Our Austria trip came about when the tour company (Headwater) could not provide enough hotel rooms on the dates requested by Carl for the original, larger group, so we broke that group into two, with our group starting 2 days later. This allowed some overlap for some folks before or after the respective trips, and we were all in the same hotel our first evening and Carl’s group’s last evening in Bad Ischl.

Bill, Susan, Ron, Barb M., Ginger and I met up at the Hotel Goldenes Schiff on Monday, June 4th. The local Headwater reps, Jill and Colin, picked up those of us arriving by train at the station in two shifts, then gave us a comprehensive briefing on our trip and provided 3 sets of well-marked maps, bus and train timetables, info on some of the potential sites and suggestions on options for the suggested hikes. This was a bit of information overload, but very useful and seems like it was delivered in a more organized manner than had been done with Carl’s group.

Tuesday, June 5 Halstatt to Stieg lakeside walk plus Salt Mine tour

Our group setting off on first day's hike

A lovely sunny day, and great start to our trip. We took the bus to Hallstatt, then walked to the funicular train up to the salt mine area. The views from up there were great, and we enjoyed taking our time walking up the path to the mine, which had informative placards in both German and English on the area’s history, with some exhibits along the way. The Stone Age burials found there were interesting as well as the reconstructed wooden mine worker dwelling from prehistoric times – it didn’t look a lot different than pioneer cabins in Canada. They were very good wood workers, as shown by the remnants of the long staircase down to the mine that we saw on our tour later that morning.

Old town of Halstatt

Funicular to Salt Mines

View from top of Halstatt Funicular

We had an excellent and enthusiastic tour guide as we entered the salt mine, who relayed all information in both German and English, loud and clear and with humor – she was great! Although fairly expensive, this tour was well worth doing, giving insight to the mining practices in the ancient and more recent past. We all slid down the chutes between levels, with Barb & Ron having the fastest time of our folks of about 34km per hr. Luckily we were provided coverall jacket & pants to wear in the mine – this helped protect against the cold in the mine, but more importantly, provided protection against splinters, etc. when going down the slides.

Dressed for the saltmines

After the tour, we chose to walk down to the town rather than take the funicular again. That was also a pleasant walk on a good switch-backed path shaded by trees on this hot day, and we stopped to eat our picnic lunches at a shady bench with a lovely view on the way down. There were more information boards all the way down, pointing out key features, history and plants. The grand entrance to one of the old salt mine levels christened by Emperor Franz-Josef was a feature that we subsequently saw a few times from across the lake. After returning to the village, we found the ferry to cross to the other side of the lake and walked along a very nice lakeside trail to the town of Steig where we planned to take the train back to Bad Ischl.


Lakeside walk (Ginger with her parasol)

We stopped at a very nice lakeside bar/café called Seerauzn for a pleasurable rest stop and cold beers. It took a bit longer to get to the train station from that stop than we had anticipated, so we missed the train, so waited for the next one for over an hour. By then it was raining, so walking the last few km back to Bad Ischl wasn’t appealing.

Wednesday, June 6 Dachstein summit walk and Caves

Another very nice day. We took the train to Obertraun at the end of the lake, then cable car up to the highest level where we did some short hikes around to see the lovely views and had coffee at the restaurant to accompany our picnic lunches.

Gentians

View from Dachstein - Halstattersee

Top of Dachstein

Group at Dachstein

We then took the cable car down to the mid station where we registered for the cave tours – one to the Ice Cave and the other to the Mammoth Cave (so called because of its large size, no mammoth bones found there). There were also museum exhibits in huts at this level which some of us checked out between tours of the 2 caves – they were quite informative and interesting and had some quite balanced info on the impact of climate change throughout the ages in the area. See Carl’s report for more detail and pictures of the caves. The caves were interesting to see and the tour info interesting, but the English version of the descriptions was much shorter, and presumably less detailed, than the German at each stop. As we emerged from the last cave tour, it started to spinkle rain. We were able to take the cable car down, then the bus to the train back to Bad Ischl – it was pouring rain by this time!

Thursday, June 7 Hike Bad Ischl to Strobl, via Katrin and Nussensee

We checked out of our hotel and walked through the town of Bad Ischl to the gondola going up to Katrin summit. We hiked to 2 of the peaks with great views, then hiked down the mountain to the small lake of Nussensee where some of us waded or swam to cool off. From there we walked to the main road to catch the bus the rest of the way to Strobl; 3 of us got off at the stop closest to the Hotel Bergrose, our accommodation for the next 2 nights. The rest of us stayed on the bus into downtown Strobl where we went to the tourist info centre to get information on hikes in the area. While there we spied a beer fridge, selling the town’s locally brewed beer. After finding that is legal for anyone over 16 to carry & drink liquor on the streets, we bought some to quench our thirst on the walk back to our hotel.

View from Katrin

Hiking signs on Katrin

Height Marker at one of Katrin peaks

Carolyn, from Carl’s group had emailed us saying that the Bergrose was fabulous and that we wouldn’t want to leave – the hotel lived up to this billing! It had larger rooms, balconies overlooking their large lawn by a stream and terrace that could be used by guests. It also had an indoor swimming pool & spa facilities and very nice common rooms and restaurant with excellent food.

Friday, June 8 Hike up to viewpoint on lower Sparber via Kleefeld Deer Park

Our intention was to hike to the peak (or close to) of Mount Sparber, which is a landmark in the Wolfgangsee region that we were now in. It turned out to be a very hot day, so we chose a shorter loop on the lower slopes of the mountain that included walking by the Kleefeld Deer Park where several types of deer and other animals are in large open enclosures along roads and trails. We particularly enjoyed seeing the Ibex and small Roe Deer on our walk.

Start of hike

Woodpile beautification

Ibex at Kleefeld Deer Park

We had our picnic lunch at a lovely shaded viewpoint above Wolfgangsee lake. After lunch, we chose to descend by the more forested trail rather than return the way we came. This trail was quite steep and rough, with entertainment by wooden signs painted by children all along the trail depicting the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale; once back at the hotel, we consulted our devices to remind ourselves of that story as we were all rusty on the details.


Lunch with a view

Saturday, June 9 Hike Strobl to St. Wolfgang via Swartzersee

We reluctantly said goodbye to the Hotel Bergrose to hike to St. Wolfgang via the scenic walkway around the peninsula near Strobl. There was a triathalon in progress (swimming portion) in Strobl, so there were lots of people in the town and lakeside park, but the numbers lessened steadily as we walked further from the village. We decided to have lunch at a restaurant at Swartzersee, as small lake about halfway to St. Wolfgang. The lake didn’t look appealing enough to entice any swimmers from our group, but we enjoyed lunch on the restaurant patio overlooking the lake. We left in a light shower which only lasted a few minutes.

Ginger on Peninsula Panoramic walkway

Ornate shrine - many along the pathways

We were very pleased when we reached our St. Wolfgang hotel, the Strandhotel Margaretha, which was a lovely old-style hotel right on beautiful Wolfgangsee, with its own private beachfront with loungechairs etc. Several of us took advantage of the beach right away, as we were hot from our hike – very refreshing in lovely clean (cold) water. After our dip, we enjoyed complimentary tea and pastries on the hotel terrace before cleaning up for another very nice multi-course dinner.

Beach area of our St. Wolfgang hotel Margaretha (white beach chairs)

Sunday, June 10 Schafberg

The cog railway station in St. Wolfgang going up to the summit of Schafberg was only a couple of blocks from out hotel, so it was easy for us to get one of the early trains up. We decided to just go up to the middle station (Schafbergalp) and hike the rest of the way up to the summit (approx. 500m). That was a good choice. The trail was all above treeline with lovely views and lots of alpine flowers. We even saw a small group of chamois at close range – they didn’t seem leery of people. Unfortunately, the very summit was shrouded in cloud, so the views from there were quite limited, but we enjoyed walking around by the restaurant and lookouts and seeing some different flowers at that level. There were a lot of people up there taking selfies, flying a drone and even one guy with a boom camera, so when another train came up and disgorged another horde of people, we decided to start walking down the trail we came up and have our picnic lunch on a bench down near the middle station where there were very few people. We were back into the views very quickly as the cloud was only at the very top of the mountain. After lunch we all continued down the trail through cow pastures and forests all the way to the bottom (approx. 1300m total descent). We were back at the hotel by 3pm, with time for another swim in the lake and afternoon tea.

Cows near middle station

Trail from Schafberg Alp (middle station)

Approaching cloud-shrouded Schafberg summit

Hazy view from summit

Unfamiliar flowers

Steam-powered cog train

Monday, June 11 St. Wolfgang to St. Gilgen hike

Leaving the hotel, we walked along the lake, then turned uphill to walk the Pilgrim’s Trail, with many interesting stops with signs describing the significance of the spot, related to St. Wolfgang who lived as a hermit in the area, then built a church that we were able to visit and sign the visitors’ register as well. Headwater had considerately provided us with English translations of each of the signs, so we understood what we’d need to do for the granting of wishes or other miracles. I had had an eye problem on the earlier part of our trip, that had just cleared up, but on coming to a spring that had the power to resolve eye problems, I doused my eye to make my cure complete! After completing the Pilgrim’s trail, coming out at the lakeshore closer to St. Gilgen, we followed trails through the woods, sometimes on logging trails. This portion was much less scenic than we were used to, and it was very hot and humid (29 degrees, much hotter feeling with the humidity).

Susan leaving Wolgangsee to start Pilgrim's Trail

Miracle eye cure

Leaving Falkenstein Church

We checked into our hotel Gasthof Zur Post at 2pm – it was too hot to walk around much outside, but we found a lounge area on the 3^rd floor of the hotel (near their spa/sauna facilities) with lots of breeze, comfortable lounge chairs and trail mix where most of us spent much of the afternoon. After dinner, when it was a bit cooler, we walked around the town for a short time until it started to rain.

Tuesday, June 12 Wolfgangsee lake and Blinklingmoos Nature Reserve walk

We had planned to take the gondola up to Zwolfhorn and enjoy the hiking trails up top, but when we went to buy our tickets we were told that the gondola would quit running at 11am due to forecasted thunder storms. As that would not give us enough time to do the hikes we wanted, we changed our plans and took the lake ferry to the other end of the lake (with many stops along the way) and get off at the Nature Reserve area of Blinklingmoos and walk through it to Strobl. The weather was lovely and clear, so enjoyable trip on the ferry and our walk (approx. 6 km).

Hazy views from Wolfgangsee Ferry

Lovely turquoise waters of Wolfgangsee

St. Wolfgang from ferry, Schafberg in distance

We had our picnic lunch at tables in the nature reserve.


Bill in traditional Flatbottomed boat in Blinklingmoos Nature Reserve

Ginger in comfy rocking lounge chair

Bill, Susan, Ron, Ginger, Barb M

Blinklingmoos flora & fauna

In Strobl we stopped at the patio of a bar for beers and ice cream before catching the bus back to St. Gilgen. The rain started after our return and poured all night.

Wednesday, June 13 St. Gilgen to Mondsee

Colin & Jill of Headwater had contacted us on Tuesday offering to give us a lift to Mondsee as the weather forecast was calling for heavy rain; living in hope of doing the last hike of the trip, we said we’d check the weather in the morning and let them know. It had poured rain all night with cars swishing through the water gathered on the streets, so we accepted the offer of a ride. On arriving at the Leitnerbrau hotel in Mondsee we did a debrief on the trip with Jill & Colin over a cup of coffee while our rooms were made up for our early check-in. The rooms were quite spacious. We went out in the rain to get lunch at a nearby restaurant, then walked around the town a bit, visiting the church that was used for the wedding scene in The Sound of Music and walking down to the lakefront.

Ron & Barb smiling despite the rain at Mondsee

Some of our group spent the rest of the afternoon in our hotel’s sauna facilities, and others just relaxed and read. This was the only night that dinner was not included, so we went to another restaurant for our final meal, choosing pizza!

Thursday, June 14 Mondsee to Salzburg

Our departure day – Colin & Jill picked 4 of us up at 8:30 to drive us to Salzburg, then came back later to drive Susan and Bill to Salzburg airport in time for their flight home.

Barb, Ron, Ginger and I walked through the old town and up to the Fortress and toured that, returning to the old town by funicular. Barb & Ron went to the train station where they met Carolyn (of Carl’s group) to travel to Vienna while Ginger and I stayed in Salzburg for another day, then flew back to Calgary on Saturday.

Overall:

Although June is the rainiest month in this region, it didn’t hamper our plans too much till the last day. Headwater provided very good information on the various locations we were visiting and hotels we’d stay at, as well as detailed route info before we left Canada, which was helpful. The hotels were generally good, but we were surprised that none had air conditioning, given how warm it was – it must get hotter in July & August! Bill and Susan were the only ones to get an air conditioned room on the trip – in Bad Ischl.

The scenery is beautiful there, and public facilities and transport were very good, clean and well organized. Everything was quite expensive, when translated into Canadian dollars.

Group on Katrin

Thanks to Carl for initiating this trip and doing all the initial research and to the great group of Bill(p), Susan, Barbara, Ron, Ginger who all helped in researching and planning our daily activities and were a pleasure to travel with from Barb (c,s,p)

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