Gauder Fest

Gauder Fest Review

The main town of the Zillertal—the biggest and most famous of the many beautiful Alpine valleys of the Tirol—is noted for its traditional 500-year-old Gauder Fest, held on the first weekend in May, when thousands of tourists from far and wide pack the little market town for the colorful skits, music, and singing—and great quantities of Gauderbier, a strong brew created for the occasion. You can hear some of the country's best singing by the valley residents and listen to expert harp and zither playing, for which the valley is famous. Tradition runs strong here: witness the Perchtenlaufen, processions of colorfully masked well-wishers going the neighborhood rounds on January 5, or the annual Almabtrieb during the last September and first October days, when the cows are decorated with wreaths and bells, and, amid celebrations, herded back from the high Alpine pastures into the lower fields and barns. This is a typical Tyrolean country town, with Alpine lodges and a round-dome pink village church (note the Baroque painting of the Holy Trinity); in winter it's a center for skiing and sports.