DORNBIRN - HOTELS & TOURIST INFORMATION

Dornbirn is the center of Vorarlberg and is town renown in Vorarlberg for its fairs and exhibitions. Although not exclusively considered a tourist town yet, Dornbirn is still attractive to newcomers and offers the charm of a small town in the middle of fascinating, natural landscape. More and more business travelers and leisure guests are discovering the fascination of Dornbirn and its area. Most of them return and spend a few days on a holiday with their family or go on some of the various excursions to the three other countries easily accessible from here. Some of the most impressive excursions are these to Liechtenstein, Switzerland, south Germany and Tirol, none of which are really far. Lake Constance, Lucerne, Arosa, Innsbruck, Lugano, the Swiss Alps - Davos, St. Moritz, Zurich, Munich and Ulm are all within 2 hours by car.
For the business travelers, the new Hotel Martinspark, which is located in the center of the town, is particularly suitable for conferences. Maybe the best place to sip a morning coffee is one of the many bakeries and for the lovers of nightlife – there are many bars, which are open until late in the evening; also there are and different discos.
Various sports facilities make Dornbirn a real centre of activity - ice-rinks, tennis courts and indoor halls, indoor swimming pool and outdoor pool, fitness course, squash courts,  riding stables, sports grounds in “Birkenwiese” and local sports school and cycle tracks. Dornbirn is known as a cycle friendly area and the Rheintal-Walgau cycle path stretches over one hundred and twenty kilometers.
The hiking trails are one of the best tourist activities in and around Dornbirn. Karren and Hoher Staufen are the mountains surrounding Dornbirn, with a cable car going to the top of the Karren. The hiking trails in the mountain village of Ebnit and in Watzenegg, Oberfallenberg and Kehlegg are all clearly marked and well looked after, hence suitable for the whole family. Hohe Kugel or the Firstgebiet are great choices for keen walkers who would like to climb even higher. Numerous restaurants can be found close to the paths providing visitors with food and drinks.
The ski and hiking area Bodele, which is a snow trap for every fall from the Atlantic, is a friendly ski area with 9 lifts and a five kilometers cross country round circuit, which runs through the protected nature reserve Fohramoos. In summer it is possible to walk in this area. The view from the Bodele and trails leading to it reach the Rhine valley to the Churfirsten; to Santis and into Appenzell. Over the Pfander and Lake Constance into the Swabia region (in Germany), and to the Hochalpen between Hochtannberg and Arlberg. Only from here it is first possible to realize the sheer expanse of the region around Dornbirn and just how international this area really is.

The center of Dornbirn, and especially the Market Square, is one of the most interesting and amusing places in Vorarlberg. Three and a half centuries of various architectural styles can be found here alongside each other, from the baroque “Rote Haus” typical of the Rhine valley, the Neo-Classical parish church of St Martin and art nouveau facades, to the Bank-Quader built in the 1960s and the reproduction of old local house types like “Hirschen-Haus”. The “Rote Haus” is one of the oldest buildings in Dornbirn and is marked by its color which derives from ox blood. It is over three hundred and fifty years old and is the famous landmark of the town center.
It is worth taking a trip around Dornbirn and enjoying the great views of the old villas in the parks near the streets between Markt and Oberdorf, Kapuzinerkloster and Stadtmuseum, the old and new churches and chapels in the town and on the mountain sides.
The town provides its guest with 1000 beds, from pensions to four-star hotels. There are Inter-city and Euro-city connection Bregenz-Vienna and two motor way connections (A 14). Dornbirn is located on ninety minutes from Zurich airport, two hours from Innsbruck airport and three hours from Munich’s one.