A charming village, ancient traditions, dreamlike mountains and really hospitable people
Traditions old and new thrive in Westendorf and the Brixen valley. One such special event is the 360 year old Antlassritt that takes place on Corpus Christi. This is a religious procession by farmers from the towns of Kirchberg in Tirol, Brixen im Thale and Westendorf.
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The origins of the celebrations are unclear but tradition has it that the Antlassritt commemorates the 30 Years‘ War in the 17th century, when the villagers of the three communities beat back Swedish troops on the Klausenbach river. Every year, on the religious festival of „Fronleichnam“ – Corpus Christi – the farmers (exclusively men) ride to the „Schwedenkapelle“ chapel in Klausen near Kitzbühel to commemorate their victory.
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A Family Holiday in Summer
Westendorf is an ideal spot for young and old alike writes Heidi Harrison
I discovered Westendorf in Austria when I was still at school. Now married with two young children, I decided to take a summer holiday in Westendorf in the summer of 2017. Arriving with my brother and my children, we were welcomed into the Ruetz accommodation immediately and collected the weekly sheet of events from the tourist information office which is next door. We soon decided together which events and activities we would like to take part in. Top of the list was pony trekking.
We stayed in the Ruetz apartment self catering. We found this great value for money, everything fresh clean and modern. It is ideally situated in the middle of the alpine village, easily accessible to all the amenities especially the ice creams! The hardest decision was which flavour to try next.
If yours is an active family…
We spent a lot of time at the local swimming pool complex. That is so much fun for the children. Seeing them order „Pommes“ in German from the snack-bar is fantastic. That’s the way to learn another language.
With mountain lakes also close by you have a lot of choices for swimming. If yours is an active family (which we are) Westendorf was voted the best holiday.
We then decided to come back 3 weeks later as a family to let Daddy join in the fun We drove over from South East England bringing our bikes.
The best holiday that the children have ever had apparently.
We went on lots of the bike rides that are all signposted including down to the next village, Hopfgarten, to go to their swimming pool and lake, the Aquarena. Mini golf and cars.
Buy liftpasses for the region
The mountains in this part of the Tirolean Alps are just breathtaking to look at but also to walk up and down. Or, as we did, bought lift passes for the region. Each of the local mountains included in the lift passes has fun family activities to take part in, the children that can’t walk any further as they are insisting legs are dropping off, suddenly start running onto the next activity to either a marble run or the next witches water activity.
Each mountain experience has been well thought through to make the excursion for both children and adults the best it can be.
My own childrens‘ top times were the marble run at the top of the Westendorf Choralpe mountain, the Hexenwasser at Söll and the Hoch Brixen Filzalmsee (lake) all with play areas.
Westendorf captures your heart
Tel: +43 699 1989 6321 
Email: info@ruetz-sport.at