Kössen is a municipality in the

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 ...

district in the Austrian state 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 ...

located 24 km north of

as well as 15.50 km north of

Sankt Johann in Tirol Sankt Johann in Tirol, called Sainihåns () in the local dialect, is a Market town#German-language area, market municipality in the Kitzbühel (district), Kitzbühel district of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria. In the regional ductus (linguistics), ...

at the Kitzbühler Ache near the border to Germany.

Geography

Kössen is located in a broad basin between the

Chiemgau Chiemgau () is the common name of a geographic area in Upper Bavaria. It refers to the foothills of the Alps between the rivers Inn and Traun, with the Chiemsee at its center. The political districts that contain the Chiemgau are Rosenheim and ...

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in the north and the Kaiser Mountains in the south of the confluence of Großache river, the ''Kohlenbach'' and the ''Weißenbach''.

Population

Sights

Maria Klobenstein is a pilgrimage church in the community Kössen in Tirol on the border with Bavaria (municipality

Schleching Schleching is a municipality and a village in Traunstein district in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and t ...

Activities

Kössen's topography lends itself to

air sports The term "air sports" covers a range of aerial activities, including air racing, aerobatics, aeromodelling, hang gliding, human-powered aircraft, parachuting, paragliding, soaring, and skydiving. Recognized and regulated air sports Many a ...

in the summer months. The surrounding mountain massifs create great thermals, which are near-perfect for

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sports, air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium al ...

and

paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended be ...

flights, whilst the valley-floor makes safe landing-grounds, as it is broad, flat and mostly meadow-land; furthermore, the winter ski-lifts allow equal access to the summits in their off-season, for the new market of air-sports adventurers. In hang-gliding, Kössen was the inaugural location for both the World Championships, in 1976, and the European Championships, in 1977. The championships were soon coordinated to be run on alternate years, with a European venue on 'even' years and a global venue on 'odd' years. A new venue is chosen each year for both competitions, but it is a mark of the popularity of Kössen as an air-sports venue, that it is the sole centre, to date, that has been used as a return-venue for each competition, in 1980 and in 1985. Para-gliding is also well-established on the Unterberg.

Neighboring towns

Aschau im Chiemgau Aschau im Chiemgau is a municipality and a village in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to ...

Kirchdorf in Tirol Kirchdorf in Tirol is a municipality in the Kitzbühel district in the Austrian state of Tyrol located north of Kitzbühel as well as north of Sankt Johann in Tirol at the Kitzbühler Ache. By area, Kirchdorf is the second largest municipality ...

Reit im Winkl Reit im Winkl is a small village (locally known as a snow-magnet) located on the German/Austrian border in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Part of the Traunstein district, it was previously an immigration and customs control point (pri ...

, Schwendt,

Unterwössen Unterwössen is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

, Waidring,

Walchsee Walchsee is a municipality in the Austrian state of Tyrol in the Kufstein district The Bezirk Kufstein is an administrative district (bezirk) in Tyrol, Austria. It borders Bavaria (Germany) in the north, the Kitzbühel district in the southeast, ...

References

External links

Kössen community data
from Statistik Austria Cities and towns in Kitzbühel District Kaiser Mountains Chiemgau Alps {{Tyrol-geo-stub