Schnals: Ötzi, Way of Silence and Ski Season

Ötzi and Archaeology in Unser Frau

The archeoParc Schnalstal in Unser Frau is an open-air archaeological museum with a visitor center in South Tyrol’s Schnalstal valley in Italy. The archeoParc exhibitions explain how and where Ötzi was found in 1991 and how Ötzi and his contemporaries lived 5,300 years ago. The term open-air museum refers to a museum with exhibition areas outdoors. The archeoParc visitor program includes a visitor workshop, an archery range and a dugout canoe landing stage.

Getting to the archeoParc

Train line 250 Merano–Mals and bus line 261 Naturno–Schnalstal take visitors to the Unser Frau Oberdorf stop. From the Unser Frau Oberdorf stop, it is a three-minute walk to the archeoParc.

Monastery and Way of Silence

In Certosa, the cloister, grotto, prior’s house, monastery kitchen, ring wall, monastery gate and St. Anne’s Church of the Certosa monastery “Allerengelsberg” can be visited year-round. A cloister is a covered walkway of a monastery; a monastery gate refers to the entrance to a monastery.

Via Monachorum and Katharinaberg

The Via Monachorum – Way of Silence from Katharinaberg to Unser Frau – leads to Certosa, the former Carthusian monastery whose monks had taken a vow of silence.

At the starting point in Katharinaberg, the Via Monachorum can be reached by the SAD regional bus service no. 261.

Activities in Schnalstal

The guided Ötzi Glacier Tour leads on foot or by ski from the head of the Schnalstal valley to the site at Tisenjoch at an altitude of 3,210 meters, where Ötzi was found. The tour takes place every Tuesday and can be booked as a private tour on other days. The head of an Alpine valley is its end; the altitude of 3,210 meters classifies Tisenjoch as a high-altitude destination. For planning the tour, the choice between traveling on foot and by ski, in addition to starting at the head of the valley, is therefore decisive.

Transhumance in Schnalstal

Every year, at the end of the summer season, up to 4,000 sheep make their way from their summer pastures in Austria’s Ötztal across the glacier and the national border back to Vernagt and Kurzras. Transhumance refers to a seasonal change of pasture. Visitors can accompany the sheep on the final part of their journey.

Skiing and Altitude

The Alpin Arena Schnals ski area has slopes reaching up to 3,200 meters above sea level. The Alpin Arena Schnals’ long ski season lasts from September to May. A slope is a designated ski run; elevation above sea level describes the height above sea level. This period extends from autumn into spring.

Altitude Range of Schnalstal

Schnalstal stretches over just a few kilometers from 500 to 3,200 meters in altitude. The valley floor and high-altitude areas lie within this elevation range.

Other places in Vinschgau: Prad am Stilfserjoch, Schlanders, Graun im Vinschgau, Martell, Kapron, Burgeis, Glurns, Goldrain

To the higher-level travel overview: Vinschgau.