Rural Austria

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	7
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Why Austria

Rural Austria conjures up images of mountains, forests, waterfalls and clean air or coffee houses. We saw all of that and more with a week of sightseeing in real Sound of Music country, although we didn’t really do a huge amount of walking and it rained half the time anyway!

We chose the Alpenland Sporthotel in Johann im Pongau which was completely out of the way but had loads of facilities for the kids so we spent time playing tennis, table tennis and swimming together as well as sightseeing.

The holiday

After a hectic Sunday – up at 3AM and two flights later finally we finally arrived at the hotel after lunch. We did manage to get a free hire car upgrade to an E class (from a Focus!) so that was a plus. The weather was a bit dismal but we had a wander round the town and tried out a nice cafe. For some masochistic reason we also had an hour gym session in the evening!

The next morning the girls helpfully dragged us out of bed at 7.30 for a swim before breakfast. The hike we had booked was cancelled due to the rain so we did another shopping expedition then drove to Liechtensteinerklamm.

Liechtensteinklamm

This was an amazing gorge near to the hotel. Beautiful scenery, very nicely laid out walks and impressive waterfall, rounded off by the obligatory cafe visit. We then went back to the hotel for tennis with the mountains as a backdrop – impressive!

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Neuschwanstein Castle

After an early morning start (which the girls loved!) we headed off for Bavaria and gorgeous sunshine. 3 hours driving later we stopped at a McCafe as I was getting damned fed up with driving! Suitably refreshed we drove the final hour to the picture postcard Neuschwanstein Castle.

After a 40 minute queue we found out that it was a timed entry ticket and the next entry was 3 hours later which would have meant getting back about 10PM! I decided against it and we took the bus to Marienbrucke for views over the castle, then walked down to the castle itself before taking a horse drawn carriage back to the town.

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We then had a long drive back, partly in rain which did give some spectacular rainbows. A lot of driving but a very impressive place and the Bavarian countryside was idyllic.

Hohenwerfen Castle

On Wednesday we had a lovely game of tennis then headed out to Hohenwerfen castle – an amazing castle of the local Prince Bishops that was restored in the 19th century and then again after a fire in the 1930’s. The castle dominates the whole valley but was an incredibly windy place!

Deb and the girls went back to the car park by funicular while I walked through the garden and down the path through the woods so I could take some piccies. We had a lovely lunch in the great hall too!

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Eis Riesen Welt

Next on the list was Eis Riesen Welt – the largest ice cave in the world. We drove up a very narrow and winding road to the car park, which towered over Hohenwerfen Castle below us! The sign said “the cable car is an easy and pleasant 20 minute hike followed by a further 20 minutes to reach the cave itself”

My god, what a bunch of liars! It was a constant uphill trudge on loose gravel followed by a brief breather on the cable car then more of the same but with a 1000m drop to the valley below us. Once we reached the cave we were told there were 700 steps up and 1km walking to the far point, then another 700 and 1km to come back. Oh what bloody joy!

To cap it all they wouldn’t allow photo’s inside, even without the flash so that was poo. The caves were impressive and kinda worth seeing …. When we came out the cloud had come right down and it was starting to drizzle but we made our way back to the car and then drove back to the hotel after a quick dinner. A very tiring day but some damned impressive sights! The first four photos below are from the website so you get an idea of the caves.

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Salzburg

Thursday we drove to Salzburg and then took the tram from the Park and Ride into the centre. It was raining heavily and, contrary to the forecast, got worse as the day went on. It was pointless trying to take photos and walk around the sights.

We had a coffee and goulash in a cafe and after about an hour headed back to the park and ride and came home. Very disappointing as Sofia wanted to go to the zoo and do a segway tour but of course the weather was my fault and I still dragged the kids out in it, oh what an evil father …….

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Friday was cancelled due to rain – we did go to a spa but it was so busy we didn’t go in. We had a day of swimming, gym and table tennis and then a huge meal with 2 desserts in the evening!

Saturday we got up early and headed to the spa, arriving just after it opened. We had 2 hours of bliss – Debbie went swimming whilst the girls and I played and relaxed in the outdoor thermal pool – 31 degrees and mountains all around, it almost made the rain unimportant.

Gollinger Wasserfall

After lunch the girls stayed at the hotel to do swimming and Deb and I headed off to Gollinger Wasserfall, about 30 minutes away. It was a lovely drive even though it was sheeting down with rain. It had pretty much stopped when we arrived and we walked the 10 minutes to the base of the falls and then the extra hour round trip to go to the top. An amazing waterfall, although it’s just water falling off a rock as Natalya would say it was still damned impressive!

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Conclusion

Rural Austria conjures up images of mountains, forests, waterfalls and clean air or coffee houses. We saw all of that and more with a week of sightseeing on our low key holiday. Prices were higher than the UK but everywhere we went was clean and everyone was pleasant with an excellent command of English.