Obertauern, Radstadt, and perhaps a little of Salzburg

The town lines both sides of the main through-route, with one or two side streets. It consists of what you might expect- hotels, restaurants, sports equipment shops, bars, and some apparel stores. I'm not seeing nearly the number of bling-boutiques you see in places such as Kitzbühel, Oberstdorf or Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but there's a few.

The ski area is not so large as some of the other resort towns I've visited, but it has a nice set-up. Through the use of ski-bridges and a few short rope tows, and strategic lift and piste placement, you can easily make a circuit tour through the entire resort, hitting all the highest points in the process. Pistes are mostly easy and intermediate. There's only a few blacks. The grooming sometimes leaves a bit to be desired. You go from nice packed powder to suddenly hitting uneven mounds of thick snow. The sun has shown brightly, so the uneven terrain is easy to see and adjust to, but if visual conditions were less ideal, this would pose a big problem. And one big bonus- the only rope tows are limited to small lengths to help you transfer between the pistes.

Other stray observations- like other places where I've skied in Austria, snowboarders are a tiny minority. Even by the terrain park, most wore skis. Obertauern seems to attract a high proportion of families, although that might relate to Fasching holiday. The scenery at town-level is fantastic. The geography of the lower slopes doesn't block the views of the high peaks. I haven't seen any sledge runs, Winterwandeling, or Langlaufen. So, if you don't ski or snowboard, Obertauern probably doesn't have much to offer you.

One final note on Obertauern. I finally understand why spa hotels tend to go hand-in-hand with ski resorts. Normally, I need take it somewhat easy by day two of a ski trip because my leg muscle have tightened and spasmed after the first day. This time, I took advantage of the "Wellness" facility in my hotel, including the sauna and the hot water bath. On day two, it was like I didn't stress myself at all the day before. I felt refreshed and ready to hit the slopes again. (cont)

(cont). On to Radstadt, for a quick stop on my drive home. I decided to give Radstadt a look because several guidebooks mention it as a well preserved, walled historic town, and because the brown tourist board along the road seemed to make it look interesting. Well... it's attractive and yes, part of the old defensive wall remains. But the historical core is pretty small and not particularly interesting. I think the guidebooks may mention Radstadt because it's the only comfy looking historic town in the middle of a larger Alpine sports region. Perhaps maybe a place to stay if half the traveling party doesn't hike, bike, golf or ski. I looked around for a little while, didn't see anything particularly striking, and then proceded on my way.

Somehow, I didn't see Burg Hohenwerfen on the drive into Obertauern, which is odd, because it sits prominently above the Autobahn. This probably would have provided a much more interesting side-excursion than Radstadt, but I wanted to fit in more time for Salzburg. Perhaps another time.

Finally, Salzburg. I'd driven through before, but never stopped. Salzburg is covered well enough in other sources, so I'll only share a few observations. First of all, I was a bit surprised how small the Altstadt is. With all the tourist attention the city gets, I was imagining it would be bigger. My time was limited, so I restricted my visit to a stroll through the Altstadt, a quick look into a few churches, and a visit to Hohensalzburg. Put the view from here to the south on par with the vista from Lindau's harbor as two of the best pre-Alpine vantage points of the high peaks. The tour of the castle wasn't the most interesting, but it's worth it for the views of the Alps and Altstadt alone. Overall... I was a bit let-down by Salzburg. I guess I was just expecting something bigger and even grander, not an old town roughly on par with much less-touristed Landshut or Passau. Still, I wouldn't discourage anyone from visiting here. I just couldn't imagine spending much more than one night.

My one food discovery on this minitrip was a Mozart Brezen. Sort of like a sweet dough prezel, coated with chocolate and filled with apriocot jam.

So, there you have it. Obertauern- an Alpinists' paradise, but not much for anyone else. Radstadt- don't go out of your way. Hohenwerfen- maybe next time. Salzburg- probably would have impressed me more had I visited earlier in my travel career, but still worth the trip.

An addendum several months later.

I hate hot weather. Absolutely can't stand it. One of the nice things about living in Germany is that heat waves aren't very common, and when they do hit, they only last a few days. The downside- because really hot weather rarely arrives, air conditioning is fairly rare. When the heat strikes like a hammer against an anvil, you have very few options to escape.

Which brings me back to Obertauern. At about 1700m elevation, temperatures here only topped off in the low 20s Celcius, versus the low 30s back home. Plus, it's always nice to see how the various ski resorts look during the summer.

I would have thought: plenty of hotels, good Alpine infrastructure, golf courses in the valley below, an escape from the summer heat... Obertauern should be a major destination in summer as well as winter. It isn't. Only a few hotels are even open. Merely two ski lifts currently operate, and all but two of the mountain restauants are closed until winter. I ran into far fewer people hiking today than I usually do at the height of the Alpine summer season. For a purpose-built winter ski resort, however, I encountered more livestock than I would have expected. Two separate groups of cows, a mixed flock or sheep and goats and more horses than I've seen anywhere else in the Alps. The hiking was pretty good, though. Views were fantastic, as expected.

So, why am I bothering to write an update about a nearly empty high-altitude ski resort in the summer? Because I also discovered something else. The few hotels that remain open are relatively luxurious... and dirt cheap! I'm staying at Hotel Steiner, with full board (and the food's pretty good) for less than €200 for the weekend. A hotel of this caliber would probably cost 3 times this much in one of the more popular resorts in Switzerland.

For the majority of regulars on this website, this probably isn't a resort you should go out of your way to visit. But... if you're in the Salzburg area.... and the summer heat is getting to you... and you want to avoid the crowds that can overrun tiny little Hallstatt... and your purpose for visiting the Alps is more for hiking than exploring towns...and you want to spoil yourself a little, on-the-cheap... and you also want to visit Burg Hohenwerfen... look into Obertauern.