Unesco World Heritage Beech Forests

Austria is represented by two areas in the World Heritage beech forests.

The Kalkalpen National Park in Upper Austria, which has already been a national park since 1997, offers unique ancient beech forests that can be visited individually and on guided tours. The areas in the Kalkalpen National Park are the largest protected remnants of old beech forests in the Alps, which are even home to primeval forest remains. 

Austria’s only wilderness area, the Dürrenstein Wilderness Area in Lower Austria, offers the last primeval beech forest of the Alps. It can also be visited with guided tours. The World Heritage Site of the Dürrenstein Wilderness Area is home to the beech and beech fir forests at altitude between 800 to 1,800 metres above sea level. Beech trees with an age of 400 to 500 years and fir trees with an age of 700 years document the long period in which these forests were not influenced by humans.

The two Autrian World Heritage Sites are currently the only ones in the Alpine beech forest region.