The Brixentaler Ache is a river of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, a right tributary of the

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

. It passes through the districts of

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...

and

Kufstein Kufstein (; ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein For ...

. It is one of the largest tributaries of the Inn in the

Tyrolean Unterland The Tyrolean Unterland () is that part of the Austrian state of Tyrol east of its capital city, Innsbruck, excluding East Tyrol. Extent and language The Tyrolean Unterland should not be confused with the Tyrolean Lower Inn Valley (''Tiroler Unt ...

by catchment area (), but is only long.

Course

The Brixentaler Ache rises as the Brixenbach in the territory of

Brixen im Thale Brixen (; , ; or , ) is a town and commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography Brixen is the third-largest city and oldest town in the province, with a population of nearly twenty-three thousand. It is loc ...

and flows westwards through the

Brixental The Brixental ("Brixen Valley") is a southeastern side valley of the Tirol (Bundesland), Tyrolean Lower Inn Valley in Austria with a length of about 30 km (18.6 mi). Near Wörgl (513 m AMSL; 318 mi) the Brixental and Inn valle ...

, a southeastern valley of the

Lower Inn Valley The Lower Inn Valley () is that part of the Inntal valley through which the Inn river flows from a point a few kilometres west of Innsbruck near its confluence with the Melach downstream to a few kilometres before Rosenheim. A further distinctio ...

. Between Westendorf and

Hopfgarten im Brixental Hopfgarten im Brixental is a market town in the Austrian state of Tyrol in the Kitzbühel district. It is located at an elevation of 622 m above sea level. With an area of 166.57 km² it is the largest municipality in the district, and among t ...

(the main village in the valley), the valley floor narrows. Immediately after this bottleneck the

Windauer Ache The Windauer Ache is a mountain stream in Tyrol, Austria, in the scenic Windautal valley in the Kitzbühel Alps. The Ache rises on the Reinkarsee at about , at the foot of the Kröndlhorn, and its middle reaches run through a roughly long gorge ...

joins the Brixenbach from the south. From this confluence the Brixenbach is known as the Brixentaler Ache. After about one kilometre the larger

Kelchsauer Ache Kelchsauer Ache is a river of Tyrol, Austria. The source of the Kelchsauer Ache is the confluence of its two headstreams, the and the near . It discharges into the Brixentaler Ache at Hopfgarten im Brixental. Background In Hopfgarten im Bri ...

joins the river (also from the south). The long Kelchsauer Ache drains the entire

Kelchsau Hopfgarten im Brixental is a market town in the Austrian state of Tyrol in the Kitzbühel district. It is located at an elevation of 622 m above sea level. With an area of 166.57 km² it is the largest municipality in the district, and among t ...

area. Between Hopfgarten and the section of river forming the boundary between

Kirchbichl Kirchbichl is a municipality in the Kufstein District in the Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, s ...

and

Wörgl Wörgl () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, in the Kufstein district. It is from the international border with Bavaria, Germany. Population Transport Wörgl is a railway junction in the line between Innsbruck and Munich, as well as the ...

, the Ache is again forced through a gorge, before it breaks out into the plains of the Inn Valley. On leaving the gorge the Ache is impounded by a large weir and part of the water is diverted into a channel that leads to a small power station run by

Tiroler Wasserkraft Tiroler Wasserkraft AG (TIWAG) is an Austrian company that generates electricity from hydropower based in Innsbruck, Austria. The company mainly produces electricity through hydropower. The company operates several hydropower plants in the Tyro ...

. Below the weir the Luecher Bach enters the main stream from the direction of Söll to the north. After having been fed by so much water from its large tributaries the Ache now dominates the landscape of the broad and densely settled Brixental valley. After the now around wide Brixentaler Ache has flowed through Wörgl, it discharges from the south into the

. The river's catchment area is relatively large, especially as a result of its tributaries, the Windauer Ache and Kelchsauer Ache, and covers about a third of the territory of

Kitzbühel District The Bezirk Kitzbühel is an administrative district () in Tyrol, Austria. It borders Bavaria (Germany) in the north, the Kufstein and Schwaz districts in the west, and the Pinzgau region (Salzburg) in the east and south. Area of the district is 1, ...

References

{{Reflist Rivers of Tyrol (federal state) Kitzbühel Alps Kitzbühel District Rivers of Austria