parliament has had five parliamentary groups.
For several decades, the basic attitude of Vorarlberg politics has
included a strong emphasis on Austrian federalism, a sometimes
fundamental opposition to the Austrian federal government in Vienna -
regardless of its party political composition - and a generally more
liberal attitude of all parties. The clearest symbol of the strongly
anchored idea of independence in Vorarlberg was the Fussach affair in
1964.
The national symbols of the country are the national coat of arms,
the national seal, the national anthem and the national colours.
The Vorarlberg state constitution determines the state coat of arms
introduced in 1918 as part of the state symbols with the words
"The country's coat of arms is the Montfort red banner on a silver
shield."
The Montfort banner has three equally wide bibs with
black fringes and three red rings on the upper edge. The upper field of
the banner is crossed with two, the bibs are crossed with three black
transverse lines.
Traffic
The main traffic axis of Vorarlberg leads through the
Rhine Valley, the Walgau and the Klostertal to the Arlberg, through
which the federal state is connected with the rest of Austria, among
other things. The most noteworthy transitions to Tyrol are the
Bielerhöhe, the Arlberg Pass and the Arlberg road tunnel as well as the
transition to the Lechtal near Warth.
At the level of individual
traffic, this traffic axis is realized with the Rheintal/Walgau Autobahn
A 14 and the Arlberg expressway S 16 (with the Arlberg road tunnel).
In terms of public transport, the Lindau–Bludenz railway line and
the Arlbergbahn form the main axis. Together with the Feldkirch–Buchs
railway and the St. Margrethen–Lauterach railway, these routes are
served by ÖBB. There is also the Bludenz–Schruns railway line operated
by the Montafonerbahn. The EuroCity trains from Munich to Zurich stop in
Vorarlberg at Bregenz station. The Railjet trains from Vienna to Zurich
stop at Feldkirch and Bludenz stations. The narrow-gauge
Bregenzerwaldbahn was largely shut down around 1980. Only a short
section is still operated today as a museum railway.
The country
bus, city bus and local bus system (most lines run every half hour)
complete the public transport, which is integrated into the Vorarlberg
transport association.
In contrast to the two other countries
bordering on Lake Constance, Switzerland and Germany, which operate
several scheduled ferry routes, Lake Constance shipping is not important
for Vorarlberg in terms of passenger transport. The Vorarlberg Lake
Constance fleet is only used for tourism and only operates in the summer
months. One of the ships in the fleet is called Vorarlberg, see the
Fussach affair.
Vorarlberg has no airport apart from an airfield
for sports planes in Hohenems and two heliports in Feldkirch and
Ludesch. The nearest airports are Innsbruck in Austria, Altenrhein and
Zurich in Switzerland, Friedrichshafen, Memmingen, Munich and Stuttgart
in Germany.
In December 2008, the federal government awarded
Vorarlberg funding amounting to 4.7 million euros to carry out a model
test for electric cars. In the process, around 100 new electric vehicles
were introduced, especially in the Rhine Valley, 50 of which were
purchased and leased by the Illwerke/VKW Group. The electricity required
for the vehicles is obtained from renewable energies. In the tender for
the model region, the state prevailed against Graz, Linz and Salzburg.
In 2017, the degree of motorization (cars per 1000 inhabitants) was
535.
Economically, the federal state of Vorarlberg is one of the earliest
developed industrial regions in Austria. Today, the traditional textile
industry is less dominant than the precision engineering and electronics
industry, as well as tourism (Lech and Zürs am Arlberg, Montafon,
Bregenzerwald, Kleinwalsertal). Vorarlberg is the second most
industrialized state in Austria with the strongest export orientation
(export rate of industrial production around 70%). Another important
factor are the cross-border commuters to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
In comparison with the gross domestic product of the European Union,
expressed in purchasing power standards, Vorarlberg achieved an index of
139 in 2014 (EU-27: 100).
The large model companies of international importance include:
ALPLA in Hard (plastic packaging)
Julius Blum GmbH and Grass in
Höchst (fittings)
Gebrüder Weiss in Lauterach (transport and
logistics)
Zumtobel in Dornbirn (lighting technology)
Doppelmayr
in Wolfurt (cable car construction)
Hirschmann Automotive in Rankweil
(automotive supplier)
Rauch fruit juices in Rankweil and Nüziders and
Pfanner in Lauterach (fruit juices)
illwerke vkw AG in Bregenz
(electricity industry)
Getzner Textil in Bludenz and Wolford
(textiles)
the Rhomberg Group (construction and railway) in Bregenz
OMICRON electronics GmbH in Klaus (testing and diagnostic equipment for
equipment in electrical power engineering)
In addition, a number
of major foreign corporations with strategic production facilities have
settled in Vorarlberg. Examples include Liebherr and Norsk Hydro in
Nenzing, Suchard in Bludenz and Hilti in Thuringia. Four breweries are
also located in Vorarlberg.
In 2006, 51 nursing homes in Vorarlberg offered 2,147
residential/nursing places, of which 1,818 were nursing places and 329
were places in 1,914 occupied rooms; 1,755 of these are single rooms. In
2006, 3,687 people were cared for, of which 1,152 were only temporarily
in a nursing home.
Prostitution is de facto forbidden in
Vorarlberg, as it can only take place in brothels approved by the
municipal council and no such approvals are given. In 2011 there were
about 70 to 100 illegal brothels; trade and customers are also moving to
the neighboring Swiss Rhine Valley.
Today, the electricity industry forms an essential part of
Vorarlberg's economy, with hydropower being the main source of energy.
This is mainly used for the production of peak current. Electricity
generation from hydropower (excluding electricity from pumped storage)
averaged 2560 GWh/year in the years 2015 to 2019, which corresponds to a
continuous output of 292.2 megawatts.
The largest electricity
producer and seller in Vorarlberg is illwerke vkw. They produce - mainly
through hydropower - about three quarters of the electricity consumed in
Vorarlberg.
Due to an agreement that has existed for decades and
was extended until the end of 2041, Baden-Württemberg EnBW has access to
half of the storage and control energy of the pumped storage plants and
bears a proportion of the operating costs.
Overall, Vorarlberg
has been a net electricity importer since 2003, despite the plentiful
rainfall of 1900 mm/a and the mountainous landscape. It can only export
electricity from May to September, in December and January Vorarlberg
can only cover 40% of its electricity requirements from its own
generation (data from 2020).
In Blons there is a solar plant that
was the largest in Europe when it was commissioned in 2003.
Electricity from wind power is not generated commercially in Vorarlberg
(as of 2023). According to a study from the same year, wind power could
only be generated profitably on 4% of the country's area, partly because
of the topography and for development reasons.
The Vorarlberg
natural gas network, like the Tyrolean one, is not directly connected to
the rest of the Austrian pipeline system. Gas flows within Austria to
and from Vorarlberg and Tyrol are only possible via pipelines located on
German territory, for which an agreement was signed between Austria and
the Federal Republic in 2022.
The state of Vorarlberg is a popular travel destination. However, the
tourism industry plays a relatively minor role compared to the overall
economic output. In the "accommodation and gastronomy" sector,
Vorarlberg's gross value added is above the Austrian level (6.83% to
5.3%; all figures from 2018). The Vorarlberg tourism industry has an
annual turnover of around two billion euros and offers around 13,000
year-round jobs. Holiday guests book over 8.6 million overnight stays a
year. The State Office for Statistics counts around 2.2 million guest
arrivals every year.
Around 63,900 beds were available to
domestic and foreign guests in the 2018/19 winter season and around
59,000 beds in the 2019 summer season in commercial and private
accommodation facilities. With around 5.0 million overnight stays and
1.2 million arrivals, the 2018/2019 winter season was just below the
previous year's level. With 1,236,000 guest arrivals and 5,031,200
overnight stays, the peak result of winter 2017/18 was almost reached
again. Compared to the previous year, arrivals fell by 1.1% and
overnight stays by 1.3% (‐67,200). The 2019 summer season showed
significant growth compared to summer 2018. Around 1,284,400 guests
visited Vorarlberg in the 2019 summer season (+3.2% compared to summer
2018). They booked 4,183,100 overnight stays (+4.0% compared to summer
2018).
The home countries of holiday guests in Vorarlberg are
Germany (54%), Austria (17%), Switzerland (12%), the Netherlands (6%),
France (2.4%), Belgium/Luxembourg (1.4%), Great Britain (1.3%), Italy
(1%), Sweden/Denmark (0.8%), the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia
(0.8%). The most important tourism region in 2019 is the Montafon (share
of overnight stays in 2019: 21.47%), followed by the Bregenzerwald
(20.16%) and the Kleinwalsertal (19.22%). In the 2019 calendar year, the
Lake Constance-Vorarlberg region (+95,151) achieved an above-average
number of overnight stays, which can be explained by the Gymnaestrada
held in July (overnight share in 2019: 16.04%). The Alpregion Bludenz
(+19,100) was also able to achieve a significant increase in overnight
stays with a share of 12.56%. The destinations Montafon (-34,600) and
Arlberg (-15,000 overnight stays, proportion of overnight stays: 10.56%)
registered a drop in overnight stays in 2019.
The later Nobel
Prize winner Ernest Hemingway spent the two winters of 1924/25 and
1925/26 with his family in Vorarlberg, where he lived in Schruns and
Gaschurn for several months. Through his stories about the region in his
novel Paris - A Feast for Life, the area is well known as a winter
destination, especially in the USA.
In the 2000s, Vorarlberg's economic development was rated as "very
positive and is estimated to be more dynamic in the future than in
neighboring countries", which also applied to the forecast growth in
population and employment compared to neighboring countries, with the
exception of Liechtenstein.
The unemployment rate in Vorarlberg
was 5.6% in 2012, 0.9 percentage points below the Austrian average.
Universities and research institutions
University of Applied
Sciences Vorarlberg (Dornbirn)
Center for distance learning
(JKU/Fernuniversität Hagen)
Institute for Breath Analysis (Dornbirn)
Vorarlberg Institute for Vascular Medicine (VIVIT)
Vorarlberg State
Conservatory (Feldkirch)
University of Education Vorarlberg
(Feldkirch)
In the area of print media, the daily newspaper Vorarlberger
Nachrichten dominates, which appears under the umbrella of Russmedia
(formerly Vorarlberger Medienhaus) of the Russ publishing family, along
with the other two wide-reaching, nationwide print products (Neue
Vorarlberger Tageszeitung, Wann&Wo). In the past, the editorial line of
the UN has often included campaigns that propagate Vorarlberg as an
independent entity in relation to the “rest of Austria” (in particular
Vienna, which is dominated by social democracy, as a historical “enemy
image”) (see also the Fussach affair).
In the newspaper sector,
there were often legal disputes between the Vorarlberger Medienhaus and
other publishers, who see the Vorarlberger Medienhaus in a kind of
monopoly position. The Vorarlberger Medienhaus also holds shares in the
private broadcaster Antenne Vorarlberg. Only the Austrian public
broadcaster, with its daily regional television news program window and
the radio station Radio Vorarlberg, can oppose this range of media. On
March 5, 2007, the first analogue switch-off took place in Austria, thus
starting the final conversion to digital TV (DVB-T).
The administration in Vorarlberg is traditionally organized in a
decentralized manner. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that
Vorarlberg was not an independent state until 1918, so it did not have a
state capital and the facilities were divided between the largest
cities. On the other hand, although Bregenz is the seat of the state
parliament and state government, as the third largest city in the state,
it does not occupy the central position that state capitals in most
other federal states usually do. The entire Rhine Valley, in particular
the three larger cities of Bregenz, Dornbirn and Feldkirch, can be seen
as the actual political and social center of Vorarlberg.
Institutions of national importance in the individual cities and
communities that are usually located in the state capital are, for
example:
Bregenz: State government, state police headquarters,
military command, state library, state archive, state museum, state
theater, state school board for Vorarlberg (school supervision),
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz Festival, Chamber of Agriculture, regional
office of the social insurance institution for farmers, state office of
the insurance institution for public employees
Wolfurt: Goods station
for the entire Rhine Valley – resulting in: Wolfurt-Bahnhof post office
as the largest and most important post office, Wolfurt-Bahnhof customs
office and the seat of ÖBB-Postbus AG
Dornbirn: ORF state studio,
university of applied sciences, Vorarlberg regional health insurance
fund, state office of the pension insurance institution, economic
development institute of the Economic Chamber, medical association
Feldkirch: seat of the diocese, regional court, Vorarlberg transport
association, main customs office for Vorarlberg, Chamber of Labour,
Austrian Trade Union Confederation, Chamber of Commerce, University of
Education, regional office of the social insurance institution for
commercial economy, largest regional hospital (Feldkirch regional
hospital), regional financial directorate for Vorarlberg, Vorarlberg
regional conservatory, regional surveying office, regional fire brigade
school
Lustenau: Association of industrialists, seat of the
International Rhine Regulatory Authority, most important customs office
on the Swiss border, central oil storage for the whole of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg offers cultural offerings, especially in the cities. In
addition to theaters and cinemas, the lake stage with the Bregenz
Festival should be mentioned.
Furthermore, cultural festivals
such as the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, the Montforter
Zwischentonen in Feldkirch, the Poolbar Festival in Feldkirch, the
Montafon resonances, the classic Krumbach, the Dance Festival Bregenzer
Spring, the Theater Festival Luaga & Losna, the Vorarlberg Braups
Festival Walserherbst To experience pines, shipping on Lake Constance,
and pilgrimage paths (e.g. the Jakobsweg).
In Vorarlberg, many customs and traditional festivals are maintained throughout the year, which are particularly influenced by the Alemannic language and culture (see Vorarlberg customs).
Traditional costumes have a long tradition in Vorarlberg. Many
valleys and villages have their own style of costume, each with
distinctive characteristics from a specific stylistic era. The
Bregenzerwald costume is the oldest, dating back to the 15th/16th
centuries. Century and is also called "d'Juppô" ("Juppe"). The Montafon
traditional costume is inspired by the Baroque. A whole costume consists
of several elements: the juppe (apron), headgear (caps, hats), a blouse,
a “tschopa” (jacket) and stockings. The hairstyle, for example braided
hair, can also be part of the costume.
In the 1970s, only a few
women from Vorarlberg wore traditional costumes. This was due to strict
regulations. For example, Bregenzerwald ladies with short hair were not
supposed to wear traditional costumes because their hair was too short
for the appropriate hairstyle ("Wälderzöpfe"). It wasn't until the 1990s
that regulations were relaxed and costumes became more individual that
the wearing of costumes became more popular. Today, traditional costume
is mainly worn on festive occasions. In the Juppen workshop in
Riefensberg, costumes are still made in the traditional way.
The three-stage economy is the basis of traditional cheese production
in Vorarlberg and led to the development of a distinctive cheese
culture.
Farmers drive their livestock to where fodder is
available. Therefore, depending on the season, they change their stables
several times a year. Almwirtschaft is called "three-stage economy" in
German because the alpine pastures are managed in three stages:
Vorsäß/Maisäß: At the end of spring, the cattle are driven from the farm
in the valley to the Vorsäß (an alpine pasture at medium altitude,
approx. 1500 m).
Hochalpe: At the beginning of July the cattle are
driven to high pastures above the tree line (approx. 1600 to 2000 m).
Almabtrieb/Alpabtrieb: In September/October the cattle are festively
decorated and driven back to the mountain pasture.
The Vorarlberg
alpine culture ensures that cows give off high-quality, aromatic milk,
known as hay milk, due to their special diet. The use of hay milk in the
cheese dairy contributes to the unmistakable taste that makes up more
than 30 regional cheeses, including Vorarlberger Alpkäse and
Vorarlberger Bergkäse. UNESCO declared the alpine culture in the
Bregenzerwald as an intangible cultural heritage in 2011. Thanks to
subsidies, the traditional alpine culture can be continued in the 21st
century. An example of an initiative for alpine farming is the
KäseStraße Bregenzerwald.
Cheese culture has played an important
role in Vorarlberg's economy for centuries. In the Bregenzerwald it was
the Celts who brought cattle breeding and alpine agriculture to the
region. From 15 B.C. until the fall of the Roman Empire, the Romans
occupied the Bregenzerwald and adopted the cultivation methods of the
Celts. From the 5th century, the Alemanni settled, who shared pastures
(common land) and in the 9th century passed on the craft of cheese
making to the monastery members.
Cheese and dairy products play a major role in Vorarlberg cuisine and
can be found in many traditional dishes. Typical dishes from the region
are: Käsespätzle or Käsknöpfle (dough dumplings with cheese and onions),
Riebel (corn and wheat semolina dish, served spicy or sweet),
Flädlesuppe (broth with savory pancake strips), Grumpara mit Käs (jacket
potatoes with cheese), Öpfelküachle (apples baked in pancake batter,
topped with sugar and cinnamon). Mostbröckle, which comes from
Switzerland, is also a very popular product.
Well-known
high-proof drinks are the Fraxner Kirsch, a cherry brandy from Fraxern,
and the noble brandy Subirer, a fruit schnapps made from sow pear.
Vorarlberger Bergkäse: The texture of mountain cheese is rather hard,
sometimes with small holes or cracks, with a strong flavor that is
sometimes nutty. Bergkäse in the narrower sense is a cheese that is
produced in the low mountain range (between 600 and 1500 m). An example
is the Großwalsertal mountain cheese called "Walserstolz".
Vorarlberger Alpkäse or Almkäse: Alpkäse is a hard cheese that is
similar to mountain cheese in terms of taste and consistency. The
difference between these cheeses lies in the production process.
Mountain cheese is made all year round, including in winter when the
animals are in the barn and fed with hay. Alp cheese is a seasonal
product that is only made in summer between May and September on high
mountain meadows above 1500 m (pastures or alps), where the animals
graze on alpine herbs.
Sura Kees ("sour cheese"): Originally from
the Montafon, Sura Kees has been known there since the 12th century and
is similar to Tyrolean gray cheese. It is a low-fat cheese with a mild
aroma reminiscent of cream cheese, its taste varies from slightly spicy
to sour, always with a salty undertone. The sura kees is usually served
with vinegar, oil and onions, or eaten alone on brown bread or with
potatoes.
In 1651, Michael Beer founded the Auer Zunft, an important community
of Vorarlberg builders, sculptors and carpenters who specialized in
baroque building. In Au-Schoppernau from 1670 to 1700, more than 90
percent of all male workers were builders. Master builders and craftsmen
from the Bregenzerwald in particular, but also from other parts of
today's Vorarlberg, played a leading role in the 600 churches and
monasteries that were built in the Baroque style in the 17th and 18th
centuries. Members of the Auer Zunft received 60 percent of the more
than 700 major construction contracts awarded to Vorarlbergers.
The Auer master craftsmen trained over 1800 apprentices during that long
construction boom. These new master builders were active throughout the
Lake Constance area, but also in Alsace and Bohemia. Well-known works by
baroque master builders include the monasteries and churches in Birnau,
Weingarten and Einsiedeln.
Many important members of the Auer
guild came from the architect families Beer, Moosbrugger and Thumb.
The independent building forms of the Bregenzerwald house and the
Montafon house are particularly typical of the historical architecture
of Vorarlberg. These were built in a mixed stone-wood construction; the
oldest surviving examples date from the 15th century. In the center of
Schwarzenberg there are some well-preserved and relatively uniform
Bregenzerwald houses that were built after the great fire of 1755.
The Rheintalhaus is the traditional rural house form in Dornbirn and
the surrounding communities in the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley.
The modern Vorarlerberg architecture scene has been recognized
throughout Europe since the 1980s. With the Neue Vorarlberger Bauschule,
she has made Vorarlberg a label for a sophisticated architectural
attitude in the conflict between traditional construction and modern
interpretation. The Vorarlberger Bauschule is regarded as a pioneer of
new alpine architecture. The central institution for networking
contemporary Vorarlberg architecture is the Vorarlberger Architektur
Institut (VAI), founded in Dornbirn in 1997.
In the Bregenzerwald
workshop, local craftsmen work with different techniques on different
materials. The Werkraum Bregenzerwald is a place open to the public. It
serves to present the craftsmanship, to promote building culture in
cooperation with architects and to increase design competence and
craftsmanship quality with the preferred involvement of young people.
Current contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg combines traditional
materials that naturally surround Vorarlberg residents with
sustainability and modern expressions. Examples are:
The vorarlberg
museum (Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architects) was awarded the International
Architecture Award 2014, Best Architect's Award 2014 in gold, Vorarlberg
Client Award 2015, Austrian Museum Award 2016, among others.
The
Kunsthaus Bregenz, built by the Swiss architect and Pritzker Prize
winner Peter Zumthor, received the Mies van der Rohe Award in 1998.
The festival and congress hall in Bregenz was built by Helmut Dietrich
and Much Untertrifaller. In 2007 the International Architecture Award
and in 2010 the Vorarlberg Builders' Prize were awarded.
The
Montforthaus in Feldkirch is another congress and culture house, planned
by ARGE Hascher & Jehle and Mitiska Wäger Architekten. The Vorarlberg
Builders' Prize was awarded in 2015 and the Austrian State Prize for
Architecture and Sustainability in 2017.
The Werkraumhaus
Bregenzerwald designed by Peter Zumthor was also awarded the Austrian
Builders’ Prize in 2014 and 2015. In addition, the building has been
included in the UNESCO Register for the Preservation of Intangible
Cultural Heritage.
The LifeCycle-Tower ONE (LCT ONE) in Dornbirn is
the world's first multi-storey hybrid passive house made of wood with a
modular construction system. It was completed in 2012.
In the
BUS:Stop Krumbach project, seven international architects, together with
local architects, craftsmen and the local population, built seven
extraordinary bus stops in the municipality of Krumbach.
Well-known museums in Vorarlberg include the Kunsthaus Bregenz, the vorarlberg museum in Bregenz, the Hittisau Women's Museum, the Hohenems Jewish Museum, the FIS Ski Museum in Damüls and the inatura natural history museum in Dornbirn.
The Bregenz Festival is the most famous festival in the region and
has been one of Austria's cultural highlights since 1946. They take
place annually in July and August. With operas and musicals such as The
Magic Flute, West Side Story and Carmen, the Bregenz Festival attracts
hundreds of thousands of spectators every year. Of particular note is
the Seebühne, an impressive stage that floats on Lake Constance.
The annual Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg is the most important Franz
Schubert festival in the world. A Schubertiade is usually dominated by
Franz Schubert or his compositions. It is an informal gathering where
casual music is played or recited by fellow clubs or musicians, both
professional and amateur. The first Schubertiade took place in Hohenems
in 1976.
The Bregenz Spring is a dance festival in Bregenz that
has been taking place in spring since 1987. Dance ensembles from all
over the world perform their new productions as well as Austrian
premieres. Five different dance ensembles perform every year.
The
Montafoner Resonanzen is a series of events in the Montafon, which takes
place annually on the weekends in August and September. Each weekend is
dedicated to a different genre (classical, jazz, Austrian folk music,
organ, cross-over). The locations vary from year to year. The guests can
combine hiking and eating with the concerts, because the musical
performances take place in unusual places such as the Tübinger Hütte at
2191 m above sea level. M. (Gaschurn) instead.
The Poolbar
Festival is a modern music and culture festival in Feldkirch. It takes
place annually between July and August and attracts around 20,000
visitors with music, exhibitions, poetry slams, fashion and an
architecture prize.
The Kleinwalsertal Literature Festival is a
literature festival consisting of lectures, seminars, poetry slams and
exhibitions and takes place in autumn.
At the Lichtstadt
Feldkirch light art festival, international artists illuminate the
historic old town of Feldkirch with light objects and projections. The
premiere took place in 2018 and attracted 30,000 visitors. The festival
takes place every two years.
Vorarlberg is also host to a variety
of trade fairs, congresses and exhibitions, including the Medicinicum
Lech health event, the Literaricum Lech literature festival, the annual
interdisciplinary symposium Philosophicum Lech, and the POTENTIALe
design fair and festival in Feldkirch.
Sights can be found in particular in the old towns of Feldkirch, Bludenz and Bregenz. There are also some buildings in the Bregenzerwald and in the Montafon that are on the list of listed buildings. Historical sites throughout the Vorarlberg landscape bear witness to the past in a variety of ways. Small places of pilgrimage are Maria Bildstein in the district of Bregenz, the priory of Sankt Gerold in the Great Walser Valley and the basilica in Rankweil.
The landscapes and side valleys of Vorarlberg are worth seeing, such as the Brandnertal, the Montafon, the Kleinwalsertal and the Großes Walsertal Biosphere Park, which has been recognized by UNESCO since 2000.
The White Ring is a ski race in Lech am Arlberg. The White Ring is
the competition with the longest ski track in the world at 22 km
(confirmed by the Guinness World Records in 2009). The race includes
five slopes, six lifts and a cross-country ski trail. A total of 5500
meters of altitude difference will be overcome in this race.
In
the 2012/13 season, the first snowboard world cup was held in the
Montafon as part of the FIS snowboard world cup. The World Cup takes
place in Montafon every year in December. The races take place in the
Silvretta Montafon ski area, starting just below the Hochjoch summit and
ending near the mountain station of the cable car. The difference in
altitude between start and finish is around 200 m. During the World Cup,
visitors can watch the snowboarders and skiers during the day and enjoy
concerts in Schruns in the evening.
The Open Faces Freeride
Contest also takes place in the Silvretta Montafon ski area. The first
edition took place in 2017. The last Open Faces Freeride Contest took
place from February 24th to 27th, 2022. The contest was the first
four-star qualifier of the 2022 season. The venue is the "Kleine
Heimspitze" at around 2420 m above sea level. The freeride slope is 450
m long and has an incline of up to 60 degrees with a height difference
of 350 m.
The Hypo Meeting is an athletics competition that is held annually in
May/June in the Mösle Stadium in Götzis. It is organized by the
International Athletics Association (IAAF) and sponsored by the Hypo
Vorarlberg Bank that gave it its name. The first Hypo meetings were
organized from 1975 as competitions for men. In 1981, women's
competitions were added.
The Montafon-Arlberg Marathon is a
mountain marathon with 1500 meters of altitude difference in the middle
of the Verwall European nature reserve.
In 2007, Dornbirn hosted
the 13th World Gymnaestrada, in which around 21,000 gymnasts from 56
associations took part. In 2019, Dornbirn hosted the event again (see
16th World Gymnaestrada).