Viewpoints worth the detour

The main road already gives you the postcard shot, but two stops are worth building time into your day for. The Edelweißspitze is a short spur off the main route just past the Fuscher Törl, and at 2,571 m it's the highest point on the whole road you can actually park at — on a clear day you can pick out more than 30 peaks over 3,000 m from the tower at the top. Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe is the other essential stop: the viewing terrace looks straight across at the Pasterze Glacier and the Grossglockner summit itself (3,798 m, Austria's highest), and a short path drops you closer to the glacier's edge if you want to stretch your legs out of the riding gear.

The Pasterze Glacier and the Grossglockner summit seen from Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hoehe

The Pasterze Glacier and the Grossglockner summit (3,798 m) from Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe — worth parking the bike and walking down for.

Where to eat on the way

The Panoramarestaurant at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe has the big terrace and the glacier view to go with it — time your ride so you're there for lunch and a Kaiserschmarrn. The Fuscherlacke and Füscherstube huts near the Fuscher Törl are a good, quieter coffee stop on the way up before the road gets serious. And if you want to turn the ride into an overnight, the Alpengasthof Wallackhaus sits right on the road itself — more on that below.

Riders taking a break at a roadside viewpoint on the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

There are pull-offs like this all along the road — good for a breather before the restaurant terraces higher up.

Tolls and opening dates

This is a private toll road, not covered by the Austrian vignette. For 2026, a motorcycle day ticket is €36.50 (dropping to €30.00 if you enter after 18:00), and that single ticket covers unlimited entries and exits for the whole calendar day — the bit most first-timers don't realise, and the reason riding it twice in one day costs you nothing extra. Toll gates sit at Ferleiten/Fusch on the north side and Heiligenblut on the south side, cash or card at either. The road is generally open from early May to early November, weather permitting (2026 opened 25 April) — opening hours run 5:30 am to 9 pm from June through August, tightening to 6 am–7:30 pm either side of that. If you stay the night at the Wallackhaus or the hotel at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, you skip the toll again on your way out the next morning. Always check grossglockner.at before you set off — hours and prices shift a little season to season.

Low cloud rolling into the Pasterze Glacier valley on the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

The Alps don't always cooperate — cloud can roll in over the glacier within the hour, toll or no toll.

The card that pays for the toll

If you're staying anywhere in the Hohe Tauern National Park region on the Salzburg side, ask your accommodation for the Nationalpark SommerCard. Most partner hotels and guesthouses hand it out free to guests between May and October, and it includes a day ticket for the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse itself, plus the Gerlos Alpine Road and the Kolm-Saigurn toll road, on top of free regional buses and dozens of other attractions. If you're already booked in the area for a couple of nights, this alone can cover the toll for the whole trip.

The return leg to Mittersill

Don't expect more hairpins on the way back. From Heiligenblut, the loop north to Mittersill runs through the Felbertauern Tunnel, and it's a completely different kind of road — fast, flowing, wide sweepers rather than tight switchbacks. It's a good excuse to open the bike up a bit after a morning of first-gear corners, and it means you get both extremes of Alpine riding in the same day.

A rider taking a photo of the glacier view from the terrace railing at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hoehe

One last look at the glacier before dropping down toward the Felbertauern Tunnel and the fast run back to Mittersill.

Make a day of it

Because the day ticket covers unlimited passes, it's genuinely worth riding up and down the Grossglockner side more than once if you've got the whole day free. The light changes completely between a morning run and a late-afternoon one, the crowds thin out after the tour buses clear through around midday, and there's no reason to treat it as one-and-done. Park at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, have lunch, and go again — it's genuinely one of the most beautiful and relaxing ways to spend a full day on two wheels.