Hiking in Gastein

From Mallnitz, a tunnel through the mountain takes you to Badgastein and Bad Hofgastein, apparently popular skiing resorts in winter. Each Wednesday in August however they sell Hiking Circuit tickets - the chance to take a gondola up one peak, across to another and back down between the two towns. And it was spectacular.

We trained though a little after 8am, and from Bad Hofgastein station walked to the town along a river on the valley floor, surrounded by mountains. We grabbed breakfast in a cafe in town before heading up Schlossalm. The view from the top was absolutely superb - the size and scale isn't done justice by the photos! We climbed a nearby peak and back and wandered around a small lake before cutting across to the cable car down, and back up the other peak. We took in a few of the view points and the 140m suspension bridge (and dealt with increasingly infuriating flies!) before walking down to the cable car mid-station, finishing the day up on a final gondola ride.

In all, we hiked for getting on for five hours under glorious sunshine in the Gastein which is part of the Hohe Tauern National Park...brilliant! A swift pint (for me!) and 10 minute train journey saw us back in Mallnitz. We think B suffered a bit from the heat, but a bit of a siesta saw him right. After, we went out for an evening stroll from our hotel up one of the valleys, following the river upstream. The sun fell behind the mountains but the peaks were still lit up as we walked alongside densely pined mountain sides - an absolute stunning part of the world.

Beer Index (Badgastein) - €4.70/0.5lRead more