The Austrian lake district (8SZ2301)

Hello and welcome in Salzburg on our eBike tour, where we will ride around the austrian lake district on the next 6 days and will visit most of the beautiful lakes in this wonderfull area.

Mathew, Lindsay, Jennifer and Robert from Canada as well as Jason, Eva, Patty and Kristin from the US will join us on this tour. 

We are looking forward to a great time here in the center of austria.

Noel and Daniel

The bikes are already ready to go.

Noel is explaining the plan for the next few days and what we are going to see.

Before our first dinner we did a little tour through the beautiful city of salzburg. There are so many things to see there, that we could not cover them all, but we saw some of the major sights in the center, like Mozarts birthplace.

day 2 Our first day of cycling takes us from Salzburg to Fuschl am See. We cover the first 15 km by train. Daniel has already lovingly prepared the bikes at Seekirchen am Wallersee train station. After a quick check of everyone's cycling skills and a brief explanation, we leave Wallersee in the direction of Mattsee. There we enjoy a cup of coffee on a sunny terrace. Today is sea day and one lake is even more beautiful than the other. We chose a great pizzeria for lunch today. The sun baked nicely. In cozy Mondsee there was time to visit the parish church where the wedding of the Trapp family took place to the sound of music. Just put your feet in the water at Mondsee... and then we were offered a real climb for the last 10km. Everyone passed the acid test and our first day is over... we'll sleep well tonight!

Today we had our traditional Edelweiss Picknick. We found this really nice spot with shadow close to a little stream which was perfect to enjoy our lunchbreak.

This morning it was half an hour by bike to the port of St. Gilgen. There we boarded the boat to St. Wolfgang. Nice weather again and it was great fun on deck of the ship. In St. Wolfgang we took our time to enjoy the cozy village. Today's tour via Bad Ischl to Gmunden finally began. Along the way, Daniel had arranged a picnic at a quiet spot by the water. We still had to cross the Großalm via the Attersee, a strenuous climb. Soon we came within sight of Gmunden, where our hotel: Gasthof Hois'n Wirt shone in the sun.

What a luxury... with our own Edelweiss Bike Travel boat, we were picked up at Hois'n Wirt Gasthof at 9 am. The sun was out again and within half an hour we were back on the banks of the Traunsee, near Traunkirchen. Our first leg of the day went to Bad Ischl, where we visited the Kaiservilla. Kaiser Franz and Sissi spent many of their summer holidays here. Via the East bank of the Hallstatter see, we were in Hallstatt in less than an hour and a half. This popular, touristic village was again busy today. The last 30 kilometers to Gosau went smoothly and around 5.30 pm we arrived at the Gosauer See. What a beautiful view we got here on the lake and on the Dachstein Glacier... a fantastic reward and conclusion to another unforgettable day.

It so happend that one of austrias best restaurants, the Steegwirt, was along our route, so of course we stopped there for lunch and the food was just awesome. The restaurant was founded in 1571, can you believe that?

We also met the cutest little dog who was so eager to chase his ball.

A few clouds in the morning, but the temperature remains very pleasant. We leave the Gosauer See behind us through the lovely valley of the Gosaubach. Soon we are presented with the Gschut Pass and enjoy a nice coffee stop in Russbachsaag. We follow the Russbach in a westerly direction and Daniel awaits us at the Aubachfall. Today's short stage then continues via St. Koloman. The long climb is finally rewarded with a fantastic and long descent to Kuchl, where we have lunch. We still have a few kilometers to the hotel. We spend the afternoon in the salt mines of Hallein. What an experience. In stylish overalls we go more than 200 meters underground... with slides, a train and even with a boat over an underground lake. It was an unforgettable experience. In hotel Langwies we were again served a delicious dinner.

Am Morgen ein paar Wolken, aber die Temperatur bleibt sehr angenehm. Durch das liebliche Tal des Gosaubaches lassen wir den Gosauer See hinter uns. Bald wird uns der Gschut Pass präsentiert und wir genießen einen schönen Kaffeestopp in Russbachsaag. Wir folgen dem Russbach in westliche Richtung und Daniel erwartet uns am Aubachfall. Die heutige kurze Etappe führt dann weiter über St. Koloman. Der lange Aufstieg wird schließlich mit einer fantastischen und langen Abfahrt nach Kuchl belohnt, wo wir zu Mittag essen. Bis zum Hotel sind es noch ein paar Kilometer. Den Nachmittag verbringen wir im Salzbergwerk Hallein. Was für eine Erfahrung. In stylischen Overalls geht es über 200 Meter unter die Erde... mit Rutschen, einer Bahn und sogar mit einem Boot über einen unterirdischen See. Es war ein unvergessliches Erlebnis. Im Hotel Langwies wurde uns erneut ein köstliches Abendessen serviert.

Today we had our "restday" in Bad Vigaun, which means that we didnt change our hotel today but stayed on more night in Langwies. The timing for our restday was perfect, because for the first time on this tour, the weather was not perfect. So we decided to skip the biking today and did some sightseeing instead and it was another great day.

In the morning we took the train to Werfen, which is not too far from our hotel and visited the Eisriesenhöhle, which is the largest ice cave in the world. The entrance to the cave is high up in the mountains, so it was quite a hike to get there, but the views over the valley were totaly worth it. In the cave itself we got our workout done for today, since we had to climp 700 steps up, and take 700 more on our way down. But the fascinating ice world was worth every one. 

After the ice cave and and a well deserved lunch we went on to the "Burg Hohenwerfen" an amazing castle on top of a hill, which was also featured quite a lot in the TV series "The man in the high castle". There we had the chance to explore the castle, which they began to build around 1.000 years ago.

As another hightlight today we got to see a show in the castle, where the demonstrated the hunting techniques of different birds of prey, like falcons, eagles and giant vultures.

To end our day we went to Hallein, where we had the luck to stumble into a huge winefestival.

We are almost at the end of our journey... today, however, we make another beautiful round just south of Bad Vigaun, to the Obere Bluntausee, near Golling. Via the spectacular 75 m high Gollinger Waterfall, we then follow the Salzach towards Salzburg. First we went for lunch at the Gasthaus at Schloss Hellbrun, and of course we can not continue, before a visit to the castle and its park. Our final destination is now very close... a few more kilometers and we will enter Salzburg. There we drive up the Kapuzinerberg before we take a last group photo in the Mirabel Park. That includes a boot beer... we more than deserve that!