Golling an der Salzach

This is a place for all nature enthusiasts, and even those who are not impressed by it all. This will certainly entertain you awhile. I love hiking and am teaching the kids to enjoy it too. Waterfalls are gorgeous, impressive and relaxing to view, and the combination of venturing the Austrian Alps to view the latest waterfall on my list was a great achievement, especially on the part of my children and mother-in-law. Their adventurous spirits overrided potential fears of height and death to see a magnificent view and get showered by the experience too.

The Gollinger Wasserfalle was worth the trip. Only being 30 minutes out of the way, the trek there was encapsulated by gorgeous Alp views and we were in awe of the sights. The miniature town of Golling an der Salzach is nestled right at the foot of a mountain, and is full of pensions for visitors of the area. And what a great place it would be to stay the night!

We were a little leary at the sight of the parking lot, as it isn't exactly a well kept spot- they have been logging some of the area and the lot itself was only big enough for about 8 cars. But, we walked down the little path to the red hut and paid our dues to get in- 2EUROs per adult. It is the first waterfall we've had to pay to go see. Was surprised by this, but I guess it does cost them a little money to keep the trails upkept.

After a short walk by a stream, past an old mill, we came across the bottom half of the falls. It was beautiful. After a little rest and some good photos, we continued our trek up the mountainside to see what we could see. We found that there were much higher waters falling from the heart of the mountain that fell behind some rocks and then down to the lower falls that we saw from the bottom. There was a wooden bridge that crossed the waterfall, so we ventured the slick boards to see the views. It was pretty. And pretty slick too. There was so much spray from the waterfall that it created an invisible slime on the wood and was dangerously slippery. Ariel fell on every step down.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend the morning. We had a lovely lunch at one of the gorgeous pensions, with the Alps filling the landscape and being so close to the big, sunny blue skies with fluffy marshmallow clouds overhead.