Altenmarkt im Pongau

Apparently Alternmarkt has a good therme, can’t remember where we read this but we trust the ‘research’ and arrive. We luck out again with a spot to sleep, a lovely farm-style stopover - with a go-kart and sit-on toy tractor that the kids are allowed to use. Another mountain drop background. Fresh eggs, free WiFi and the lovely owner has a discount card for the Therme. The kids enjoy the freedom to run around and play, we take a walk into the little Austrian village for a traditional meal..of Mexican! And Amelia is too excited for the swimming to sleep, awake at 3am asking if we can go yet...mental note to never tell her about the exciting outings until the actual day.

Now to see if it’s any good.

We decide to spend the whole day here to give the kids a break from car seats. We were imagining a little pool with some kind of slide, and saunas that we wouldn’t be able to go in with the kids...so we were pretty impressed with what we found. A Centre Parcs style pool; kids area with mini flume, wave pool, outdoor salt water pool full of jets and the grown up sides...

Nic heads for the big one first. The Anaconda. His face when he returns tells me that it’s gonna be scary. Hard to get a photo of this slide that does it justice! Nic wouldn’t tell me anything about it, so off I go a little nervous. So you enter a little capsule, stand with your back against a wall, and as the capsule closes, it becomes clear what’s about to happen...heart rate is sky high by this point (from the climb up, but mainly from adrenaline). The floor of the capsule disappears beneath your feet, and you get a breathtaking 8m freefall, before the slide shoots you upwards and around a loop.

Amelia tests out the other slides too, she doesn’t even need to tell anyone she is 10, as there are no lifeguards on these ones, so she enjoys the Black Mamba on her own, a pretty standard flume and the funnel Python on our laps. ‘Again, again’. Definitely an adrenaline junkie like her daddy! Coen also gets to go on the Black Mumba on our laps, but is mainly taken by the buckets and spades in the kiddies pool which entertain him for hours.

After a tiring but awesome day, we head back to the same campsite for another tractor and go-kart ride.

We’ve enjoyed this little alpine village, next stop...more alpine villages!!Read more