I knew I wanted to do a daytrip from Salzburg and I knew that I didn’t want to go to Hallstatt because it was just too popular. In digging around the internet I decided to visit the Wolfgangsee which turned out to be a great idea and wanted to share with you how to do it.
I got the germ of my idea from the Bigboytravel and Bob’s Bus Tours websites. BBT recommend taking the bus to Hallstatt instead of the train and I realized that this passes the Wolfgangsee which sounded much calmer and just as nice. It’s regional bus 150 that you catch most easily from the big bus plaza outside the Salzburg train station heading towards Bad Ischl. I assumed there would be a bus ticket office inside the station but the guy at the info desk told me no, you buy your tickets on the bus. I asked him if they took credit cards and he said no, this was not correct but perhaps some buses don’t accept cards. So bring cash to be safe, the driver is very used to making change. The bus is comfortable and all the stops are clearly marked and announced, there is no WC onboard. It seems to run a few times an hour in both directions, the schedule is online (do NOT use the links in the BBT article as they are very old).
If you research the Wolfgangsee (https://www.5schaetze.at/en/wolfgangseeschifffahrt.html) you’ll see that there is a very scenic boat that runs from one end of the lake to the other so that was my plan. I was going to take that boat from St. Gilgen to Strobl, stopping at St. Wolfgang along the way. I tried to buy that kind of roundtrip ticket from the bus driver but he didn’t understand so I just bought a roundtrip Salzburg-St. Gilgen knowing I would need to pay something additional later.
The bus ride is about 45 minutes and it’s quite pretty as you leave town and start getting up into the hills, you won’t need to make any changes. Soon the bus arrives at the St. Gilgen bus station (which is really just a shelter with some WCs) and you walk 5 minutes to the ferry station on the lake. The ferry seems to run about every 90 minutes so you can either get there when you get there (our approach) or plan your time by their schedule.
The ferry makes 2 or 3 stops and then ends up at St. Wolfgang which is the main attraction on the lake. The views while you’re on the water are great. It’s a nice enough little town, you can have your lunch and the inside of the church is gorgeous and you’ll get some great lake pix. Check the schedule posted on the ferry and plan your time there accordingly. You can either ride back to St. Gilgen or continue on to Strobl, it seemed like most visitors were doing the former so when the ferry came for Strobl and we started to get on the conductor asked us if we were sure we wanted to head that way. Once in Strobl just start walking towards their bus station, you can either Google map it or stop at the TI as we did. It is a pleasant 15 minute walk and there is a coffee shop at the bus station. Grab the bus heading back to Salzburg. When I got on the bus the driver motioned for me to sit down and then motioned for me to come back up, I had to pay a few euros more for the longer ride.
This is an easy full day DIY excursion that gets you out into the countryside with absolutely no need for a car or package tour. Only do it if the weather is good since you’ll be out on the water (duh) and don’t want a rough ride and want to be able to see the Alps that loom over the lake. Apparently there is also a cog railway in the area that you can add to the trip if that’s your thing.