Alpengasthof Karalm

The drive up is challenging, but we’ll definitely return. The family runs this mountain hut with real heart, and we felt comfortable from the moment we arrived. There were five of us for dinner, and the food was excellent and beautifully presented. The view is breathtaking too. We’d recommend the Austrian gin and tonic as an aperitif. Thank you!

Even outside peak season, they’re open, which is great. After a strenuous hike, we stopped for a tasty beer and a lovely cheese platter. Such a treat. We love this place!

We stayed in August 2017 and came away disappointed. The place was worse than the booking site photos and descriptions had led us to expect. There’s a cowshed practically beside the house, with a terrible smell and a huge number of flies. Both get straight into the rooms, which aren’t protected. It’s hard to imagine a restaurant operating in those conditions. We tried to put it out of our minds. What upset us most was the room and its view. We’d been given a different balcony view when booking, and that one really was a view. Our room looked over a roof, with a mountain only on the horizon. That isn’t a mountain view, it’s a roof view. The balcony was only suitable for smoking, which was no use to us since we don’t smoke. Cows were milked in the pen right under the window, with quite a lot of noise early in the morning and in the evening. Check carefully that you aren’t assigned a room at the end of the rooms before you arrive. The area around the house is fenced and the pastures are grazed down, so it takes quite a walk to get to pleasant walking areas. The farm is 3-4 km from Rauris by a difficult dirt road. The hotel owner seemed practically indifferent to guests. Family-run hotels are usually attentive and caring, but here we got no more than a morning hello when we happened to meet. The administrator, a friendly and lovely woman, was the only staff member who spoke directly with us. As far as I understand, she’s an employee. It wasn’t worth the price being asked.

We had a fantastic holiday in the Alps, a wonderful place for hiking, with lovely people who make life sweeter. I read the previous review with dismay and think the reviewer should have looked into the place more beforehand. Here are a few things from my experience. The accommodation really does look like the photos. The upper part was completely renovated two years ago, with new modern bathrooms, large walk-in showers, adjustable shower heads, strong water pressure and easy temperature controls. Those things aren’t a given on an alpine pasture above 1400 meters. The rooms are cozy, decorated with care in a country style with lots of solid wood, and have a TV, hairdryer that actually dries your hair, and plenty of outlets. Yes, there’s a cowshed next to the house, the pastures are fenced, and the cows are milked there. This is an alpine pasture, not a 5-star wellness hotel. The farm was likely built to make life easier for the residents, so it makes sense to have the cowshed beside the building rather than 2 km away. Fences keep the cows from escaping and putting themselves and the farmers in danger, as happens in many places. You can almost see where the milk for yogurt, coffee and cereal comes from. The cows were milked around 5:00 PM during our stay, and it didn’t disturb us. There are a lot of flies, that’s true. It bothers the owners too, and they’re making a real effort to deal with it. We weren’t bothered by them. As for the restaurant, it can operate under those conditions. Hygiene and regulations matter just as much here, probably even more, since authorities often keep a closer eye on alpine pastures than on ordinary hotels. The drive is on a gravel private road, and not everyone can go up. Booking pages say you should use a car with at least 90 hp, preferably 4x4, so the inn can’t be blamed if that information gets overlooked. There are mountains on every side of the building, though the view may not be exactly like the photos. If that matters most to you, I think you can find a solution by talking to the owners. The Langreiter family are kind, attentive hosts who really do their best to take care of guests. Almost EVERYTHING is made on the farm, including cheese, honey and meat. We felt welcome and at ease throughout, and will definitely be back. A well-earned five stars!