Serfaus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Serfaus
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Location within Tyrol
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 Serfaus
Location in Austria
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| Country | Austria | |
| State | Tyrol | |
| District | Landeck | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 59.67 km2 (23.04 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 1,429 m (4,688 ft) | |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) | |
| Postal code |
6534
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| Area code | 05476 | |
| Vehicle registration | LA | |
| Website | www.serfaus.gv.at | |
Serfaus is a cool village in the Tyrol region of Austria. It's part of the Landeck area. Serfaus is super famous for being part of a big ski region called "Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis." This ski area was created in 1999 when Serfaus joined up with two nearby villages, Fiss and Ladis.
Serfaus is also special because it has a tiny underground train system called the U-Bahn Serfaus. This train is one of the shortest underground lines in the world! It has four stations and is about 1.28 kilometers long. Because of this train, cars are not allowed in the village during winter. This helps keep the air clean and the village quiet, which tourists, especially skiers, really love.
Contents
Exploring Serfaus's Location
Serfaus is a small town located on a flat area about 500 meters above the Inn valley in western Austria. High mountains surround the town. One side has Mount Furgler, which is 3004 meters tall, and Mount Schönjoch, at 2491 meters. On the other side of the valley, there's a long ridge called Glockturmkamm, with the Pfroslkopf peak reaching 3148 meters.
A Look Back at Serfaus's Past
Ancient Times and Early Settlers
The oldest signs of people living in the Serfaus area are from the Bronze Age. This was a very long time ago! Scientists found parts of a 3200-year-old fireplace on a high mountain meadow called Komperdell. This shows that people used the area for hunting or for their animals to graze. More digging at a hill called "Zienerbichl" also found clues from Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Some old field names and signs of the Celts tell us about the first people who lived here. Ancient historians called this area Raetia and its people the Raeti. Around 15 BC, the Romans took over the area. This led to a mix of Roman and Raetic cultures, creating the Romansh people. The Romansh language is still spoken in some parts of Switzerland today. You can still hear its influence in many local field names in Serfaus. Later, in the 6th century, German-speaking people called the Bavarii moved in. They slowly replaced Romansh as the main language.
Village Life Through the Centuries
The village of Serfaus was first officially mentioned in the 11th century. That's over 900 years ago! Some towns like See and Kappl in the Paznaun valley were partly settled by people from Serfaus. For a long time, until 1891, See was even part of Serfaus's church area. That's why there's still a graveyard in Serfaus for people from See.
Another important old building is the pilgrimage church of St. Georgen. It was built in the Middle Ages and is one of the oldest churches in the whole region.
Serfaus and the Rise of Tourism
In the 1800s, people started to visit Tyrol more for holidays. After the Second World War, tourism became the most important way for the village to make money.
In 1942, a big fire destroyed 14 houses in Serfaus. This left 16 families, about 89 people, without homes. The village was rebuilt after the Second World War. The new buildings were spaced out more, unlike the older, more crowded layout of the village.
To handle more visitors and traffic, Serfaus decided to ban private cars in winter during the 1970s. A bus service was started to help guests, especially skiers, get around. To make transportation even quieter and better for the environment, the small underground train system started running in 1985. Riding this underground train is free! It has four stops: Parkplatz, Kirche, Zentrum, and Seilbahn. It can carry up to 1500 people every hour along its 1280-meter route.
Who Lives in Serfaus?
As of January 2020, about 1,139 people live in Serfaus. Most of them, about 88.3%, are citizens of Austria. More than 90% of the people are Roman Catholic. Smaller groups follow other religions like Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam.
The Unique Underground Railway
The U-Bahn Serfaus is a very special underground train system. It uses air cushions to move, making it super quiet. It's known as one of the smallest underground railways in the world!
Serfaus: A Popular Tourist Spot
Serfaus has been a place where people travel through for hundreds of years. It's near the Via Claudia Augusta, an old Roman road, and the Reschen Pass, a mountain pass. Also, people have been making religious trips to a special church here since the Middle Ages.
In 1776, a record shows that a person named Johannes Penz had the right to run a tavern, a type of inn. By 1812, people in Serfaus had to pay an extra tax if they let foreigners stay in their taverns or private rooms. This shows that even back then, people were visiting Serfaus, even if it was just a few.
Around 1900, skiers started to discover how great the region was for skiing. In 1912, there were plans to build a small ski hut on a high mountain meadow called "Komperdell," which became the "Kölnerhaus." However, tourism grew slowly during the First World War and the 1920s.
Tourism really picked up in 1931/32, with 30,000 visitors. The three taverns couldn't hold everyone, so farmers started renting out rooms in their homes. By 1930, Serfaus had 150 beds for guests. In 1940, a cable car was built to carry goods to the "Kölnerhaus." In 1951, this was changed into a cable car that could carry five people. This made tourism grow even more!
With constant updates and connections to the lifts in Fiss and Ladis, the ski area now has 190 kilometers of ski slopes and 70 lifts. Today, Serfaus is one of the most popular ski and holiday areas in Tyrol.
See also
In Spanish: Serfaus para niños
