Rax Cable Car Enters Austria’s “9 Places – 9 Treasures” Contest

Austria’s Rax Cable Car is entering the final stage of its centenary year with a new distinction: a place among the three Lower Austrian candidates for the ORF television program “9 Places – 9 Treasures.”

The nomination gives the historic mountain railway an opportunity to compete for the title of Austria’s most beautiful hidden destination. The public will decide which of Lower Austria’s three candidates advances to the national broadcast final on October 26, 2026. Voting opens at 7 p.m. on October 2 and closes at 11:59 p.m. on October 6.

The Rax Cable Car is competing against the Kamptal and the Kellergasse Mailberg. The three locations represent very different aspects of Lower Austria: a cultural wine landscape, a historic cellar lane and a pioneering alpine transport system that has connected visitors with the Rax plateau for a century.

For operator Bernd Scharfegger, the nomination follows a particularly strong year. The Rax Cable Car has marked its 100th anniversary with a series of events, new ticket combinations and special mountain experiences, while the operator has also reported a record summer and a significant increase in visitors.

“Our guests, friends and everyone who knows and loves the Rax are now needed,” Scharfegger said, calling on the region to support the nomination.

A century of alpine access

The Rax Cable Car opened on June 9, 1926, becoming Austria’s first passenger aerial cableway. Its arrival changed access to the mountain and helped establish the Rax as one of the Vienna region’s most important alpine destinations.

Today, the railway carries approximately 200,000 visitors a year from the valley station at Hirschwang to the Rax plateau. The journey takes less than eight minutes and covers a vertical difference of roughly 1,000 meters, reaching an altitude of about 1,545 to 1,546 meters.

The current cable car is operated by the Scharfegger family and has retained the original route’s importance: it allows visitors without advanced mountaineering skills to reach the plateau quickly, where they can access hiking trails, mountain huts, viewpoints and winter snowshoe routes.

That combination of engineering and accessibility is central to the Rax’s appeal. The cable car did not merely shorten the journey to the mountain; it helped broaden the social role of the Alps by making high-altitude recreation available to families, day visitors and people who were not traditional alpinists.

The Rax also became a meeting place for artists, writers and intellectuals. The mountain’s cultural history includes links to figures associated with Vienna’s intellectual life, while the surrounding landscape helped establish the area as a destination for summer visitors and mountain walkers.

Historic structure, modern operation

Although the original system has been replaced and modernized over time, parts of the early infrastructure remain. The original supports and the valley and mountain stations are protected as historic structures, according to the Austrian public broadcaster’s presentation of the nomination.

The attraction has also undergone more recent modernization. A complete refurbishment carried out several years ago cost approximately €4 million, and the railway now operates with modern safety and efficiency standards while preserving its historic identity.

The result is an unusual combination: the Rax Cable Car is both a functioning transport system and a piece of Austrian industrial and tourism history. Its continuing operation allows visitors to experience the legacy of the 1920s without treating the cableway as a museum exhibit.

That living connection with the past is likely to be one of the strongest arguments in the public vote. The Rax is not simply an old cable car preserved for nostalgia; it remains the main access route to a mountain landscape used year-round.

The Rax beyond the cable car

At the top station, visitors enter a broad plateau with a network of hiking routes and mountain huts. Popular walks lead toward the Ottohaus, Jakobskogel and the Höllental viewpoint, while more demanding routes cross the plateau or continue toward Preiner Gscheid.

The official regional tourism portal describes the Rax as a destination for both easy family walks and longer hut-to-hut excursions. Several routes begin directly at the cable car’s mountain station, and the area’s concentration of huts supports the traditional Austrian practice of “hut hopping.”

In winter, the plateau becomes a destination for snowshoeing. Marked routes begin near the mountain inn, and equipment can be rented locally. Guided excursions are also available for visitors who want to explore the winter landscape with an experienced leader.

The cable car’s proximity to Vienna is another important part of its appeal. The journey from the capital can be completed in approximately 70 minutes by public transport, while local buses and the RUFbus regional shuttle connect the railway station and surrounding destinations with the valley station.

That accessibility has helped preserve the Rax as a “Viennese mountain”—a place where visitors can make a day trip from the city but still experience a genuine alpine landscape.

A centenary year built around events

The 2026 anniversary program has included a public open day, combination tickets linking the Rax Cable Car with the historic Höllental Railway and special rides under the moonlight. The autumn schedule adds mountain runs, cultural hikes, sunrise breakfasts, writing workshops and a Moonlight Swing event at the Raxalm mountain inn.

The program is designed to broaden the anniversary beyond a historical commemoration. Sports, food, music and cultural events give visitors multiple reasons to travel to the Rax, while the cable car remains the common link between the valley and plateau.

The timing of the “9 Places – 9 Treasures” nomination therefore gives the operator another way to communicate the Rax’s identity to a national audience. The television competition is built around places with strong local character, and the Rax’s story combines a recognizable landmark, a century of engineering history and easy access to a distinctive mountain environment.

The public decides Lower Austria’s finalist

The ORF selection process began with 27 candidates—three from each Austrian province. The public votes in the state-level rounds by telephone or SMS, with the successful candidate from each province moving to the national final. The nine state winners will be presented in the live program hosted by Armin Assinger and Barbara Karlich on October 26 at 8:15 p.m. on ORF 2 and ORF ON.

Lower Austria is attempting to defend its title after the Mariazell Railway won the previous national competition. The Rax Cable Car now faces a different kind of contest: not a race or technical evaluation, but a vote based on emotional connection, visual appeal and the ability to represent a region.

The campaign also highlights a broader question facing historic mountain attractions. Their future depends on preserving heritage while continuing to deliver a safe, comfortable and relevant visitor experience. The Rax Cable Car’s nomination suggests that the two objectives can reinforce one another.

After 100 years, the railway remains the quickest route from the valley to the Rax plateau. Whether it can now make the journey from Lower Austrian candidate to Austria’s national “treasure” will be decided by the public in October.