There are innumerable reasons why Goldeck is nicknamed the “Sports Mountain of Austria“. Goldeck, in a matter of fact, has something to offer to all kinds of visitors: perfectly groomed slopes of all levels of difficulty for lovers of skiing and snowboarding, fantastic hiking trails for both hikers and just recreational walkers, paragliding facilities for adventurous souls, and moreover, modern means of transportation. Whether you think of tows, cable cars or railways, everything is perfect: no surprise, we’re in Austria, right? Furthermore the impressive panorama of the surrounding landscape and the warm hospitality completes everyone’s feeling of happiness and pleasure here on the Goldeck.
You can reach this gauge point of numerous hiking trails either by car on the Goldeck Panoramic Road, by using the Goldeck Mountain Railways, or simply, on foot. The Austrian “sports mountain” is covered in a web of hiking trails, high-altitude hiking routes and summit tours. Families with children, nature lovers and athletic mountaineers will all find suitable hiking paths here.
For example, from a car park you’ll find at one point of the Goldeck Panoramic Road, you can walk up to the Goldeck summit. The Mähderhütte by the road offers enjoyable hearty snack and genuine Carinthian mountain pasture delicacies. Many resting sports along this path open up divine views of a sea of alpine summits. This tour is suitable for all ages with an approximate walking time of around 40 minutes. From the summit it’ll take you only about 10 minutes to get to the Goldeckhütte, where you can rest a bit, and even eat for not as horrific amount of money as you would have probably expected considering the fact, that you’re in Austria!
From the earlier mentioned park place you can also follow a path number 210 that will lead you across green mountain meadows and gorgeous panoramic views to a nice Kapeller Alm lodge. This one is longer, it takes around 2,5 hours, but from all I gather I know, that it’s definitely worth it! From the summit you can get basically anywhere; there are countlesss paths to each direction, Goldeck is even considered as the best gauge point in entire Carinthia!
Or you can get to the summit by a cableway. It’ll get you to the intermediate station at 1,640 metres and the mountain station at 2,050 metres above sea level within minutes. The base station is situated in Spittal an den Drau and it’s pretty well marked, so you won’t have any trouble finding it. The tour takes around 20 minutes, and with the Carinthia Card I talked about here (Staying in Kleindorf, Austria ) it’s free. The cableway is functionable only until 5pm and by that time so many people are descending, that if you decide to use the last link, you may get stuck at the intermediate station and continue further down by foot. But from what I saw from the cabin, the way down looked nice and after a couple of hundreds of metres there was even a village that eventually dilated into a suburb of Spittal where you’d easily catch a bus heading to the city centre, so it may not be such a problem after all. Of course, I’m talking about the summer time, in winter when it gets dark very early I see it really creepy. So look out for the departing times!
Goldeck is always a special experience. Whether you’re spending your holiday in Carinthia, planning to go on a daytrip in the mountains or live in or around Spittal an der Drau, there are many options for getting some exercise or for simply escaping everyday life in the valley for a few hours in every season on this sports mountain. Because, I mean, where else can you get up to the high mountains after just a few minutes of driving from a city centre?
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