Taking a Trip to Austria’s Cheese Road

The powers that be at Felix have yet to realise I have an agenda: a delicious, dairy-fuelled, and oftentimes stinky, agenda. Slowly and insidiously, I’m sneaking odes to cheese in all sections of our magazine. Given the chance, I would wax-rind lyrical about the taste, texture and type until I burst, probably from a brie-de-meaux binge.

Including cheese in the Travel section appeared challenging, until I heard about a somewhat
mythical cheese road in Austria. I had stumbled across a single magical mention, but further googling provided few more details. What information existed about the ‘Bregenzerwald Cheese Road’ was mostly in German, of which I know two words (Käse, bitte). I opted for a trial by fire and fondue: fly outs what’s there. Grabbing my sister, a fellow turophile, we began our search for the elusive Alpine Cheese Road.

First thing to know is that despite its name, this is not a single road of cheese. It’s an association of producers and purveyors across a whole joyous region. Stretching across Austria’s northwest between Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Germany, the route focuses around a place delightfully named Egg.

Driving is pretty much your only option: it’s a remote farming region in the alps and not easily accessed by public transport. The drive, however, is one of the best parts. You don’t have to be a cheese lover or even a liker to appreciate the extraordinary Alpine beauty. Hiking and driving in the snow-capped mountains, crisp air and bright sunshine is enough to charm the lactose-intolerant into visiting.

Combining our trip with other countries, we had only one full day to find our holy gruyere grail and there was lots to choose from. There are shops, restaurants, farms and experiences to try and rules for them to abide by. Restaurants must serve a minimum of five cheese dishes and use five Bregenzerwald cheeses to earn their place on the route. That was a lot of cheese to tuck into and not much time.

We started our journey from Switzerland, driving across the border towards Schwarzenberg. Passing over places such as – I kid you not – Ammanegg, we focused our hunt on the central Egg area. Our first stop was a surprise. We might have driven past the humble Hotel Berghof Getz chalet had it not been for the extraordinary views opposite. Stark mountains and green pastures caught our eye and were the perfect accoutrement to our breakfast: cheese soup.

Neither too salty or too sweet, this regional delicacy hit the right spot. It’s an ideal way to keep warm on the hotel verandah as you take in the snow-dusted scenery. Though the menu and restaurant promised much more, we had more towns to try and wanted to make Egg for lunch.

Entering Egg, we found out the best restaurant for the job, Kaesstadl, was actually closed for December – not a promising start. Luckily there were others more than willing to keep us filled and we opted for Gasthaus Traube. It’s a proper local and was feeding the entire police force (of three) on our arrival. The gregarious owner took our order for ‘anything with cheese’ and asked if we’d prefer small or large. With Andelsbuch next on our list, we opted small and awaited our cheesy fate.

What came was the largest casserole of cheese pasta I’d seen. We should have guessed from the size of the man that his portions might be a little skewed. It was however unbelievably good. Kässpätzle is handmade noodle pieces oozing rich cheese sauce, topped off with crunchy onions and an enormous side of potato salad. It’s hearty, it’s artery-clogging and it’s delicious.

Though we came out victors, our bellies were ready to bow out. We plodded to Andelsbuch to buy some stinky souvenirs and samples at the Käsehaus. This shop has everything: tools, gift boxes, sweets and the stuff itself. Their cheese chocolate can only be described as special, dividing my entire family as to whether it’s even edible. It’s certainly a novelty.

Back in Egg, we hoped to explore cheese-making at the Metzler Molke alpine farm. Unfortunately this was also closed due to renovation. Once the new site is ready for tourists (we were assured very soon) you can experience the whole process and get involved. There’s legendary cheese cellars further out in Lingenau, and restaurants galore. We recommend fuelling up and hiking it off. It’s a truly one of a kind food and flora holiday.

Despite being stuffed at the second hurdle and facing closures in the winter season, our cheese road trip wasn’t lacking. We had cheese for every meal, found cheese souvenirs, cheese to take home and experienced a stunning part of the Austrian countryside to boot. We look forward to returning in summer –  where we hope to meet with even more cheese and grater success.

 

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