Vilsalpsee and the Vilsalpe from Tannheim

From the P1 car park by the roundabout in Tannheim, walk south along Vilsalpseestraße and on to the gravel and forest tracks that lead up the valley to the Vilsalpsee, about 4 km away. At the inn at the north end of the lake the line takes the flat track along the right-hand (west) shore, with green meadows and steep mountain sides across the water, and reaches the Vilsalpe alp, at about 1,180 m, a little under 2 km further on. Return the same way.

It is 11.4 km there and back with 84 m of ascent; allow about 3 hours. The grade is Moderate for its length (3.1 hours by the DIN 33466 formula): the ground is flat, on tracks and asphalt with a short stretch of path, and there is no steep climbing.

The lake is a nature reserve and a Natura 2000 site. The Tannheimer Tal tourist board asks you to stay on the marked paths, keep dogs on a lead, make no fires and not camp; swimming is allowed in the bathing area at the north-east shore beside the inn. The road to the lake is closed to general traffic in both directions from 8:00 to 17:00, which is why this walk starts in Tannheim. This line keeps to the west shore both ways, the shore the Tannheimer Tal tourist board describes for the walk from the inn to the Vilsalpe. The board says the circular walk round the lake has been open again since 24 May 2026; one box on the English version of its Vilsalpsee page still says a section of the east shore has been closed since a rockfall in 2012, so if you want to go right round, ask the Tannheim information office first.

P1 is a charged car park (the OpenStreetMap parking tag says so). The tourist board lists a summer bus (line 121), the Tannheimer Alpenexpress and horse-drawn carriages to the lake, so you can ride one way, and it lists the inns at the lake and the Vilsalpe for refreshments, with opening days that change with the season. From the Vilsalpe the board gives about an hour more to the Bergacht waterfall at the head of the valley (circular route 55); that is not part of this line.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.