Tag: Austria

A Day in Hallein, Austria

  If you have an itch to head out of Salzburg and see more touristy sights, the city of Hallein is perfect. It is a short journey by train out of Salzburg, at the train station you pick up the bus that heads up the mountain, I believe it was the number 41. (The city has kindly placed a map of the local attractions on a board across the street from the train station that also has fliers to help guide you.) The bus ride only takes a few minutes, I think it was 3 miles, and we got off at the stop with the Salt Mine sign- pretty easy. Now to enjoy the Salt Mines I had to take a deep breath, put on my “I’m a tourist and am ok with that” button and head to stand in line for a ticket. If you are traveling with your family there is a discount ticket so weigh the price options. You get your ticket, and then follow the trail into the visitor center style building to wait for your time. Then you are ushered downstairs to surrender your bags to the coat check and to get dressed in white coveralls. You then board a mini train that is just a long beam that you sit on to be ridden down into the mine. 
  The tour is nicely done with video stops, points of interest and a tour guide who will provide details in multiple languages. The tunnels have all been widened for tourists but it still feels tight in places and the air is a bit hard to breath. It was two hours of enjoyable touristing as we had to slide down slides in two portions (never fear- they have cameras set up to snap your photo much like the rides in Disneyland) but it was a pretty cool and memorable experience.

  With your mine ticket you also get entrance to the Celtic Village that is just across from the mine. This was a fun stroll- many buildings have interactive materials which made it very enjoyable for my son. You can practice a little leather working, grind some grains on an old grinding wheel, and even play a little dress up. It is a well thought out exhibit with staff who are knowledgeable and friendly. It isn’t very big but I imagine villages weren’t very big. 

  If you get back on the bus still heading up the mountain from the Salt Mines- you can go one more stop and find yourself at the summer tobogganing (ski lodge) location. There were no lines so we could quickly grab a ticket and be on the chair lift heading to the top. Now again, this is a touristy day and you just have to suck it up as the ticket seems a big expensive. It cost right around 50E for the three of us to take the ride (and of course we all decided to go a second time). At the top of the lift is a restaurant with great views if you are ready to stop and have a snack. The toboggan ride is straightforward and fun. Push forward to go and pull back on the handle to stop. There are some curves that you need to slow down at but the track is well marked. It was really fun as you could get going good and fast. While it is one of the longest tracks in the region, it is so much fun that it feels like it goes quickly and you will probably want to give it a go a second time. They did give us a slight price break on the second ride. 

  We arrived too late to have time to use our ticket to also gain free admittance to the Celtic Museum which is housed back down in town, but it would have been great to go take a peek if we could have. 

  I suggest planning to spend a full day that can easily be filled with: Salt Mine tour, Celtic Village stroll, summer tobogganing and the Celtic museum. Hallein is a nice city on the river. We strolled the streets looking in shop windows and settled on a charming café for breakfast that overlooked a stream. We had to visit over the course of two days as we came the first time on a rainy day- which was perfect to go down a mine tour, but made the summer tobogganing a no-go as the sleds can’t run on a slick track. My son had seen the Rick Steve’s tour of Austria when prepping for the trip and he had put summer bobsledding as his number one pick of things to do- so we happily returned on a sunny day to throwourselves down the mountain. Hallein didn’t disappoint on either occasion.

  

A Bit of Lake to go with That Mountain- St. Gilgen, Austria

  
Location: St Gilgen, Lake Region- Near Salzburg, AustriaGetting there from Salzburg: Postbus 150 (about a 45 minute ride) Bus stop is on Schallmooser Hauptstraße close to the intersection with Franz-Josef-Straße. 

   
 Many of the lakes near Salzburg are accessible by bus. The Postbus are clean, modern and comfortable to travel aboard. You pay the driver as you board and can select a round trip ticket for ease on the return. The bus ride doubled as a great tour bus with gorgeous views along the way. We saw countryside, small towns, mountains and lakes. Also, keep an eye out for a building on your right with giant bug-like statues racing out of it. (They are actually bulls because it is the Red Bull headquarters.) After about 45 minutes, and not too many stops, we arrived in St. Gilgen. For some reason I expected the “lake region” to seem like a distinctly different region, where the land opens up and becomes dotted with lakes; but instead it held more layers of mountains, stacked like bowling pins, with the lake firmly filled within the basin.

  Conveniently, the bus leaves you at the base of the gondola and so we were immediately riding up the mountain, craning to take in all of the vista views of the lake and the city hugging its shores as we slowly ascended. Now rain was assured in the weather forecast so we were prepared with raincoats but it was unnerving that there were several warning signs posted to take shelter immediately in case of storms and that the gondola will not run if the weather turns bad. Our worst case scenario would have included at stay in the hotel rooms above the restaurant found at the top. (Not a bad option even in good weather.)

  Lunch was delicious and ended with yummy pancakes for dessert. The place was pretty full with people and many of them sported bicycling gear. Investigating outside it looks like there is a road that winds up the mountain that the bikers take. It would be a fun hike up if you had more time and wanted to avoid the gondola. We spent several hours just exploring the various trails and taking in the views. The kids got interested in the bugs and puddle jumping in the drizzle. Then it was time to head back down and find the lake.

  St. Gilgen is a great little town to wander around in. Adorable shops and restaurants line the streets. We were even treated to a wedding party parading from the church with a great band heralding the way. (I loved that the beautiful, smiling bride was holding a baby in her arms.) There was a fire department sponsored street fair, but I was determined to see the lake by that point and kept going.

  Down by the water you find ice cream stands, lake fish in a big fish tank, a water fountain, a playground and park and ducks. With great satisfaction and contentment I sat by the lake and looked at the sky.

  

Urban Hiking in Salzburg Austria

  Location: Gaisberg Mountain, Salzburg, Austria
Duration: 1 day

Distance: Up and down (ok, around 5 miles)

   
 For me, Salzburg Austria is quintessentially Europe. There is the old hilltop fortification jutting into the skyline; the old city quarter with cathedrals and squares; a strong dark river dividing the old and new; lots of people bicycling and strolling with purpose, all ringed by imposing mountains. Public transportation is good enough, with trains and buses at your disposal, though if staying close to the city heart it is best to just grab your umbrella and take an urban hike. It is an enchanting location that beacons you to relax a bit, maybe sit along the riverside or hike a mountain just to see the views; it is filled with cafes and restaurants that entice you with ice cream treats and dense German fare. In short it is the perfect place to visit and stay for a while.

  To this girl who spends most of her days in the wide-open South Dakota prairie, it was a titillating delight to be surrounded by mountains in all directions. Locals know each by name and are happy to point them out and describe the charms each offers. Depending on your pleasure there is one within easy access that is waiting for you. We managed to do some hiking, gondola rides, and summer tobogganing; and felt we barely got a taste of what the mountains have waiting. Now there is impressive wilderness stretches in Austria- with glaciers, mountain lakes, meadows and imposing mountaineering- The National Park Hohe Tauern- unfortunately this region will have to wait for a different visit. I spent my time in and around the city of Salzburg and had my fill of the delights of climbing a mountain to find a beer garden waiting at the top. Not a bad reward.

  Now I employ the term mountain loosely here- as most people would call them hills in Salzburg- but they were imposing enough to make my breath catch when I looked down from the top, so I am going with mountain. But according the “The Sound of Music” (which was filmed here and actually is one of the reasons tourists visit) those hills, they’re alive with… well you know. We had no trouble finding transportation to hiking trails. The day we set aside for a longer hike, we just simply walked out our door and headed in the direction of the mountain we were aiming for- Gaisberg. After about a half hour walking through the city we started to climb and then met up with the dirt path. The nice thing about mountains is if you are hiking up you just head up the trail and when done go the opposite direction. There were many trails but you never had the sense that you could get very lost as there is a well-used road that runs to the top that you could always manage to find if needed. The trails are blazed with a red and white marker which, after being on several trails, I started to suspect really was the marker not so much of the trail but that you were on the right path to the beer at the top! The terrain changed from beautiful old farms, to meadows, to mountain forests; lovely every step of the way. It is difficult to gage the difficulty of the trail as we were led the entire way by my 9 year old son who charge up and then down, and was managed by my aunt; so we had three generations able to enjoy the hike but it in no way was an easy walk in the woods. We had hiking poles that we were glad for as the constant incline, coupled with areas of rock and forest debris, did make you watch your feet more than the views in sections.

  We all happily enjoyed relaxing at the restaurant once we reached the top. You can have the weiner schnitzel and beer guilt free knowing there is the whole second half of the hike still ahead. The views catch your breath as you see the Salzburg panorama while the brightly colored hang-glides take off and float and soar. Good cheerful conversation with friends completes an amazing morning. Revitalized, you get the luxury of making an “urban hiking” choice: save the knees and take the bus down, or extend the hiking pleasure and walk back the way we came. You know what we picked! Down was slow on me but it brought a grin of delight watching my son sliding and skidding down the rocky areas with confident delight. The round trip, door to door, took 8 hours.