Austria Rikki Mitterer · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
626 metres, to scale.
A slice through Oerflaschlucht where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Great Pyramid · 139 m · Empire State · 443 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is. On one side the ground was still rising 12 km out: the true rim is further away and the canyon deeper.
626m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
16.0km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
40°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
409m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
7 °C warmer at the bottom.
In July the afternoon reaches 24 °C on the floor, against 17 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from May to June and in September. The rim freezes at night from November to March. The wettest months are from June to August.
- 4°-3°Jan
- 5°-2°Feb
- 10°3°Mar
- 15°8°Apr
- 19°12°May
- 23°16°Jun
- 24°17°Jul
- 24°17°Aug
- 20°13°Sep
- 16°8°Oct
- 9°2°Nov
- 4°-2°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Gorge in the community of Götzis, Vorarlberg, Austria
Oerflaschlucht is a canyon in Austria, cut by the Emmebach river. The relief model measures 626 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 1,070 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 16 km wide where the cut was taken. It lies within Hohe Kugel - Hoher Freschen - Mellental.
Getting there.
- Götzisnearest town · 2.0 km in a straight line
- Parking 640 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Sölenearest viewpoint · 0.9 km from the floor
- Sankt Gallen Altenrhein Airport (ACH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 19 km in a straight lineCar hire at ACH airport (St. Gallen)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From May to June and in Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
6 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 24 × 24 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 27viewpoints within 5 kmGanta, Hohe Lug, Gsätzle and 24 more
- 83marked hiking routes within 4 kmBio-Lehrpfad Götzis, Rundweg Tschütsch, St. Arbogast-Rundweg and 80 more
- 3via ferrata routes within 4 kmKlettersteig Via Kessi, Klettersteig Via Kapf
- 104climbing crags within 3 kmKlettersteig Via Kapf, Freiheit, Schloßgeist and 101 more
- 57footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmSeelehen and 56 more
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmRatzbach-Wasserfall
- 3caves within 3 km
- 509car parks within 3 km
- 40information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 86bus stops within 2 km
- 5campsites within 8 kmWaldcamping Feldkirch, Camping Baggersee Kriessern, Camping Sonnensee and 2 more
- 66hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHotel Restaurant Rössle, Gasthaus-Pension Alpenheim, Kreiersalp and 63 more
- 77restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Götzis2.0 km in a straight line
- Fraxern2.0 km in a straight line
- Klaus2.5 km in a straight line
- Altach2.8 km in a straight line
- Weiler3.4 km in a straight line
- Viktorsberg3.4 km in a straight line
- Mäder3.9 km in a straight line
- Hohenems4.0 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Oerflaschlucht.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Cascadyas1 waterfalls nearbyComing soon
Peakyas40 mountains within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 4 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 4 |
| Afternoon · rim | -3 | -2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 2 | -2 |
| Night · rim | -9 | -9 | -6 | -1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 0 | -4 | -8 |
| Rain (mm) | 99 | 77 | 95 | 92 | 147 | 156 | 158 | 166 | 116 | 101 | 88 | 104 |
| Rainy days | 14 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 15 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.5 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.3 | 6.0 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 18 | 18 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | -3 | -9 | 99 | 2.5 |
| Feb | 5 | -2 | -9 | 77 | 3.7 |
| Mar | 10 | 3 | -6 | 95 | 5.3 |
| Apr | 15 | 8 | -1 | 92 | 6.5 |
| May | 19 | 12 | 3 | 147 | 6.7 |
| Jun | 23 | 16 | 7 | 156 | 8.0 |
| Jul | 24 | 17 | 9 | 158 | 8.1 |
| Aug | 24 | 17 | 9 | 166 | 7.3 |
| Sep | 20 | 13 | 4 | 116 | 6.0 |
| Oct | 16 | 8 | 0 | 101 | 4.2 |
| Nov | 9 | 2 | -4 | 88 | 2.4 |
| Dec | 4 | -2 | -8 | 104 | 2.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (409 m) and the rim (1,478 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 56% | 215% | 87% | 51% | 75% | 149% | 71% | 140% | 106% | 139% | 35% | 109% |
| 2021 | 215% | 84% | 91% | 55% | 129% | 123% | 200% | 120% | 66% | 47% | 91% | 131% |
| 2022 | 61% | 145% | 21% | 109% | 80% | 108% | 62% | 95% | 152% | 107% | 98% | 89% |
| 2023 | 54% | 69% | 137% | 188% | 100% | 36% | 112% | 144% | 67% | 110% | 290% | 198% |
| 2024 | 125% | 100% | 142% | 133% | 162% | 132% | 110% | 73% | 178% | 112% | 94% | 90% |
| 2025 | 120% | 47% | 65% | 53% | 84% | 75% | 163% | 94% | 141% | 99% | 110% | 20% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Oerflaschlucht
Austria
- 626 mDepth
- 16 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 40°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q93820143) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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