Hohe Kugel rises to 1645 m at the far western edge of the Bregenzerwald mountains, right where the range drops down toward the Rhine Valley. It's a beloved family hiking destination - easy enough for inexperienced walkers, yet rewarding with views you'd normally expect only from much higher summits.

The entire mountain lies within the Hohe Kugel - Hoher Freschen - Mellental nature reserve, the largest protected area under Vorarlberg state law. The landscape here is gentle and partly wooded, and the summit panorama stretches from the glaciers of the Silvretta range all the way to Lake Constance - a view rarely available at such a modest elevation. To the south, the almost equally high ridge of Kugelkreuz (1642 m) continues, dropping toward the Treietpass and Treietsattel.

• Sports ground in Fraxern - easy, gently ascending trail
• Ebnit - alternative route, easy to moderate
• Millrütte - easy access
• Reute (part of Hohenems municipality) - easy, gently ascending trail

• The summit lies within the municipality of Fraxern
• A new summit cross was erected in 2015
• The area is a protected nature reserve, so reserve rules apply

Interestingly, although the nearby Falben is technically the highest point of the so-called Kugelgruppe, it's the more modest Hohe Kugel that gave the whole group its name - and during the Ice Age, the massive Rhine glacier reached to within just 150 m of this very summit.