FROM Ljubljana
TO GrossglockNer

Your Alpine Rally begins at Restaurant Ponvica, where the cars come together, the final rally stickers go on and breakfast is served before departure.

It is the first chance to meet the people you will be sharing the next three days with. Around 30 cars, one route, and a group brought together by the same reason for being there: to drive.

After the drivers’ briefing, you leave Ljubljana behind and head north towards the mountains.

The first section takes you through Jezersko and across the border into Austria. From here, the roads begin to change. Traffic gives way to open landscapes, elevation starts to build, and the rally starts to feel very different from an ordinary drive.

Your first destination is Taggenbrunn, a historic castle and vineyard estate in Carinthia. You will explore the vineyards and estate before making your way down towards the wine cellar, followed by a specially prepared lunch at Jezeršek.

The afternoon is where the driving becomes more serious.

After refuelling, you enter the Nockalmstraße and continue through one of Austria’s most enjoyable mountain landscapes. No unnecessary stops, no staged interruptions — just the road, the cars around you and the Alps.

From there, the route continues towards the Malta Valley and the final mountain road of the day: the Malta Hochalmstraße.

The road climbs deep into the mountains before reaching Berghotel Malta, positioned beside the immense Kölnbrein Dam at almost 2,000 metres above sea level.

By the time you arrive, you have crossed countries, climbed three Alpine roads and left everyday surroundings far behind.

The cars are parked, dinner is waiting, and the first day ends high above the valley with the entire hotel reserved exclusively for the Cars & Friends group.

You wake up in the mountains.

Before getting back behind the wheel, the morning begins with breakfast overlooking the Malta Valley, followed by a guided tour inside the Kölnbrein Dam.

Then it is time to drive.

The first destination is Gmünd, a small Austrian town with an important place in Porsche history. Here, you will visit the Porsche museum and gain access to a private part of the collection normally closed to the public.

Once the cars are refuelled, one of the defining sections of the Alpine Rally begins.

The route turns towards the Großglockner High Alpine Road.

This is the kind of road the event is built around: elevation, long flowing sections, tight switchbacks and constantly changing views as you climb deeper into the Austrian Alps.

You will stop high in the mountains near the glacier before continuing towards FAT Mankei for lunch — a place where Alpine culture, cars and Porsche heritage naturally come together.

After lunch, there is still more road ahead.

You continue through Großglockner and descend towards Zell am See, where the driving portion of the day comes to an end.

But the day itself does not.

Your car stays in the valley while a privately reserved gondola takes the group up the Schmittenhöhe after normal operating hours.

At the top, Berghotel Schmittenhöhe is your home for the night.

There is time to slow down, use the spa, have a drink and look back over a full day in the mountains before everyone comes together again for dinner.

By this point, the group is no longer a collection of people who arrived separately the morning before.

That is usually where the best part of the rally begins.

The final morning starts without an early alarm or another immediate stretch behind the wheel.

After breakfast and checkout, you descend from Schmittenhöhe and head towards Lake Zell.

A private boat experience gives you a different view of the landscape you have spent the previous two days driving through, with the upper deck reserved exclusively for the Cars & Friends group.

From the lake, you return to the cars for one final drive together.

The destination is Zell am See Airport.

Here, the rally finishes beside the runway at Die FLIEGEREI, where food and drinks are served as the cars gather for the final afternoon.

And this time, the Alps are experienced from above.

SENNAIR helicopter flights depart directly in front of the restaurant, taking you over the surrounding mountains and giving you a completely different perspective on the landscape you have just crossed by road.

It is deliberately a slower ending to an intense few days.

No final mountain pass to chase. No long schedule ahead.

Just the cars, the group, the airfield and enough time to enjoy where the rally has taken you before the journey home begins.

At 16:00, the Cars & Friends Alpine Rally officially comes to an end.

The experience usually does not.