Rankweil: basilica & Frödisch gorge

The Liebfrauenberg rises some 45 m above the centre of Rankweil, and a church has stood on it for over 1,300 years. Today's basilica is essentially a fortified church enlarged from 1470 onwards; the churchyard is enclosed by walls and roofed rampart walks with embrasures, from which you look far across the Rhine valley. Inside: the miraculous image, a limewood Madonna of 1470, a silver-clad cross from the late 12th century, the Loreto chapel of 1657 and the Fridolin chapel with its 'healing stone'. The church was raised to a basilica minor in 1985; it is Vorarlberg's most important place of pilgrimage and a stop on the Austrian Way of St James.

The 'Frödisch gorge' in neighbouring Sulz is not a built gorge path with walkways but a mountain torrent: the Frödisch descends almost 13 km from the Hoher Freschen and joins the Frutz at Sulz. From the gravel works on the edge of the village you walk 15 to 30 minutes upstream, partly in the stream bed itself, to pools, a small grotto and a waterfall – a popular bathing and picnic spot for families on hot days, but only at low water and in settled weather. From our house it is 47 km / 45 minutes; by S-Bahn from Bludenz to Rankweil or Sulz-Röthis. Combines well with Feldkirch, a few kilometres further south.

Last updated: 13 Sep 2026