The historic town of St Gilgen acts as a gateway to the breathtaking Salzkammergut region, made famous by the musical The Sound of Music, positioned in the heart of Austria's Lake District.  Easily accessible and located just one hour 15 minutes by bus or 30 minutes by car from the beautiful city of Salzburg, or three hours easy drive with park and ride facilities from Vienna making this the perfect location for a cities, lakes and mountains holiday.  

St Gilgen is a lively, traditional and truly picturesque town, with its many fresco painted traditional buildings centred round the attractive Rathaus (Town Hall) and double-onion domed church. The town is situated in an open, spacious and sunny valley on the western side of Lake Wolfgangsee, surrounded by a breathtaking mountain range including the Shafberg and Zwolferhorn mountains, and is a great base from which to visit other local attractions.   There is pleasant waterfront promenade where you'll find many restaurants, coffee houses and bars to sit to pass the time of day watching the waterskiing, windsurfing and boat trippers arriving to and from St Wolfgang. In the evenings the village brass band plays regular concerts here and during July and August, colourful folklore evenings take place in a lake side restaurant.

The town is perfect for walkers with 80km of marked paths in and around St Gilgen, all easily accessible from the centre of the resort. The local Gondola takes you to the top of the   Zwolferhorn Mountain at 1,522 metres, where you will find a number of traditional Austrian hostelries with fantastic panoramic views, before making your descent by foot, paraglider! or gondola.   There are a number of marked routes to make your descent (allow 2-2.5 hrs). Other popular walks include the three hour walk through peaceful woods to St Wolfgang where no vehicles are permitted. Walking maps are available at the Tourist Information office.

In addition, you can take the lake steamers across the 11km Wolfgangsee lake to explore other lakeside villages including the charming and historic town of St Wolfgang, famous for its ancient pilgrimage church and frescoed old buildings. Here you can take a horse and carriage ride around the town or ride on the Schafbergbahm steam mountain railway to the top of the Shafberg mountain to enjoy the spectacular panoramic views. Music is very popular in St Wolfgang with regular light classical, folklore and operatic concerts and twice weekly concerts held in the village square. You can also continue on the ferry to visit the lovely town of Strobl with its lakeside promenade.

Other historic places of interest within easy reach include Bad Ischl, the famous royal spa town flanked on three sides by the fast flowing rivers of the Ishcl and Traun, and renowned for it's spa waters and Royal Kaiser Villa Palace, situated in the picturesque Kaiser Park. Hallstatt, is a also worth a day trip, a world famous National Heritage site and famous for its Saltmines that you can visit. And if you fancy the hustle and bustle of a city after too much mountain air, you can drive or take the bus to the historic city of Salzburg, only 28 Km away. If you feel adventurous and want to go further a field, drive for an hour to the ‘Eagles Nest’, Hitler’s famous tea house at Berchtesgaden just over the border in Germany. Visit the concentration camp ground and missile tunnels at Ebensee, or drive three hours to the fabulous city of Vienna, rich in culture and palaces and stay overnight. The route is easy, straight along the A1 with a secure park and ride service into the heart of Vienna via the tube, from the town of Huttledorf, situated just off the A1.