Borders Of Adventure

Leading Culture and Adventure Travel Blog by Becki Enright. Looking at the world with a different angle to change perceptions of misunderstood places, for the best in travel.

Adventure Travel, Austria

Summer in St. Johann im Pongau, Austria – The Salzburg Mountain City After Ski

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Summer in St. Johann im Pongau, Austria, is a centre for adventure in the Salzburg Austrian Alps – home to the deepest gorge, the hiking point to one of Austria’s best mountain viewpoints, and next to the biggest ice cave in the world.

The Salzburgerland region might be better known for its state capital, Salzburg, but 60 kilometres south, the smaller city of St. Johann im Pongau is a local getaway from the big city, with surrounding peaks that form part of one of the area’s largest ski areas. I decided to visit there in the warmer months to see how things shift a gear after winter. 

In summer, however, this compact alpine city doesn’t sleep. The St. Johann Alpendorf ski village hotels remain open, as does the cable car on its doorstep to whisk you up high, and the 120km of ski slopes turn into meadowed hiking trails surrounded by a crisp blue-skied panorama of 300 mountain peaks.

The activities and attractions in St. Johann im Pongau need time – it’s a destination largely overlooked after people visit the famed Liechtensteinklamm and move on. After three days here, I can vouch for the area being worth more than a day trip, with scenic surroundings for relaxation and enough high-peak trails for pristine panoramic vistas. Here’s what I found. 

How to Enjoy a Salzburg Summer in St. Johann in Pongau

Visiting the Liechtensteinklamm – The longest and deepest gorge in the Alps

Liechtensteinklamm is a world-famous gorge, and we set out on the 15-kilometre walk that takes you on a 300 metre descent within the curved and bumpy cavern walls that transition from silvery blue and orange hues depending on the light that pierces through.

A steel and wooden walkway leads through the silver and blue toned gorge walls in Liechtensteinklamm in St Johann im Pongau Austria

A man in a blue face mask, standing in a rocky archway, looks up out of the Liechtensteinklamm gorge while holding onto a wooden rail

The blue, green and silver marble affect on the rock walls of the Liechtensteinklamm gorge in Austria

One of the longest and deepest gorges in the Alps, visitors have been flocking here for centuries to stand and listen to nature in its force. To watch the water crash and tumble against the mighty rock walls and follow the ravine as it loudly rumbles and drops over large boulders.

The area was made accessible in 1875 after the Prince of Liechtenstein donated funds to build ramps and walkways. Today, consistent maintenance of the area ensures safety measures are in place, with iron and steel beams and solid wooden passageways moving you through the gorge without detracting from or obstructing the nature enclosing it.

A pathway marked by a wooden barrier rail curves to the left through the narrow Liechtensteinklamm gorge

A a far view of the deep, narrow, rocky Liechtensteinklamm gorge during summer in St. Johann im Pongau, Austria

White water gushes through the narrow silvery green rock walls of Liechtensteinklamm in Austria

The addition of the illusory, giant copper-coloured ‘Helix’ spiral staircase is a fun addition to get you deeper into the cave-like complex as you work your way towards the roaring water’s cascading source – the waterfall.

People walking down the copper coloured winding 'helix' staircase in the natural gorge called Liechtensteinklamm in Austria

A woman in a blue t-shirt stands on an iron viewing platform looking towards a gushing waterfall in the Liechtensteinklamm gorge in St. Johann im Pongau Austria

A short white waterfall flows over moss coloured stones at the Liechtensteinklamm gorge in St. Johann in Salzburg

Treat this area as you would a hike – with decent, sturdy footwear with good grip and warm, layered clothes. It can be chilly in the tunnel walkways, but it warms up when you step into the open areas. We visited after midday to avoid the morning rush, which is busiest between 10 am and 2 pm.

Hiking the Hochgründeck Mountain – the Best View in Austria

There are 16 hiking routes of varying difficulty on marked trails in and around St. Johann im Pongau, leading to mountain huts, lakes, and scenic peaks.

You can choose the more leisurely hike along the Salzach stream or the panorama loop around the Alpendorf. Up the ante and find the Jägersee mountain lake, clamber the Hochglocker mountain, or tackle the more difficult Heukareck and Schuhflicker peaks.

A woman in an orange vest looks out over a green valley filled with St. Johann im Pongau city, thats backed by flat-top mountains

We chose the moderately strenuous hike to the Hochgründeck for two reasons. First, Hochgründeck is one of the highest forested mountains in Europe; second, the view from the top at 1827 metres is among the best in Austria.

We parked the car at the bottom of an agricultural area and the Stein-Bauer car parking area, where tractors tend to the towering fields. The signposted hike starts here and passes through some steep forested sections that intersect the road before venturing back into what feels like a vast hinterland. This path connects to a dense and shaded woodland, lined with a long window to bountiful alpine pastures that poke through the curtain of trees, up to the Gründeck ridge – the start of the last steep onset towards the Hochgründeck itself.

The green pastures on the Austrian alpine in St. Johann im Pongau in Summer, with the Austrian Alps in the background

A man in dark shorts and t-shirt hiking out of a dense forest with tall, skinny trees on the Hochgründeck Mountain in Austria

Rolling green hills merge with the blue tint of the mountains, as seen from the Hochgründeck hike in St. Johann im Pongau in summer

The deep forested hiking trails on Hochgründeck Mountain, covered in green and backed by a blue sky

A view of the Austrian Alps through the trees, from inside the forested Hochgründeck Mountain

It’s a three-hour trek that requires some stamina, but the reward is one of the most impressive panoramic hike views I’ve ever seen.

Reaching the mountain hut Heinrich-Kiener-Haus, the scenery opens out into a magnificent blue-green-white panorama – the type of dramatic 360-degree vista I’ve only witnessed at mountain heights when skiing.

The dark wooden, green window shuttered Heinrich-Kiener-Haus mountain hut on the Hochgründeck Mountain in Austria

A panorama of the 300 Austrian Alpine peaks seen from the Hochgründeck Mountain viewpoint in Salzburg, Austria

It’s a dizzying sweep of over 300 peaks, including Austria’s highest mountain, the Großglockner at 3798 metres in the Hohe Tauern range, as well as the Hochkönig, Tennengebirge, Dachstein, Niedere, Kitzbühler Alpen and Dientner Alpen. A few familiar mountain range names that make you feel as if all of Austria is on display right in front of you. 

Snow-capped flat-top mountains rise above a wide green valley, seen from a forested viewpoint on Hochgründeck, Austria

From the hut, it’s worth continuing the brief stretch past the beautiful Friedenskapelle, the dainty church on the hilltop, and through the field to the mountain cross. It’s a chance to complete the blind spots in the panorama scenes from the hut.

A couple sit on a bench next to the hiking cross on the green summit of Hochgründeck Mountain in Austria

Two people walk along a narrow track on a green ridge at the top of the Hochgründeck Mountain in Austria in summer

A woman in an orange vest sits on a bench admiring the panoramic Austrian Alps view from atop the Hochgründeck Mountain

A Picnic at Badesee Plankenau

To further encourage visitors to enjoy the natural surroundings, St. Johann im Pongau tourism has partnered with local producers to offer picnic basket hire. It’s packed with regionally sourced fruit and vegetables, cold cuts, cheese and sausage specialities, farmhouse bread, fruit juice, yoghurt and cake. It includes a picnic blanket, so you are fully equipped to find a scenic spot, unpack, and enjoy.

Five picnic spots have been tried and tested around town, including two parks in the centre of St. Johann, one with a view of the cathedral, one riverside and one in a mountain area.

A man and woman look at one another while relaxing on a blue rug with a picnic next to the bathing lake, Badesee Plankenau in St. Johann im Pongau, Austria

We took ours to the cosy, cooling Badesee Plankenau, as we love spending time by the water, and the surrounding green lawn is perfect for a picnic. Entrance to the lake, filled with fresh spring water, costs €4.

The varying hues of green of the grass-covered mountain and the spring water of the bathing lake, Badesee Plankenau in St. Johann in Pongau in summer.

To get your picnic basket, you must order at least 24 hours in advance directly from the Tourist Office in the centre of town and pick it up from one of the three partner companies: Pongauer Bauernladen, Fleischerei Urban, or Metzgerei Rettensteiner-Scharfetter. The basket costs €25 for two people and €45 for four.

St. Johann Town and the Gothic Cathedral Centrepiece

Nature seeking aside, St. Johann im Pongau is compact enough to walk around, kick back with locals and enjoy a coffee, and browse the wares of some local designers who have stores here – the city is an established shopping centre of the region.

The twin-towers of the Cathedral, Pongauer Dom, in St. Johann im Pongau in Salzburg in Austria, dominate the city spread surrounding it in front of the low mountains in front

However, it’s the twin-towered Cathedral, Pongauer Dom, that takes centre stage – a symbol of the city that dominates views from the ground to the high pastures and is said to be one of the masterpieces of neo-Gothic architecture in Austria. The original, constructed in 1301, was replaced in 1855 with the one standing today, rebuilt after a market fire. The Annakapelle chapel is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city, although sadly it wasn’t open when we visited.

The golden brick facade of the twin towered, gothic Cathedral in St.Johann im Pongau, Austria

A man read from an information sign that sits at the end of a row of white, orange, beige and old brick houses in the city of St. Johann im Pongau

The golden light of the Cathedral and pastel yellow colours of the buildings in St. Johann in Salzburg city in Austria

While we walked and used the car to get to some attractions and village viewpoints, if you want to visit the town and the surroundings by bike here, the Snowworldshop at the Alpendorf district offers bikes and e-bikes for rent.

Crystal clear blue water flows towards a green meadow backed by grass coloured mountains in St. Johann im Pongau, Austria

Eisriesenwelt – the largest ice cave in the world

Just a 30-minute drive north of St. Johann, you can visit Eisriesenwelt – the largest ice cave in the world, comprised of a frozen labyrinth of sculptures deep within the limestone alpine mountains.

Eisriesenwelt translates as ‘world of the ice giants’, and on a 70-minute tour, you’ll traverse wooden walkways that take you on a frosted journey into the heart of a cave system that’s 50 to 100 million years old. Climbing wooden stairs to an extra height of 134 metres and traversing across, around and past ice layers up to 1,000 years old.

A guide in a red jacket stands in a circle of illuminated ice in the Eisriesenwelt cave. He's holding sparklers. A group looks on in wonder.

I’ve been to so many caves in my lifetime that I even went in a bit sceptical of how this visit would be different, but I was filled with a sense of wonder as soon as the door flew open with a gush of icy cold wind, and it slammed shut behind us as we entered another world.

Not one of the ice sculptures is manipulated or deliberately shaped – nature at its most pure is nothing short of a spectacle.

This incredible display of science occurs when cold air flows through the caves in winter and spring meltwater from the snow enters the rock fissures, freezing into shiny, glistening stalagmites, glittering slides, layered walls, and frosted tunnels.

A man in a red jacket and black hat, holds a splint for light as he walks past a giant ice wall in Eisriesenwelt ice cave in Austria

A man in a red jacket and black hat stands within a circle of white illuminated ice in the Eisriesenwelt largest ice cave in the world in Austria

A guide in a red coat, holding a sparking light stands with a cave system next to a sheet of blue ice in Eisriesenwelt, Austria

A guide in a red coat stands in front of a boxed shaped sheet of blue illuminated ice in the ice cave Eisriesenwelt in Salzburg, Austria

A man in a red jacket and black hat hots a light sparkler as he beings his entry into a tunnel of ice at Eisriesenwelt, Austria

A rainbow ring of light and icy smoke surrounds a man in a red coat inside the Eisriesenwelt ice cave in Austria

There’s no electric lighting; every second person carries an oil lantern, and the groups are well paced, creating an even greater sense of the vast space and your tiny presence within it.

I felt like I was a part of an early expedition, even though people have been visiting for 100 years. Salzburg Cave Explorers founder, Alexander von Mörk, who continued the excavation in 1913 after Eisriesenwelt’s very first discovery, stayed – he’s buried, at his request, inside the cave.

A visit here doesn’t come without a little effort, although it’s much less precarious than the hike from the explorer’s lodge in 1920. There’s a 20-minute walk to the cable car, as a moderately taxing 20-minute walk up the last stretch of the mountain to the cave entrance. A little tiring for some, but I can promise you it is worth it.

Inside the cave, temperatures can drop to around -1, so bring warm layers and sturdy shoes and limit the shock faced by those who arrive in shorts and t-shirts.

A long, steep snaking pathway leads up the moss covered limestone mountain of the Eisriesenwelt cave in Austria

A guide from the Eisriesenwelt cave sits with a woman in orange and a man in blue outside the rocky entrance to the Eisriesenwelt ice cave in Austria

The vast valley view as seen from the elevated, rocky, limestone mountain entrance to the Eisriesenwelt cave in Austria

Things to Know About St. Johann im Pongau in Salzburg

How to get to St. Johann in Salzburg

Not to be confused with St. Johann in the neighbouring state of Tirol, be sure to book your tickets for St. Johann in Pongau. This train station is close to the city centre, and if staying at the Alpendorf, taxi transfers are available. Both areas are next to one another. 

By car, the town is 40 minutes drive south from the city of Salzburg, accessible via the A10 highway (which continues to Villach in the neighbouring state of Carinthia). It is also a two-hour drive from Munich.

How to get around St. Johann im Pongau

If you don’t have a car, a bus network connects attractions around town, so be sure to get details from your accommodation provider on timetables and best routes. Many hiking routes start in the city centre, where the Tourism Office is based. 

The reflection of a woman holding a camera seen in a car's side mirror. Green forest and mountains can be seen outside in the background

Where to Stay in St. Johann

We stayed in the Alpendorf Hotel Oberforsthof – a chalet-style wellness and spa hotel in the winter ski village turned hotel hub in the summer that’s next to St. Johann city. It’s also close to attractions, including the Liechtensteinklamm, the start of hiking routes and the Alpendorf Gondola.

The wooden chalet-style exterior, umbrella level seating area in the middle, and a man swimming below in the blue-green swimming pool of the Alpendorf Hotel Oberforsthof in St. Johann im Pongau, Salzburg, Austria

The classic, wooden trim and white-grey minimalist style interior of a bedroom at the Alpendorf Hotel Oberforsthof, with an open wall view to the bathroom

Jo Salzburg Summer Card

The Jo Salzburg Summer Card offers discounts on many attractions in the area, including the Liechtensteinklamm, the Alpendorf Cable Car, picnic baskets, e-bike rentals, and use of the local hiking buses. You’ll receive a card as part of a one-night stay or longer at local accommodations.

Extra Attractions in St. Johann im Pongau and Around

Burg Hohenwerfen – the 900-year-old fortress

From the lower car park and bus terminal to the winding climb up to Eisriesenwelt, you’ll spot a storybook castle on a hill, raised high above the Salzach River. This 11th-century military fortification, built 900 years ago, still dominates at 155m, overlooking Salzburgerland’s ring of towns and cities.

Considered one of the best-preserved buildings of the late Middle Ages, you can visit and take a tour of the towers, chapel, royal rooms and the torture chamber.

The elevated cream-coloured Burg Hohenwerfen fortress in Austria, perched on a small hill surrounded by a mound of thick trees

An elevated view of the Salzach River and surrounding valleys and cities, with forest on one side and the Austrian Alps on the other

Adventure and Adrenalin

  • Pleasure Elements Team takes you rafting and canyoning on the Salzach waters and in its gorges
  • Flugschule Austriafly offers tandem paragliding in Werfenweng (am Bischling), Salzburg and St. Johann im Pongau.
  • The Geisterberg (Ghost mountain) is fun for families with activities at the top of Gernkogel Mountain at 1,800 m reachable via the Alpendorf Gondola. Even without children in tow, it’s suitable for those seeking new walking trails and panoramic views.
  • St. Johann is also situated along the 300km-long Tauern Cycle Route, which leads from Krimml through St. Johann and Salzburg to Passau for those seeking a longer biking tour.

Further Planning for Visiting St. Johann in Salzburg

  • Visit St. Johann im Pongau’s official tourism website JO Salzburg.
  • Combining St. Johann im Pongau with Salzburg city?

READ MORE: Why You Should Visit Salzburg – The Metropolis Beyond Mozart and the Sound of Music

Further Reading – Austria’s Ski Slopes to Summer Trails

If you are thinking of visiting other ‘ski to summer’ destinations, these Austria travel guides have you covered.

About Becki

Becki Enright is a British Travel Press Award-winning writer whose work focuses on changing perceptions about misunderstood aspects of destinations. Her writing combines storytelling with insight into the social, historical, political and economic factors that shape the country or place in relation to tourism. Becki has appeared live on Sky News and CNN and has contributed to high profile media including National Geographic, Time.com, Guardian online, New York Times, Grazia and Buzzfeed.

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