Austria: cycling around Lake Wolfgangsee

Lake Wolfgangsee is the showpiece of the Salzkammergut, a wonderful region in Austria. At Seeterrassencamping Ried, we park our camper in a dream spot and from our comfortable chairs, we enjoy the lake, surrounded by mountains. A living painting. Sometimes everything comes together in one place, camping spots you never want to leave.

Romantic panoramas

After breakfast, we cycle exactly one kilometer: to the jetty of a ferry service. This way, we sail, complete with bicycles, to St. Gilgen, a town at the westernmost point of Lake Wolfgangsee. After about twenty minutes, we disembark in the touristy Sankt Gilgen. A clearly marked route takes us along beautiful cycle paths with romantic panoramas as a reward.

Jingling cowbells

On the south side, towards Strobl, we suddenly find ourselves cycling on the route of the former Salzkammergut train. Cycling makes you hungry. After a bite and a drink on the terrace of a pizzeria, we continue our cycling tour of about thirty kilometers. Rolling grasslands and jingling cowbells give a peaceful feeling. Near our campsite, we pass the last village: St. Wolfgang, famous for the operetta 'Im Weissen Rössl'. We feel like a glass of wine on our own camper terrace and a little later we plunge into the 'see'. What a great day!

Imposing giants

Camping am See in Obertraun is our next stop. A campsite right on Lake Hallstatt with a Mediterranean atmosphere. The charming character of Lake Wolfgangsee gives way to robust rock formations among which Lake Hallstatt seems tucked away. The Salzkammergut region owes its name to salt mining in Roman times. The white gold was hewn from tunnels in the mountains, creating so-called salt chambers. Nowadays, tourist income is more important than salt, although it is still extracted.

Ice formations

Here too, we find cycling routes around the lake. The southern shores of Lake Hallstatt border the Dachstein massif, just a few kilometers from the campsite. While cycling, we reach the cable car that goes up with three stops. At the first stop, the Schönbergalm, there is an ice cave with fascinating ice formations and at Krippenstein station, in clear weather, you have a view of the Dachstein glaciers.

Salt mining

Hallstatt is in the top 10 of most photographed Austrian cities. That's why we only cycle there at the end of the afternoon, about four kilometers from the campsite. We wander through quaint streets and descend into the Hallstätter Salzbergtal via spectacular miners' slides to see with our own eyes that salt is still being extracted.

Mondsee

We steer the camper back towards Lake Wolfgangsee and arrive an hour later at Camp MondSeeLand in Mondsee, a place with fabulous mountain views. At the campsite reception, they show us a beautiful shortcut cycling and walking route to the town of Mondsee and the lake of the same name. Spectacular! Along narrow paths and a wild flowing river. Great. After about 5 kilometers, we visit the famous Basilica of Mondsee, known from the wedding of Maria and Captain Von Trapp in the movie The Sound of Music (1965) - a picture.

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