Austria Travel: The Salzkammergut - Driving past Grimming

My last day in Austria (May 8, 2008) had arrived - or so I thought. Early in the morning I said a sad goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law and started my drive towards the City of Salzburg, from where I was going to fly to London. I drove on the highway through the high mountains of Upper Styria and exited at Liezen to link up with one of Austria's most picturesque areas: the Salzkammergut, also known as the location for many of the scenes from the world famous movie "Sound of Music". I drove past the imposing limestone mountain of Grimming through the village of Bad Aussee to one of Austria's most well-known mountain villages: Hallstatt, settled since pre-historic times, is located on the shores of the lake of the same name and patched against steep mountains that are known for their salt deposits. Salt has been mined here since pre-historic times, and many civilizations have left their traces in this region. Images of Hallstatt are famous throughout the world. I stopped off in the picturesque village of St. Wolfgang, located on another one of the beautiful Alpine lakes that dot the region. Driving past another popular resort town called St. Gilgen I made my way towards Salzburg, Mozart's birth town and one of Austria's most famous tourist destinations.

I had about 3 hours to explore Salzburg, so I took a walk in the old city centre and hiked up to the Mönchsberg which features the largest fortress castle in Central Europe, the imposing Castle of Hohensalzburg. Salzburg, embedded between several verdant hills and facing the snow-covered High Alpine peaks to the south, has one of the most picturesque locations of any city in Europe. Its many churches and historic buildings as well as its famous Salzburg Festival attract thousands of international visitors every year.

At 6 pm I finally arrived at the airport and took back my rental car. Upon my arrival in the departure hall I realized that my flight to London had been cancelled and I would have to spend one more day in this beautiful city. The airport information desk helped me locate a reasonable bed and breakfast, and although I was going to miss an entire day of discoveries in London, I was starting to look forward to spending one more day in one of Austria's most famous travel destinations.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Austria
• Styria
• Alps
• Castle
• of
• Lonsperch
• River
• Lassnitz
• Kitzec
• Birkfeld
• Bruck
• Castel
• Miramare
• Grado
• Udine
• Tarvisio

[Uahrgl]

Maybe you should mention that the "Salzkammergut" area is shared by both, Styria and mainly Upper Austria. Beautiful video anyway!

[travelandtransitions]

@Uahrgl: You are absolutely correct, 3 Austrian provinces share the gorgeous Salzkammergut region. In North America we associate this region mainly with Salzburg, but that is not correct. Thank you for pointing this out!

[Restart515]

You´ve got a great Austrian accent like "Grimming"

Nice vid ;)

[travelandtransitions]

@Restart515: Thanks for the comment, and not surprisingly I am able to pronounce "Grimming" with an Austrian accent, since I am originally from Austria, from the beautiful province of Styria (Steiermark). Liebe Grüße nach Österreich...

[FloridaVilla4Bed]

Such a beautiful place. How I wish to visit here with my family one day.

[travelandtransitions]

@FloridaVilla4Bed : Thank you for the kind comment, I just noticed it now. Let me know if you have any questions regarding Austria. I am originally from there and can provide you with some travel tips. All the best...

[XpolymerX]

It's not beautiful It's heaven, at least it is for me. :) Thanks!

[MrJSabadojr]

I've been to these areas in 1999, it was indeed beautiful. Austria is a beautiful country.

[northstar68]

gorgeous, thanx for posting

[tothemaxize]

@MrGayKieran I didnt know it was that nice! its fucking heaven there!

where should i go if i would go? do you know a placec?

gr

[tothemaxize]

aww its tooo beautifulll there!!! i want to visiti austra too!

[MrGayKieran]

Austria is really beautiful.

Try Salzburg too.