Family wonderland
Family wonderland
Family wonderland
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As any parent knows, on a family holiday,<br />
if the children are happy, you are happy.<br />
Which is why we devote so much time seeking<br />
out ‘family friendly’ accommodation; and why<br />
there is so much scope for disappointment<br />
when the friendliness turns out simply to be<br />
a corporate message, rather than anything<br />
more heartfelt. A family that genuinely feels<br />
welcomed is a long way towards having a<br />
fantastic holiday.<br />
Which is where the Salzburger Land’s <strong>Family</strong><br />
Hotels come in. These are 25 independent<br />
hotels, mainly family-owned, scattered around<br />
the scenic highlands of the region around<br />
Salzburg. They are all individual, private village,<br />
small town and country hotels; the one thing<br />
they have in common is that they have been<br />
certified by the Salzburger Land State Board of<br />
Tourism as being perfect for families.<br />
Salzburger Land<br />
<strong>Family</strong> <strong>wonderland</strong><br />
If nature is the greatest playground of all, the hills of the Salzburger Land, and its family-oriented hotels, offer<br />
the perfect combination of personal welcome and nature-based adventures for all the clan<br />
Some are small, perfectly formed and cosy;<br />
others have facilities like spas, swimming pools,<br />
paddling pools, kids’ cinemas, rope courses,<br />
Alpine feng-shui gardens and bouncy castles.<br />
It might be that on day one, the kids are<br />
still stuck to their Wiis and desperately trying<br />
to find an internet connection to keep up on<br />
Bebo; by the next day, it’s pretty much a<br />
certainty that nature’s far richer attractions<br />
will have taken over.<br />
The greatest of all kids’ clubs, after all, is<br />
nature itself. More adventurous and grown-up<br />
children can go mountain biking, white-water<br />
rafting, night hiking in the mountains and<br />
learn how to rock climb; others can play<br />
farmer - milking cows, collecting eggs from<br />
the hens and making cheese. Somewhere in<br />
the middle of all this adventure, there’s also<br />
pony trekking and panning for gold.<br />
a u s t r i a ’ s hi d d e n t r e a s u r e s 09
Salzburger Land<br />
<strong>Family</strong> nights<br />
Even babies are catered for with baby massage<br />
(every parent knows a contented baby is a quiet<br />
baby), and walking trails suitable for prams.<br />
Take just a couple of these experiences.<br />
A night hike in the mountains, for example.<br />
Wrapped up warm and under the auspices of<br />
an experienced guide, and armed with torches,<br />
you’ll set out on a path that may seem familiar<br />
by day but seems thrillingly mysterious by<br />
night. Creatures rustle and scuttle – was that<br />
an owl up there? A marmot zipping across the<br />
path in a black blur?<br />
High up, an eerie glow rises up just above<br />
the distant mountaintops. What would that<br />
be, do you think, the guide asks. A UFO? A<br />
lost city on top of the mountains? No, it’s the<br />
glow of moonlight on the glaciers up there,<br />
where it’s light as day at midnight on a clear<br />
summer’s night. And then there are the stars,<br />
revealed without their blanket of cloud or<br />
10 a u s t r i a ’ s hi d d e n t r e a s u r e s<br />
pollution, clearer still because of the altitude:<br />
they spot Jupiter, and maybe Venus, and is that<br />
Saturn? These are real planets, not games, and<br />
the childrens’ imaginations are ablaze.<br />
All the hotels have professional childcare<br />
services and access to guides for their activities,<br />
which means you will also be able to spend<br />
some blessed ‘grown up’ time together – or<br />
maybe just time on your own. And don’t worry<br />
about leaving the monitor/changing mat/milk<br />
bottle at home; they’ll always have one for you.<br />
And when your children have partaken of<br />
all these activities, after a few days, it might<br />
Facts & Figures<br />
salzburger land<br />
l Salzburg<br />
For more information please contact:<br />
Salzburger Land Tourismus<br />
Wiener Bundesstrasse 23, P.O.Box 1<br />
A-5300 Hallwang bei Salzburg<br />
Tel: +43 (0) 662 66880<br />
Fax: +43 (0) 662 668866<br />
Email: info@salzburgerland.com<br />
www.salzburgerland.com<br />
NEArEST AirPOrTS<br />
Salzburg local<br />
Linz 75 miles (121 km)<br />
Munich 116 miles (188 km)<br />
be time to visit Schnitza’s Holzpark. This is a<br />
new adventure park with an Austrian twist;<br />
everything revolves around a wooden theme,<br />
with wood carving (including huge wooden<br />
animals), wooden bowling, a wooden<br />
balancing course…<br />
Or for older children, there’s the famous<br />
(or is that infamous?) Wagraini’s Grafenberg, a<br />
water and mountain adventure park with one<br />
of the highest swings in the world, 9m tall, and<br />
a panoply of jungle ropes, balance challenges,<br />
enormous slides, a 25m rope suspension<br />
bridge and numerous other devices carefully<br />
crafted to wear your children out and give you<br />
a good night’s sleep.<br />
And at the end of your holiday, prepare<br />
yourself for a very strange noise: the sound of<br />
your children rejecting the electronic devices<br />
they used to use for recreation and asking<br />
when they can come back and do everything<br />
they have just experienced all over again… ■A<br />
ANd ANOTHEr THiNg...<br />
Kinderhotels is the ultimate<br />
hotel group for families,<br />
operating all over Austria.<br />
Holidays are tailored<br />
with children in mind with<br />
every childcare facility at your<br />
disposal, from equipment to<br />
healthy ‘baby food buffets’,<br />
and lots of adventure and play<br />
areas and fun parks.<br />
www.kinderhotels.co.uk<br />
ÖsterreicH Werbung / bArtl; robert HArding
Previous page: Forever blowing bubbles in the Salzburger<br />
Land. This spread, clockwise from left: stay mountainside;<br />
Lake Zell is backed by the 1965m Schmittenhöhe mountain;<br />
games on Lake Obertrumer; a family hike; Salzburg’s<br />
traditional Harvest Festival; cycling past waterfalls.<br />
What to do and<br />
Where to do it...<br />
EVENTS<br />
Children can go<br />
mountain biking,<br />
white-water rafting<br />
and learn how to<br />
rock climb<br />
l June 20th sees the opening of Summer in<br />
the Hills 2010 (Salzburger Almsommer) at<br />
the 200 year-old Saalalm in the mountains of<br />
Saalbach Hinterglemm. There are traditional<br />
handicrafts and a fun and varied programme<br />
for children. From there, spend the day hiking<br />
between the local mountain huts and tuck<br />
into traditional foods such as Troadsupp’n,<br />
(grain soup) and Hoargneist-Nidei (sauerkraut<br />
and potato loaves) accompanied by live<br />
music from alphorn and wind musicians.<br />
l The world’s biggest ice cave promises an<br />
array of incredible impressions deep within<br />
the mountain at the World of Giants,<br />
Werfen. Warm clothing is essential for this<br />
excursion high above the village of Werfen<br />
amid the impressive mountain range of the<br />
Tennengebirge, reached by road then cable<br />
car. Here you’ll find the entrance to the<br />
world’s biggest explored ice cave. Discovered<br />
in 1879, this 42km cave system is filled with<br />
breathtaking ice formations.<br />
GOOD TO KNOW<br />
The SalzburgerLand Card gives you free<br />
admission to over 190 sights and attractions<br />
throughout the region including museums,<br />
castles and palaces, buses and trains, wildlife<br />
and adventure parks and the mountain<br />
lifts. Pay just €43 for a 6-day card or €52 for<br />
a 12-day card and what’s more, for children<br />
between the ages of 6 -15, it’s half price.<br />
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