Family wonderland

As any parent knows, on a family holiday,
if the children are happy, you are happy.
Which is why we devote so much time seeking
out ‘family friendly’ accommodation; and why
there is so much scope for disappointment
when the friendliness turns out simply to be
a corporate message, rather than anything
more heartfelt. A family that genuinely feels
welcomed is a long way towards having a
fantastic holiday.
Which is where the Salzburger Land’s Family
Hotels come in. These are 25 independent
hotels, mainly family-owned, scattered around
the scenic highlands of the region around
Salzburg. They are all individual, private village,
small town and country hotels; the one thing
they have in common is that they have been
certified by the Salzburger Land State Board of
Tourism as being perfect for families.
Salzburger Land
Family wonderland
If nature is the greatest playground of all, the hills of the Salzburger Land, and its family-oriented hotels, offer
the perfect combination of personal welcome and nature-based adventures for all the clan
Some are small, perfectly formed and cosy;
others have facilities like spas, swimming pools,
paddling pools, kids’ cinemas, rope courses,
Alpine feng-shui gardens and bouncy castles.
It might be that on day one, the kids are
still stuck to their Wiis and desperately trying
to find an internet connection to keep up on
Bebo; by the next day, it’s pretty much a
certainty that nature’s far richer attractions
will have taken over.
The greatest of all kids’ clubs, after all, is
nature itself. More adventurous and grown-up
children can go mountain biking, white-water
rafting, night hiking in the mountains and
learn how to rock climb; others can play
farmer - milking cows, collecting eggs from
the hens and making cheese. Somewhere in
the middle of all this adventure, there’s also
pony trekking and panning for gold.
a u s t r i a ’ s hi d d e n t r e a s u r e s 09

Salzburger Land
Family nights
Even babies are catered for with baby massage
(every parent knows a contented baby is a quiet
baby), and walking trails suitable for prams.
Take just a couple of these experiences.
A night hike in the mountains, for example.
Wrapped up warm and under the auspices of
an experienced guide, and armed with torches,
you’ll set out on a path that may seem familiar
by day but seems thrillingly mysterious by
night. Creatures rustle and scuttle – was that
an owl up there? A marmot zipping across the
path in a black blur?
High up, an eerie glow rises up just above
the distant mountaintops. What would that
be, do you think, the guide asks. A UFO? A
lost city on top of the mountains? No, it’s the
glow of moonlight on the glaciers up there,
where it’s light as day at midnight on a clear
summer’s night. And then there are the stars,
revealed without their blanket of cloud or
10 a u s t r i a ’ s hi d d e n t r e a s u r e s
pollution, clearer still because of the altitude:
they spot Jupiter, and maybe Venus, and is that
Saturn? These are real planets, not games, and
the childrens’ imaginations are ablaze.
All the hotels have professional childcare
services and access to guides for their activities,
which means you will also be able to spend
some blessed ‘grown up’ time together – or
maybe just time on your own. And don’t worry
about leaving the monitor/changing mat/milk
bottle at home; they’ll always have one for you.
And when your children have partaken of
all these activities, after a few days, it might
Facts & Figures
salzburger land
l Salzburg
For more information please contact:
Salzburger Land Tourismus
Wiener Bundesstrasse 23, P.O.Box 1
A-5300 Hallwang bei Salzburg
Tel: +43 (0) 662 66880
Fax: +43 (0) 662 668866
Email: info@salzburgerland.com
www.salzburgerland.com
NEArEST AirPOrTS
Salzburg local
Linz 75 miles (121 km)
Munich 116 miles (188 km)
be time to visit Schnitza’s Holzpark. This is a
new adventure park with an Austrian twist;
everything revolves around a wooden theme,
with wood carving (including huge wooden
animals), wooden bowling, a wooden
balancing course…
Or for older children, there’s the famous
(or is that infamous?) Wagraini’s Grafenberg, a
water and mountain adventure park with one
of the highest swings in the world, 9m tall, and
a panoply of jungle ropes, balance challenges,
enormous slides, a 25m rope suspension
bridge and numerous other devices carefully
crafted to wear your children out and give you
a good night’s sleep.
And at the end of your holiday, prepare
yourself for a very strange noise: the sound of
your children rejecting the electronic devices
they used to use for recreation and asking
when they can come back and do everything
they have just experienced all over again… ■A
ANd ANOTHEr THiNg...
Kinderhotels is the ultimate
hotel group for families,
operating all over Austria.
Holidays are tailored
with children in mind with
every childcare facility at your
disposal, from equipment to
healthy ‘baby food buffets’,
and lots of adventure and play
areas and fun parks.
www.kinderhotels.co.uk
ÖsterreicH Werbung / bArtl; robert HArding

Previous page: Forever blowing bubbles in the Salzburger
Land. This spread, clockwise from left: stay mountainside;
Lake Zell is backed by the 1965m Schmittenhöhe mountain;
games on Lake Obertrumer; a family hike; Salzburg’s
traditional Harvest Festival; cycling past waterfalls.
What to do and
Where to do it...
EVENTS
Children can go
mountain biking,
white-water rafting
and learn how to
rock climb
l June 20th sees the opening of Summer in
the Hills 2010 (Salzburger Almsommer) at
the 200 year-old Saalalm in the mountains of
Saalbach Hinterglemm. There are traditional
handicrafts and a fun and varied programme
for children. From there, spend the day hiking
between the local mountain huts and tuck
into traditional foods such as Troadsupp’n,
(grain soup) and Hoargneist-Nidei (sauerkraut
and potato loaves) accompanied by live
music from alphorn and wind musicians.
l The world’s biggest ice cave promises an
array of incredible impressions deep within
the mountain at the World of Giants,
Werfen. Warm clothing is essential for this
excursion high above the village of Werfen
amid the impressive mountain range of the
Tennengebirge, reached by road then cable
car. Here you’ll find the entrance to the
world’s biggest explored ice cave. Discovered
in 1879, this 42km cave system is filled with
breathtaking ice formations.
GOOD TO KNOW
The SalzburgerLand Card gives you free
admission to over 190 sights and attractions
throughout the region including museums,
castles and palaces, buses and trains, wildlife
and adventure parks and the mountain
lifts. Pay just €43 for a 6-day card or €52 for
a 12-day card and what’s more, for children
between the ages of 6 -15, it’s half price.
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