5 Days in the Austrian Alps - Itinerary
- Lucy and the lens
- Oct 5, 2018
- 4 min read
In Summer 2018 Patrick and I spent a month driving around the European Alps. Sandwiched between the Swiss and Bavarian legs of the trip, we spent a week in Austria's Wilder Kaiser and Gosau regions. Here's our itinerary!
Day 1: Enter Austria via Liechtenstein, drive to Wilder Kaiser via Innsbruck
Day 2: Gondola up Marchbachjoch mountain, swimming at Hintersteinersee
Day 3: Drive to Gosau, via Salzburg
Day 4: Hallstatt, Gosausee (in the rain)
Day 5: Gosausee (in the sun), drive to Bavaria
Day 1: Enter Austria via Liechtenstein, drive to Wilder Kaiser via Innsbruck
The fastest route from northern Switzerland into western Austria is, strangely, through Liechtenstein. We then had a long drive west across Switzerland before arriving in the Wilder Kaiser area at our AirBnB in the village of Niederau. Despite the length, it was actually one of our favourite drives, as everything was so darn scenic!
We spontaneously decided to stop off at Innsbruck, capital of the Tirol, on the way, and we're so glad we did! It instantly become one of my favourite cities - it's so colourful, charming and not at all busy! It's surrounding on literally all sides by mountains, too!
The view above can be found at the top of the Stadtturm (old town tower). You ascend via a spectacularly-designed double spiral staircase, which means you don't have to awkwardly try and pass people coming down: they're using the other spiral! It costs less than 5 euros to enter and from the top there are 360 degrees of absolutely breathtaking views! I fell in love!
Innsbruck is well known for its line of painted riverside houses, best seen from the opposite side of the River Inn.
The architecture in Innsbruck is a dream. It's also known for the Goldenes Dachl, a roof that looks as if it is tiled in solid gold. Across the street, the beautiful baroque Helbling Haus: you can see it to the right of the green building in the picture below.
Sadly, we still had an hour's drive to reach Niederau in Wilder Kaiser, so we had to say goodbye to lovely Innsbruck!
Day 2: Gondola up Marchbachjoch mountain, swimming at Hintersteinersee
Today we explored our local surroundings. We took a gondola ride (if you're staying in the area your host will give you a guest card that offers dramatically reduced fares on the gondola) up to Marchbachjoch, 1500m above sea level. At the top, we discovered a traditional little chapel, a load of alpine cows, and lovely views.
We also went for a swim at Hintersteinersee, a still, clear lake where the locals come to cool down on hot days. We shared our swim with a family of ducks and ducklings, which was new for us!
Finally, we went on the hunt for an Austrian schnitzel with the best possible alpine view. We found it at the end of a long and winding mountain road. The traditional schnitzel is served with cranberry sauce and fries. Ours was delicious - but the views definitely helped too!
Day 3: Drive to Gosau, via Salzburg
Next stop, Gosau, the starting point for trips to famous Hallstatt!
First, though, we took a slight detour to Salzburg, known for being the home of some of the filming locations for The Sound of Music. It was another absolutely scorching day, so our energy and desire for sightseeing was pretty low, but we did our best! We dragged ourselves up several flights of stairs to the viewing point at the Kapuzinerberg, for the view below that features Salzburg's fortress in the top left corner.
We then tried to gain back some energy by tucking into a slice of the Original Sacher-torte at Sacher's elegant cafe. This layered chocolate and apricot jam cake has a secret recipe and features the iconic chocolate logo that identifies it as the original - no imitations here!
We then made our way to the town of Gosau, known for its lake (which we'd visit the following day) surrounded by the jagged peaks that were our first welcome to the area, seen below!
Day 4: Hallstatt, Gosausee (in the rain)
Our much anticipated visit to Hallstatt was finally here! The forecast said rain at 9am, and our guesthouse hosts said "Go early!", so we did, arriving at the famous town well before 8am. The beautiful result of this early start meant we had the place mostly to ourselves, with the exception of a few Chinese tourists dressed in dirndls and having photoshoots. China has its own reproduced version of Hallstatt that is hugely popular, meaning that for those who can actually visit the real thing, it's a really big deal! By about 10am the place was swarming with bussed-in tourists, so we left at this point, but until then we enjoyed a peaceful wander through a magical town that looks like a film set!
The rain came down around midday, but we didn't want to waste our time in Gosau, so we headed to Gosausee anyway. This ended up being a fantastic decision because the rain created a ridiculously atmospheric mist hanging over the surrounding mountains.
We ate locally in Gosau that night - and there was only one option after our schnitzel a couple of days before - apple strudel, of course! This one was heavenly, even better than the one we'd had along with our Sacher-Torte at the Sacher cafe in Salzburg!
Day 5: Gosausee (in the sun), drive to Bavaria
Before saying goodbye to Gosau, we decided to check out Gosausee one last time, in the sun this time. Again, I'm glad we did, because the lake looked like a whole different place compared to seeing it in the rain the day before. The jagged peaks reflected in the still, blue water perfectly.
This final view made it very difficult to leave Austria - I wish we'd had more than five days to explore it all!
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