A lovely start from one alpine village to the next
After breakfast you will be taken by a shuttle very comfortably to the Feistritzer Alm at 1.715 m above sea level, the actual starting point of your trail journey along the Carnic Milky Way.
Right at the start you will be spoilt for choice: either you choose the shorter version via the actual Carnic Milky Way, or you immediately attach a "constellation" hike "Lips of Europe", on which you additionally climb the peak of the Oisternig (2.052 m) just above the Feistritzer Alm. The peaks and landscape formations sketch two lips - the lips of Europe, in the style of the Windische Alm villages of the Carnic Milky Way. In the case of the summit path, you choose the right one of the two uphill hiking trails on the Feistritzer Alm, which crosses the eastern flank of the Oisternig to its eastern crest. Via the east ridge you reach the summit of Oisternig in another 30 minutes. Right from the summit you descend the path through the southern flank, go straight ahead at a fork in the path and after a few hairpin bends you reach the hiking path of the actual Carnic Milky Way in the direction of Lomsattel shortly after the Feistritzer Alm (additional time required: about 1 hour 30 minutes).
If you do not include the "constellation" hike, your actual trail from the Feistritzer Alm starts with a descent: From the saddle of the Feistritzer Alm you choose the path to the Dolinza Alm, which is located at the Lomsattel. Here, the Gasthaus Starhand offers the only possibility to stop for refreshments on this stage.
Now you continue westwards along a forest path with short meadow passages uphill to the edge of the forest and further on to the Starhand saddle (1,866 m) between the small peaks of Starhand and Sagran. On the other side of the saddle you hike down the Wiesensteig to the Görtschacher Alm.
Here begins an alpine road, which you follow down a few hairpin bends. But you shouldn't miss the Waldsteig, which leads down to the left to a ford in the stomach. On the other side of the creek you follow a short stretch of forest road until a path leads down into the Kesselwaldgraben. On the other side of the creek you have to overcome a steep slope to a gravel road, but this is made easier by an old rope. Now you continue to climb over meadows and through forest up to a forest road, which you follow to the right without gaining or losing altitude to a ridge.
Here you have the possibility to attach another "constellation" hike "Lips of Europe": In about 40 minutes you will ascend just below the ridge to the Poludniger Alm (1.708 m). Now continue straight ahead following the signs over the middle of the three hiking trails in another 45 min to the summit of Poludnig (1.999 m). Now on the other side over the west ridge down to the Schlosshüttensattel and from there along the marked forest road through the valley floor to the Eggeralm (additional time required compared to the original route 1 hour 30 minutes) The Windische Hüttendörfer, i.e. the alpine pastures of this stage, which are the result of the impressive hut formations, have been the center of life on the alpine pasture: a lively coexistence of different cultures and languages and even a dialect of its own. This is conveyed as the central theme of the "constellation Lips of Europe".
The actual Carnic Milky Way, however, follows the forest road downhill from the mentioned mountain ridge to the beautiful alpine village of the Dellacher Alm (1,362 m). From here, you first follow the asphalt road through the lovely valley, but turn left before the Egger-Alm lake onto the beautiful hiking trail. You pass the lake along its southern shore and continue walking along the path through the beautiful "Buckelwiesen" to the Schlosshüttensattel. Here you turn right onto the forest road and soon reach the Egger Alm village (1,422 m).
