travel_alot

Hello!
I am choosing where to base our family for 6 nights, July 2014. Our first week will be in the Zillertal, specifically an apartment in Finkenberg. We plan to do a ton of hiking and absorb the culture and beautiful landscapes. As for the 2nd week, I am trying to choose between:

The Salzkamnergut such as st. gilgen/st. wolfgang/Strobl
The Otz, around Hochsolden, Solden
Lech / Ischgi
Zell am See access to hohe Tauren
Seefeld
other ideas???

Some specifics:
-We are a very fit, outdoorsy, active and athletic family with 2 teenagers
-The home base to give a lot of variety, with choices for restaurants, and a lot of moderate to strenuous hiking options from the village or a short distance away (30 minutes or so in travel to get to other trails)
-This will be tough in July, I know, but a picturesque home base but not so overrun by tourists and crowded
-Home base to allow for one or two day trips, not more than approximately 1 hour of travel one direction, however.
-Flying out of Munich
-I have not decided weather to rent a car or use public transport. We used the trains in Europe in the past and had mostly good experiences
-I am leaning toward the areas with lakes to give a different dimension adding water sports.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

ashwinb

I would recommend Gosausee/Gosau and Halstatt. Both have tremendous hiking opportunities, esp Gosausee. You could check the Gasthof Gosausee. It's easily accessible by bus from Salzburg. Closeby you have Halstatt, Dachstein, and other lakes in the Salzkammergut region.

ashwinb

And I was there in mid september, not a soul to be seen, July would ofcourse be different, but I can imagine it would be less crowded as compared to other places in the region.

pja1

Have you considered a week in the nearby Italian Dolomites? The Dolomites are amazing to see and quite different than the alps in Austria. The Val Gardena would be ideal in my opinion. For non hiking or bad weather day trips, the old towns of Brixen/Bresanone and Bozen/Bolzano are very nice.

www.val-gardena.com

travel_alot

Thank you! On the Dolomites, yes! This area was suggested to me 4 years ago and I have looked at it. It is stunning. I will be in Italy for a few weeks with my kids before traveling on to Austria. I am going to try to get at least a few nights in that area. On the hiking opportunities in the Gaosusee/Halstatt area, judging from my map, the surrounding mountains are smaller ranging from about 6,000 to 9,000 ft. Are there some good elevation climbs? I was looking at the Hohe Tauren National Park and I like the sound of the hiking opportunities there. Can anyone say anything about Zell am See or kaprun as a base for exploring that area? Or even compare Zell/Kaprun to the Salzkamnergut area? I am getting the impression that we could get better hiking by the national park but the villages and lakes in the Salzkamnergut are more appealing? Less crowded?