Riding Enduro in Austria

Austria is Alpine country. Steep forest, rock, roots and high gravel roads cover most of the map. But the terrain you can legally ride on a dirt bike is much smaller than the terrain you can see.

The reason is the law. Austria's Forest Act lets anyone walk in the woods, but it treats riding a vehicle there as a use that needs the owner's consent (see Regulations/Permits below). So Austrian enduro happens in three places: purpose-built off-road parks, organised events, and public roads.

The most famous terrain in the country is man-made. The Erzberg near Eisenerz in Styria is an open-pit iron-ore mine. Its stepped benches, loose rock and quarry climbs host the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo every year. The Iron Road Prologue runs on a 13 km gravel road up the mountain. The Hare Scramble main race covers about 35 km.

For everyday riding, the Red Bull Ring off-road park in Spielberg is the reference. It sits in the forest behind the circuit's uphill straight. It has steep slopes, tricky descents, off-camber passages and tight forest corners, graded in three difficulty levels.

Erzberg, Eisenerz (Styria)

The Erzberg is the heart of Austrian hard enduro. The venue address is Erzberg 1, 8790 Eisenerz. It is an iron-ore open-pit mine, and the way to ride it is to enter the Erzbergrodeo.

Red Bull Ring off-road park, Spielberg (Styria)

The off-road bike track at the Red Bull Ring is open to riders on their own enduro bikes. The booking page lists:

Ticket	What you get
Morning	Free riding with your own enduro bike, 09:00–12:00
Afternoon	Free riding with your own enduro bike, 13:00–17:00
Day ticket	Free riding on the newer "Area 24" track
Season ticket	Off-road track plus Area 24 (Area 24 costs extra per day); valid 1 April–31 October

Environmental mats are compulsory under your bike on the off-road track. The newer Area 24 has ten sectors with obstacles, from simple forest sections to steep slopes and artificial rock fields. It was put through its paces under racing conditions as part of the Austrian enduro championship (Enduro ÖM). Next to it, a GASGAS trial park focuses on balance and clutch control.

ÖAMTC driving centres

The Austrian automobile club's driving-technique arm, ÖAMTC Fahrtechnik, runs off-road training in its own off-road park. Courses cover big adventure bikes on gravel and trial training, with trial bikes provided. It is a legal, structured way to get off the tarmac in Austria.

Tirol and the road network

Tirol's mountain passes draw huge numbers of road riders, and that matters for dual-sport riders too. See Local Tips for the Reutte noise rule.

Red Bull Erzbergrodeo

The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is Austria's flagship event. It started in 1995, and organiser Karl Katoch is regarded as its founder, according to Wikipedia's event history.

The format runs over four days:

• Thursday: registration, technical checks and the Rocket Ride hill climb.
• Friday and Saturday: two runs of the Iron Road Prologue. Only the fastest 500 qualify for Sunday.
• Sunday: the Red Bull Hare Scramble, a mountain course with checkpoints and a four-hour limit.

2026 (30th edition), 4–7 June. Nearly 1,200 riders from 41 nations took part. Only 15 of 500 starters finished the Hare Scramble inside four hours. Manuel Lettenbichler won for the fifth year in a row, per the organisers' press release. 2026 was also the first year electric bikes could enter every race.

2027 (31st edition), 27–30 May. Rider registration opens on 16 November 2026 at 09:00 CET.

Past Hare Scramble winners worth knowing

Rider	Wins	Years
Christian Pfeiffer	4	1996, 1997, 2000, 2004
Taddy Blazusiak	5	2007–2011
Graham Jarvis	5	2013, 2015 (shared), 2016, 2018, 2019
Manuel Lettenbichler	5	2022–2026

Alfie Cox won the first edition in 1995. Giovanni Sala, Cyril Despres, David Knight, Jonny Walker and Alfredo Gomez are also on the winners' list. In 2015, Walker, Jarvis, Gomez and Andreas Lettenbichler helped each other up the final climb and finished together.

Austrian championship and the ISDE

Austria runs a national enduro championship, the Enduro ÖM. Area 24 at the Red Bull Ring has hosted it.

Austria hosted the International Six Days (now the 6DAYS) at Bad Aussee in 1952 and 1960 and at Zeltweg in 1976. The 1939 edition was based in Salzburg. Source: the event's host list.

Austria's off-road scene is built around clubs, parks and racing, because open riding is so limited.

• Endurotrail Union. A non-profit club, a member of Sportunion Lower Austria, working on legal enduro riding in dedicated areas. Its stated values are fair play with landowners, foresters, hunters and walkers, youth development and low environmental impact, as Enduro-Austria reported.
• ÖAMTC Fahrtechnik. Structured off-road training at the club's driving centres.
• Riders. Read our profile of Austrian hard enduro rider Michael Walkner. Heinz Kinigadner became the first Austrian to win an FIM Motocross World Championship, taking the 250cc title in 1984 and 1985, per his Wikipedia biography.

The big draw for visitors is the Erzbergrodeo paddock itself: nearly 1,200 riders from 41 nations in 2026. Wikipedia describes the event as the largest of its kind in Europe.

The Forest Act: consent first

Austria's Forest Act 1975, §33 gives everyone the right to enter the forest on foot for recreation. Paragraph 3 then says that any use beyond that, including driving ("Befahren"), camping and horse riding, is only allowed with the forest owner's consent. On forest roads, consent must come from whoever maintains the road.

In practice:

• A forest road is not a public road. No consent, no riding.
• Consent can be limited to certain uses or times.
• Consent counts as given where the permitted use is clearly signposted under §34(10).

What is legal

1. Off-road parks and tracks. The Red Bull Ring off-road park is the best-known example.
2. Organised events. The Erzbergrodeo and championship rounds run with the landowner's agreement.
3. Private land with the owner's permission.
4. Public roads, on a registered, insured, road-legal bike.

Visiting riders

To use motorways and expressways, motorbikes need a vignette. ASFINAG sells 10-day, 2-month and 1-year vignettes, plus a new 1-day vignette that is digital only.

The Austrian enduro season follows the parks and events.

Period	What happens
1 April–31 October	Red Bull Ring off-road park season ticket valid
15 April–31 October	Reutte noise ban on selected roads (see Local Tips)
Late May–early June	Erzbergrodeo (27–30 May 2027)

For a first trip, late May or June is the obvious pick. You can watch or race the Erzbergrodeo, then ride the Red Bull Ring park the same week. Both are in Styria.

Flying in. Vienna and Salzburg are the main international gateways.

Getting your bike there. If you drive in, remember the motorway vignette for every vehicle up to 3.5 t, including motorbikes and camper vans.

At the Erzberg. The official site lists parking via the show-mine (Schaubergwerk) entrance. Day parking costs €15 and four-day parking €35. A separate overnight parking area has restrooms. Free shuttle buses run from visitor parking to the arena. Visitors arriving by motorcycle park free in the motorcycle area.

At the Red Bull Ring. The season ticket is sold on-site only. The park is at Red Bull Ring Straße 1, 8724 Spielberg.

• Reutte noise ban. From 15 April to 31 October, Tirol bans especially loud motorcycles from selected road sections in the Reutte district. The limit is a standing noise (near-field) level above 95 dB(A), per the Land Tirol. Check your papers before you route a road-legal enduro bike through Außerfern.
• Mats at the Ring. Bring an environmental mat. It is compulsory on the Red Bull Ring off-road track.
• Emergency number. Dial 112. It is free and works across the EU.
• Book Erzberg early. Registration for 2027 opens on 16 November 2026. Early entry is also a race for the lowest start numbers.
• Prepare for the Hare Scramble. Few riders finish. Build your skills first on logs and rocks and hill climbs.

Austria's motorcycling history runs through one small town. KTM traces its foundation to 1934 in Mattighofen, Upper Austria, as Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, per Wikipedia's KTM history. Lettenbichler's 2026 wins at Romaniacs and Abestone came on a KTM 300 EXC, per Cycle News (Romaniacs, Abestone). The same group owns Husqvarna and GASGAS.

On the racing side, Austria hosted the International Six Days in 1952, 1960 and 1976. In 1960, at Bad Aussee, the Austrian team won the World Trophy on home ground (ISDE records). Heinz Kinigadner won back-to-back 250cc motocross world titles on KTM in 1984 and 1985.

The modern chapter began in 1995 with the first Erzbergrodeo. It turned a working iron-ore mine into a race venue. The 2026 edition was the 30th.

• A mine as a race track. The Erzberg is an iron-ore open pit. No natural forest course looks like it.
• A huge field. Nearly 1,200 riders from 41 nations in 2026, for 500 Hare Scramble places.
• Clear law. The Forest Act makes the rule simple: forest riding needs consent. Parks like the Red Bull Ring are the legal alternative.
• Factory country. KTM, and with it the brands most hard enduro riders race, comes from Mattighofen.

Read our hard enduro explainer or the 300 two-stroke buyer's guide before you go.