A summary of our family trip in nature in Austria, with a detailed itinerary and a few tips. We flew for 11 days, July 10 to 20, 2023. We were a couple + 2 (a 7-year-old boy and a 4.5-year-old girl who are used to hiking). We were looking for lots of nature and a little city.
Written by: Shani Arbel Kushnir.
A Family Itinerary in Austria: Including Logistics and Recommendations for Every Attraction
The information here was written before the trip and collected from various sources. After we’d actually been to each place, I added notes in hindsight for your use, and they are marked in italics.
The Kaprun Reservoirs, the Zell am See Gorge and Lake Klammsee
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 11.7 | Kaprun and Zell am See | Kaprun reservoirs: 3 to 4 hour outing | €66 |
| Sigmund Thun gorge: easy walk, about an hour and a half | In the card, or €15.6 per family. | ||
| Lake Klammsee: a stop | |||
| Zell am See | |||
| Flachau | Festival | Free | |
| Option for a day without the card. You can add the beach at Zell am See. At 21:00 there’s a light show. | |||
Webcams for the Zell am See area: Camera 1, Camera 2.
The Kaprun Reservoirs: Hochgebirgsstauseen
About an hour and a quarter from Flachau. Artificial lakes belonging to the Austrian electricity company. From the car park, follow the signs to the ticket office and the bus departure point. The ascent is in 3 stages: a bus leaving the cable car station every 20 minutes, a ride up in a large funicular, and a bus to the upper reservoir, Mooserboden. Get off at the last stop next to the upper reservoir; there’s an information center, and you can walk on the dam. You can take an easy walk toward the lower reservoir on the “herb trail”, Kräuterlehrpfad, a leisurely walk of about 45 minutes. At the end of the trail there’s a restaurant, Fürthermoaralm, a kind of small farm. Opposite the restaurant is the stop for the bus that goes back down to the car park.
It’s recommended to arrive early to avoid standing in queues and to ride the funicular comfortably rather than in a crush. Getting to the Kaprun dam can be confusing, there’s a lack of signage. From the Sigmund Thun gorge you need to go up the mountain and pass the Kitzsteinhorn glacier car park. On the road there are blue arrows marked “dam”; follow them and you’ll reach the Kaprun dam car park, which has 11 levels. Levels 10 to 11 aren’t covered, so it’s best to park on levels 8 to 9, from which you climb the stairs to the start of the route.
Parking: Kesselfallstraße 94, 5710 Kaprun, Austria
Location: 47.2172121,12.7259918
Opening hours: 08:10 to 16:45 (last ascent at 15:30).
Cost: family ticket €66.
Notes after our visit: we skipped the herb trail and instead went up to the viewpoint next to the second restaurant at the upper reservoir.
The Sigmund Thun Gorge and Lake Klammsee, Sigmund-Thun-Klamm
An easy walk, about an hour and a half. The gorge ends at a large waterfall created by a dam separating the gorge from Lake Klammsee. From there you can choose to turn right on a circular trail back to the car park (go up to the viewing platform first), or left onto the trail around the small lake (3 km), at the end of which you join the trail leading to the car park. In July there are night tours of the gorge by torchlight on Monday evenings at 20:00.
Location: Krafthausstr. 22, 5710 Kaprun, Austria or 47.2591422,12.7385897
Opening hours: 10:00 to 15:00.
Cost: free with the SalzburgerLand card. Adult, €6.5, child from age 6, €4.4.
Parking for Lake Klammsee: 47.2490467,12.7363823
Notes after our visit: opposite the waterfall, we turned left to a viewing platform over Lake Klammsee. From there we went up along a shadeless path (with lots of wild strawberries on the way) and came down through the forest. In total the whole route from start to finish took us less than an hour and a half.
The Town of Zell am See
Sits on the shore of Lake Zell. In the summer months there are sound-and-light shows on the water. You can swim at the Zell am See beach, Strandbad Zeller See; there are diving boards into the lake and a trampoline in the water. There’s a regular pool and a toddler pool.
Location of the Zell am See waterfalls: 47.3212610,12.7997332
Location of the viewpoint over Lake Zell: 47.3390000,12.8281389
In the end we skipped it and didn’t go.
Hallein
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 12.7 | Hallein | Königssee (boat trip and walk) 4 hours | €70 |
| Berchtesgaden salt mine: an hour and a half | €62 | ||
| The Bluntautal reserve |
Königssee (the King’s Lake)
An hour and 10 minutes from Flachau. A clear, beautiful lake next to the town of Berchtesgaden. Electric boats go to two stops: the nearer stop, St. Bartholomä (35 minutes each way), and the Salet stop at the far end of the lake (an hour each way). Behind St. Bartholomä’s church, a trail sets out on an easy, beautiful circular route of half an hour to an hour. The trail runs along the waterline and returns through the forest. It’s well marked with yellow signs and comfortable to walk. From St. Bartholomä, the boat ride continues for about half an hour to the Salet stop, from which you can also take an easy walk, about 15 minutes, to the small Obersee lake, surrounded by mountains.
Opening hours: 8:00 to 17:15.
Cost: boat to the first stop, €13.9 adult, €7 child (from age 6), €34.8 family. Boat to the second stop, €16.9 adult, €8.5 child (from age 6), €42.3 family. The whole route about €70.
Location: 47.5920938,12.9883108
Park in the paid car park and walk along the promenade for about 10 minutes toward the pier. Seestraße 3, 83471 Schönau am Königssee, Germany. Boat pier location: Schifffahrt Königssee Verwaltung.
Schifffahrt Königssee, Ticket-Kasse, Bayerische Seenschifffahrt
In the end we skipped it, because of the long boat ride.
Berchtesgaden Salt Mine: Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden
About 15 minutes from Königssee. The same as the Hallein salt mine; it also includes a train ride, wooden slides and a boat ride on an underground lake. No age limit. A tour leaves every 10 minutes.
Location: 47.6377055,13.0178212
Cost: €22.5 adult, €11.5 child from age 4; you can buy a family ticket + an extra child ticket, €62.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 17:00.
Notes after our visit: it came to €57 for the whole family, significantly cheaper than the Hallein salt mine (which would have cost us €92). You don’t feel that you’re crossing into Germany (there’s no clear border), no problem at all with the crossing. There’s an audio guide device available in several languages, so we didn’t need the app.
The Bluntautal Nature Reserve and Lake Bluntausee: Located in the Golling waterfall area. A 30-minute walk through the forest until you reach the lake. Walking around the lake takes about half an hour. You can set the parking for two hours; there’s no need for full-day parking.
Gastein
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 13.7 | Gastein | The suspension bridge on the Stubnerkogel | Yes |
| Thermal baths in the town of Bad Hofgastein | Yes | ||
| The Flori trail: walking and activities for kids, about two hours | Yes |
The Suspension Bridge on the Stubnerkogel: An hour and a half from Flachau. Cable car, suspension bridge at an altitude of 2,300 m, 140 m long. Indoor play area on the ground floor of the cable car station, PlayStation stations, climbing wall. One cable car in the card. A 2 to 3 hour outing. It’s important to arrive via Bad Gastein (if you drive with Google Maps, you reach an area from which you can’t go up with the card….
Location: 47.1105220,13.1314946
Bundesstraße 491, 5630 Bad Hofgastein, Austria
Website
Notes after our visit: we arrived and discovered it’s no longer in the SalzburgerLand card… Instead we went to the Schlossalm cable car. A long ascent; at the top there are games for kids and a beautiful view. The cable car ride is free with the SalzburgerLand card from 12:00.
Thermal Baths in the Town of Bad Hofgastein: Next to Schlossalm. Pools, a spa complex, 2 water slides (one very fast, the other with lights and effects), in the pool a tube route leading to a cave where cartoons are screened. The outdoor pool overlooks the surrounding Alpine scenery. In summer there are also outdoor water slides, inflatables and a big lake. It’s worth bringing a towel to save €3.7 per towel. There’s a locker that you open with the wristband you get at the entrance.
Cost: included in the SalzburgerLand card.
Parking: costs a euro from 8:00 to 18:00; keep the parking ticket and hand it in at reception at the end so you don’t pay for parking.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 21:00, Thursday to Saturday until 22:00.
Location: 47.1696210,13.1046121 or Senator-Wilhelm-Wilfling-Platz 1, 5630 Bad Hofgastein, Austria
The Kitzlochklamm Gorge: A walking trail, an hour and a half to two hours.
Location: 47.2893266,12.9760261
Notes after our visit: we planned to go there if the kids tired of the baths quickly, but they were really enthusiastic about them… We also skipped it because of the rain.
The Golling Waterfall, Gosau and Abtenau
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 14.7 | Golling | Golling waterfall: easy walk, about an hour. | Yes. |
| Gosau | Lake and cable car | Yes | |
| Abtenau | Mountain coaster | Yes |
The Golling Waterfall: Gollinger Wasserfall: Located about 45 minutes from Flachau. About 10 minutes from the car park you reach the bottom of the waterfall. From there the trail climbs up a slope with many steps to the point where the water emerges from the rock (Quellhöhle) and returns down. The trail is beautiful and pleasant; on the way you cross a wooden bridge, and from the top there’s a beautiful view. The whole trail to the waterfall is about half an hour in the forest.
Location: 47.6016699,13.1398035
Opening hours: the site is open until 17:00.
Cost: €2.5 adult, €1.5 child from age 6. Free with the SalzburgerLand card.
Website: www.golling.info/erlrbnis-ausflug/gollinger-wasserfall
Lake Gosau (Gosausee) and the Cable Car (Gosaukammbahn)): An hour’s drive from Golling. A walk on a well-kept trail around Lake Gosau, about an hour. Park in the lot close to the lake. Next to it there’s a cable car going up to the mountain top. At the top there’s a network of trails.
Opening hours: 8:15 to 17:50
Parking: 47.5337579,13.4959106
Gosaukammbahn-Betriebsleitung Talstation, right next to the cable car. In the upper car park there are a few spaces with a blue line that give 3 hours free; put a note with the time you parked on the dashboard.
Cable car: 47.5330524,13.4966532
Cost: the cable car is included in the SalzburgerLand card.
Notes after our visit: in our opinion, nice, nothing more… We didn’t walk around the lake; there are more pleasant and convenient lakes. In the second hut after the cable car there’s an excellent Kaiserschmarrn.
The Abtenau Mountain Coaster: Abtenau Karkogel Sommerrodelbahn : Half an hour from Gosau, 40 minutes from Flachau. The track is 1,980 m long. You control the speed on the coaster. There’s an option to go down fast on scooters or kick scooters (not included in the SalzburgerLand card). At the bottom there’s a playground.
Location: 47.5558235,13.3502922
Opening hours: 9:00 to 17:00.
Cost: cable car up + coaster down, €11.20 adult, €7.90 child (from age 6). The SalzburgerLand card gives one free ride.
South of Flachau
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 15.7 | Johannes Waterfall | Free of charge | |
| Bobby the Rabbit: two and a half hours. | Yes | ||
| Smarty Land park | Yes | ||
| Game and Leisure park | Free of charge |
Johannes Waterfall Johanneswasserfall: A 15 to 20 minute walk through the forest to the waterfall; you pass behind the waterfall (you get a little wet) and from there climb the stairs back up. A short route. There’s an option to enter from the road (then you go through a passage under it, leading to the stairs, and come back down them); if you go through the forest, after the stairs there’s a short walk back to the car.
Location: 47.252048,13.508865
Bobby the Rabbit: Grünwaldkopfbahn: About 45 minutes from Flachau, just a few minutes from the Johannes waterfall. At the restaurant at the bottom you can buy a mission card (we skipped it). You go up in an enclosed cable car to the mountain (Obertauern); there’s a wooden ball run that costs €2, a lake with pedal boats (included in the ticket price), small waterfalls. From there you go up in an open cable car (it can be closed), where there are facilities for kids, two more lakes, one of which has a raft and a SUP… It’s worth bringing swimwear.
Location: Free parking at the bottom.
Cost: free with the SalzburgerLand card. Cable car up and down, family ticket €42. Up and down to the summit, family ticket €30.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 17:00.
Familypark Smarty Land: About 25 minutes from Bobby the Rabbit, 45 minutes from Flachau. You can arrive from 12:00. An amusement complex that includes a quad bike track (from age 15 alone, or a child accompanied by an adult), a tubing slide (you need swimwear), inflatables, trampolines with harnesses…
Cost: free with the card.
Opening hours: 12:00 to 17:00
Location: : Schischule Mauterndorf, Skizentrum Mauterndorf Nr. 416, 5570 Mauterndorf, Austria
Notes after our visit: a pleasant park… In our opinion, not worth a special trip. After it we went up the adjacent cable car, Grosseck Speiereck, free with the SalzburgerLand card. At the top there are a few facilities for kids… You pay for kids under 6; we didn’t have a SalzburgerLand card for our daughter, so they let her in free and didn’t ask for a surcharge…
Game and Leisure Park Untertauern: about 20 minutes from Flachau. An animal park, a reserve where the animals roam freely. Free entry. In part of the complex you can go in and pet the animals.
The Krimml Waterfalls and the Grafenberg Cable Car in Wagrain
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 16.7 | Krimml | A walking trail of about 3 hours in the area | Yes (95) |
| Wagrain | Grafenberg cable car, Wagraini: cable car, walk and fun | Yes | |
| On the way back you can combine a stop at Hintersee, 5730 Mittersill, Austria, or at Lake Zell. | |||
The Krimml Waterfalls: Krimmler Wasserfälle: about two hours from Flachau. Considered the highest waterfalls in Europe. They fall in three “steps”. The walk to the foot of the falls, on an easy trail, is about 15 minutes. The walk on the trail from the starting point at the bottom to the top end is steep and quite challenging. You can go up to the first station, about an hour, and come back. You can go up with a taxi that leaves next to the car park and reaches the stations along the falls (about 20 minutes), and walk down, about an hour and a half to two hours, on a steep but paved trail.
Cost: adult (€4, child from age 6) €1. Included in the card. Taxi to the upper station: €10 adult, €5 child.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 17:00.
Location: 47.2139446,12.1682144
Krimmler Wasserfälle, 5743 Krimml 47, Warnsdorf-Krimml
If you want to go up by taxi, it’s best to park at P3 or P4, the closest to the restaurant next to which the shuttle service stop is located.
The Flori Trail: in Flachau. A circular trail, an hour and a half to two hours. For kids, at the entrance to the trail you get a leaflet and a pencil; along the trail you meet signs with riddles and write the answer in the flyer, and at the end you get a sentence in Austrian German. You return the flyer to the restaurant at the end of the trail and get a surprise for the kids. An easy trail, along which there are all kinds of attractions for kids (a zip line, a raft on water, slides, a climbing wall and more). Part of the trail is uphill, part in the forest, part downhill.
Cost: free. You can get there by the Starjet 1 cable car (in the card), or drive the car up a winding, beautiful road to the top of the mountain.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 18:00 (cable car until 17:00).
Location: the starting point is at the Waldgasthof if you drive up.
To the website with more information
The Liechtenstein Gorge, Lake Jägersee and the Wasserwelt Water Park in Wagrain
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 17.7 | Flachau | Liechtenstein gorge: an outing of an hour and a half to two hours. | Yes. Or €13.5 per family |
| Lake Jägersee: an easy outing | Free | ||
| Wagrain | Wasserwelt park: water park | Yes. Or €15.5 per family | |
The Liechtenstein Gorge: Liechtensteinklamm
A 35-minute drive from Flachau. The walk begins on a wide path beside the river, continues on narrow paths carved into the mountain, over wooden bridges above the river and zigzagging stairs. The route ends with a view of a large waterfall. You return the same way. The trail is easy; the outing takes about an hour and a half there and back.
Location: 47.3134265,13.1896781
Opening hours: 8:00 to 16:00.
Cost: free with the SalzburgerLand card.
Notes after our visit: a nice trail; Sigmund Thun is more impressive in our opinion… The trail is crowded, maybe it’s worth going to a different gorge… If you have the SalzburgerLand card, there’s no need to queue for tickets; you can go in directly to the left of the queue…
Lake Jägersee: 30 minutes from the Liechtenstein gorge. A lake with ducks and swans… Walking around it is nice; there are lots of wild strawberries on the way…
Parking: 47.2391796,13.3310435
The Grafenberg Cable Car, Wagraini
The Grafenberg cable car goes up to the Wagraini complex, and the Flying Mozart cable car goes up to the Griesenkareck mountain. The Wagraini complex is dotted with play and sports facilities, with a circular trail (you take a riddle card at the entrance and get a prize at the end). When you get off the cable car you reach a small lake with a raft. Next to the lake there’s an inflatable trampoline. Along the way there are wooden cows with riddles on them, and at each station there’s some activity or facilities. In the middle of the trail there’s a kind of rope park, a barefoot trail, a zip line, hammocks… The trail is fairly easy to walk.
Opening hours: 8:45 to 17:00. Last descent from the mountain at 17:00.
Cost: cable car to Grafenberg, €20.20 adult, €10.10 child from age 6. Free with the SalzburgerLand card.
Location: 47.3281313,13.2995745 or Markt 59, 5602 Vorderkleinarl, Austria
Notes after our visit: we were there 3 hours, and in our opinion if you do the trail it’s worth devoting more time to this site…
Water Park: Wasserwelt Wagrain
20 minutes from Flachau, 20 minutes from Lake Jägersee. Located in the town of Wagrain. Five slides, three outdoor pools, two indoor pools, lawns, a playground… A small park, suitable for the end of a day.
Location: 47.3321498,13.3044002
Opening hours: 9:30 to 20:00 (entry until 18:00).
Cost: €10 adult, €5.5 child from age 6. (From 15:00 there’s a small discount.) Free for SalzburgerLand card holders.
Grossglockner
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 18.7 | Grossglockner | Alpine road, 3 hours | Yes |
| The zoo | Yes | ||
| Flachau | Therme Amadé | Yes |
The Grossglockner Road: Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse
The Grossglockner is the highest mountain in Austria, its summit at 3,798 m. The road is considered the most beautiful scenic road in Austria. It winds along the edges of the mountain to the great Pasterze glacier, at the viewpoint named after Franz Joseph, Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe.
Station A: payment, next to a nature and wildlife park.
Station B: called Piffkar, there’s a playground there. A walking trail, about half an hour…
Station C: called Hochmais, you can walk down the mountain toward a small hut called Trauneralm.
Station D: Edelweiss Spitze, a viewpoint over the road with a restaurant called Fuschertörl and a walking trail to a beautiful view.
Station E: Fuscher Törl, the viewing platform facing the Grossglockner.
Station F: information about birds of prey.
Station G: Fuscher Lacke, an easy, short trail to a beautiful lake; walking around it takes about 10 minutes.
Station H: Hochtor, the ascent to the summit of the Brennkogel, a 12 km round-trip trail.
Station I: the viewing platform facing the great glacier, Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, simply uplifting; several walking trails set out from there. Park in the big covered car park and start walking from the balcony downward; from there you see the glacier (there are marmots there). You can descend to the glacier on steep stairs; in the summer months there’s a funicular (Gletscherbahn) going down (operates from 10:00 to 18:00). A short, easy circular trail (stroller-friendly) sets out from the roof level of the car park, which you reach by lift.
Station J: called Kasereck, at an altitude of 1,911 m.
Starting point: 47.1688200,12.8139790 Next to the zoo.
Cost: €40 per car, or free with the SalzburgerLand card (if you don’t use the 24 hours in Salzburg).
The Ferleiten Wildlife Park: Wild- und Freizeitpark Ferleiten
Located next to the Grossglockner road.
At the entrance there are paid rides. Walking in the park is easy; there’s a trail passing through the animals. Included in the SalzburgerLand card.
Therme Amadé: Thermal baths in Flachau. Warm water in the outdoor pool too. Open until 22:00, last entry at 20:00. Inside there’s a wave pool, hot tub, a slide for little ones and 3 more slides (one from age 8, the second from age 10 and the third from age 12). Free with the SalzburgerLand card. Suitable for an evening or a rainy day. For the locker you need a euro coin (which you get back afterwards). We were worried the slides wouldn’t suit our kids’ ages, but on the slide for up to age 8 a parent and child can go together. Later, our daughter (4.5) went alone with floaties…
Notes after our visit: On this day we added the Ghost Mountain cable car, before the thermal baths… We didn’t manage much there because of the rain… It looks beautiful and well done… The cable car is included in the card (from 12:00).
The Stairway to Nowhere, the Suspension Bridge and the Rittisberg Complex
| Day | Area | Activity | Card / price |
| 19.7 | Dachstein Krippenstein | Gondola, Skywalk, Skyline, the suspension bridge, the Stairway to Nowhere and the Ice Palace. 3 hours. | No. €139. |
| Rittisberg: Ramsau | No. Flying coaster, €38. Mountain coaster, €23. | ||
| A day without the card, not cheap but worth it. Suitable for clear weather… | |||
The Dachstein Summit: the Suspension Bridge and the Stairway to Nowhere
The site is about a 45-minute drive from Flachau. You go up in a cable car that leaves every 20 minutes and holds 50 people. You need to reserve a place on the cable car in advance, free of charge.
On the southern side of the Dachstein mountain range, at an altitude of almost 3,000 m, lies the Dachstein glacier, in the state of Styria. This area is also called “Der Dachstein”.
The Skywalk
You turn slightly behind the cable car stop and reach a viewing platform, a kind of balcony jutting out a few meters from the mountain top, called the “Skywalk”. Below you can see the rock face of the Hunerkogel, and all around a panoramic view of the snowy Alpine peaks. On days with good visibility you can see Slovenia and the Czech Republic from the platform.
The Skyline Station: The first station on the route, right at the exit from the restaurant, is called the Skyline, and it’s actually a kind of built bridge you can walk on, serving as a relatively comfortable viewpoint over the whole glacier. From there you continue along the route and head toward the suspension bridge.
The Suspension Bridge: Dachstein Hängebrücke
A bridge suspended on both sides, between heaven and earth. It’s at an altitude of almost 3,000 meters and about 100 meters long. Walking across the bridge leads straight to the viewing platform of the “Stairway to Nowhere”.
The “Stairway to Nowhere”: Treppe ins Nichts: A small, narrow staircase of just 14 steps leads to a unique, small viewing platform with a glass floor that creates the feeling of standing in the air, blending almost completely into the powerful landscape.
The Ice Palace: At the end of the route is the Ice Palace; you pass through frozen tunnels to a depth of 6 m inside the glacier, a tour among ice sculptures depicting important events and milestones in human history.
The tour takes between 2 to 3 hours, but allow for the possibility of a queue for the cable car going up or down. It’s not a cheap experience; there’s a small discount on the prices from 14:30. In season you need to book a few days in advance.
Location: parking, Parkplatz Dachstein Südwandbahn Talstation, Türlwandhütte. Keep the receipt from the entrance and get a credit when buying the tickets.
Opening hours: cable car, 07:50 to 17:10. Suspension bridge, Ice Palace and viewpoint, 09:00 to 16:00.
Cost: cable car round trip + attractions, adult = €55.5, child = €28 (from age 6). There may be a discount from 14:30.
Website for reserving a place on the cable car
Rittisberg Park: Rittisberg Coaster
Located 15 minutes from the Dachstein. An attractions park. The mountain coaster (Rittisberg Coaster) and the flying coaster (Flying Rittisberg) don’t require a cable car ride!! You start the coaster from the bottom; it’s pulled up the track and from there the descent begins. For the zip line you need to walk up, about 10 minutes from the departure point. You park in the same place for both.
Opening hours: every day, 9:30 to 18:00. Entry until 17:00.
Cost: flying coaster (adult and mini) €38 for all of us. Mountain coaster (adult and mini) €23 for all of us.
On the way back you can combine Filzmoos…
In the end: We didn’t do this day, because of cloudy, rainy weather. Instead we went to Der Wild berg: the Wild Mountain, an hour and 40 minutes from Flachau. €56 for the whole family. 9:00 to 18:00. When you buy a ticket you get a sheet with stickers that you fill in along the way, and at the end you get a small prize (animal tattoos). You start by going up in the cable car to the upper station; on the way you see the animals from above. When you arrive, a trail begins through the animals, with viewpoints from several directions. There’s no explanation in English. Further on, a play area and after it all kinds of more challenging facilities, most of them included in the ticket and a few by buying a token. From there you go down to the lower cable car station; on the way down there’s a wooden ball run (we used the ball we’d bought at Bobby’s mountain). You can go down by cable car, on foot, by bus, by sliding down a concrete track (on a kind of mat; it looks fun but not really safe, we saw a few crashes) or on a kind of go-kart motorbike (closed after rain).
The Lucky Flitzer coaster: located in Flachau; you go up with the coaster and as soon as you reach the top the track begins. At the bottom there are inflatables and all kinds of paid rides.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 19:00.
Cost: not in the SalzburgerLand card; there’s a 6% discount with the Flachau card. The price after the discount: adult + child, €13.5, adult, €10.5, child, €8.5.
Tips
Flight
We bought activity booklets at a discount store (mazes, find the item, tic-tac-toe, etc.). We checked in online in advance and didn’t check any luggage, so from the moment we entered the airport until we reached the gate it took us 20 minutes…
Car
We rented through Abrix: an excellent Slovak company! The car came with a toll sticker; they were available, efficient and cheaper than the other offers.
A tip from the Check In/Out team: Booking a rental car in advance is recommended and will save you the hassle during the trip of comparing prices and looking for a reliable rental agency. We recommend comparing prices through Paapm Paapm, a search engine that helps you find cars on reliable rental sites.
We wrote a whole article with tips on renting a car abroad.
Navigation
It’s important to download an offline navigation app, mapy. We used Google Maps. If you use Waze, it’s important to allow toll roads and add Austria’s specific motorway vignette. Google Maps has no speed camera alerts, so it’s well worth also downloading the Radarbot app and running it in parallel.
Weather
It changes every day and throughout the day… The evening before, we checked the expected weather and planned the day accordingly. You need a lot of flexibility during the day… The weather differs between areas, so it’s worth checking across a wide area (rain in one area and sun in another). For any activity that stops in the rain, it’s worth taking something warm, a game, a snack (we got stuck for an hour and a half on the Ghost Mountain, in a storm, waiting for the cable car)… We used the Bergfex app. In addition, look at the weather listed on the website of each site you plan to visit.
The SalzburgerLand Card
We prepared an itinerary before deciding whether to buy the card and saw that if we bought it we’d save about €350… not including thermal baths, water parks and cable cars we added after deciding to buy the card… For kids under 6 there’s not much point buying a card; it’s better to pay the surcharge when needed. Some of the cable cars included in the SalzburgerLand card are available only from 12:00: Grafenberg in Wagrain, the Ghost Mountain, Flori, the cable cars in Gastein. At the thermal baths, entry with the card is one time for 4 hours. If you have the card, there’s no need to queue at the ticket offices; look for the entrance and go straight to it…
The Flachau Card
You usually get it from the hotel. It gives small discounts…
Events in Flachau
There are all kinds of events in the morning and afternoon… You can check on the website
App for the Salt Mine
Salzwelten Destination Guide: in it you choose the relevant mine. At the mine we visited there was an audio guide in our language and we didn’t need it. It takes a very long time to download, so it’s better to download it in advance…
Accommodation
The hotel we stayed at is called: aparthotel am reitecksee in Flachau. We got a spacious room, with two bedrooms and an extra pull-out bed in the living room. A private balcony (with a view of the lake) and a balcony shared with the room next door. The room is fully equipped (microwave, dishwasher, cooking utensils and tableware). Only dish soap and shower gel were missing; everything else was there. No air conditioning; in the evening we opened the balcony doors and that was enough. In the yard there are little ride-on cars for kids, bikes, a trampoline, a sandbox and more. Inside there’s a room with ping-pong and table football. On the other side of the road, a stunning lake with ducks and facilities for kids (very busy in the afternoon).
Splitting the Accommodation
We debated whether to split up in order to get some regional card (Kaprun, Schladming). Due to time pressure in planning, we slept all the nights in one place, and in hindsight it worked out well for us. Because the weather is changeable, it allowed us to be more flexible… If we’d slept in another place, it might have been rainy for all the days of our stay there, and we wouldn’t have enjoyed its options…
Food
We ate breakfast at the hotel, €16 per adult, kids don’t pay. A huge, varied meal that kept us going until the afternoon… A slight drawback is that it starts at 8:00. For lunch we ate on the go (snacks, we bought all kinds of things at the supermarket, Kaiserschmarrn at a restaurant, etc.). In the evening we ate at restaurants.
Restaurants
It’s worth asking for an itemized bill and checking when ordering whether the dish includes a side or not… At restaurants you usually pay for water.
Two adjacent restaurants we returned to, suitable with kids (outside there’s a trampoline and an inflatable):
Sals burger
It also has a play area on the lower floor, great in the rain. The restaurants have kids’ meals (€6 to 8), are open late, and whenever we arrived there was room.
Paularei
, which many people recommend, but we weren’t enthusiastic… Not cheap and not attractive for kids (across the road there’s a swing and a slide).
Pinocchio
Italian, no play area, very nice, there are kids’ meals and good strudel.
Restaurant seestberl
An authentic restaurant next to a lake, where there are games and all sorts… The restaurant is beautiful but the food is expensive and rather disappointing (a school canteen puts in more effort)…
Berggasthof Sattelbauer
We saw a recommendation, drove up to it (winding mountain road) and there was no room… It looks like a beautiful place, with a terrace with a great view…
Supermarkets and Shops
Billa, Spar, Hofer, Penny Market (we liked Spar best)… The supermarkets close early, around 18:00; there are a few that close later… We recommend bringing a cloth bag for shopping…
Driving toVienna
We chose to drive straight after landing; it took us 3 and a half hours. We stopped on the way to buy some food, including dinner. We arrived at the hotel, straight into the shower and to sleep, and gained an extra day of travel.
The Wooden Ball
In some of the parks there’s a wooden track where you roll a ball that you buy for €2. The ball is standard; we bought one at the first site and used it for the rest of the trip, so keep it in your bag…
Things to Take in the Car
There are long drives; it’s worth taking snacks for the road in the car and downloading song collections or podcasts for kids in advance. We always took coats, swimwear, a towel (we took two from the hotel), sandals…
Planning the Day
In the big parks (Wagrain, Bobby, Wild Berg, etc.) you can happily spend a few hours… It’s worth devoting about 4 hours to each… Our recommendation is to open the day with a walk (waterfall, gorge) and then an activity mountain or some cable car, no more than 2 to 3 attractions a day. Add activities for rainy days to the plan (thermal baths, gorges, salt mine) as well as options for other activities in the area in case a place is closed or you finish quickly… Leave time for picking wild berries on the way, a stop for Kaiserschmarrn or strudel, etc…
Wild Berries
There are loads on the trails and in the parks. We found wild strawberries (they’re tiny and very tasty), raspberries (the small purple ones and the huge red ones), blueberries, cranberries and more… We checked beforehand that they were whole and not bitten. Some say there’s a risk of bacteria and such, so bear that in mind…
Water
At first we bought bottles of mineral water (make sure you buy still water and not sparkling). Later, the tap water at the hotel was wonderful, and there are also water refill points next to the activities and along the roads.
Bring lots of patience and flexibility… Enjoy!