Gaisberg Hike in Winter

The Gaisberg is perhaps Salzburg's most well-known local mountain, extremely popular with paragliding and on most days you can look up and see them floating around the summit. There are a few different trails across the mountain, the best one being the one that takes you straight up to the summit - the Gaisberg-Spitze - from where you can get absolutely mindblowing views across the local mountain ranges and down over the entire city of Salzburg.

I hiked this mountain in the snow and it was quite icy and dangerous at points - hiking poles reccomended and hiking boots an absolute must.

It reminded me why I moved to Austria in the first place. In search of mountains, my happy place, I looked on the map and tried to see how close I could get to being surrounded by natural beauty on all sides. This summit looking across the mountain ranges into the distance was simply stunning.

GAISBERG HIKE DETAILS

When: year-round

Where: Salzburg

Difficulty: intermediate

Length: 4 hours for 9km roundtrip trail

Directions: this is the trail marked on Google Maps. Follow the yellow signs for Gaisberg-Spitze; the trail goes past many red/white painted stripes on the trees to keep you on track.

Bathrooms: yes, at the restaurants at the top

Public Transit: you can actually take a bus all the way to the top, but I promise you, hiking is much more rewarding!