After my whirlwind Balkan trip through Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, I returned home for a few more weeks of Austrian summer, which is truly a gorgeous time of year to be here. I live in Salzburg, surrounded on all sides by countless lakes and hikes and being outside on a beautiful day is the only place I want to be.
I met up with one of my best friends Ina and together we tackled the Schoberstein hike high above the exquisite blue waters of Attersee. The hike was a bit harder than expected based on the reviews we'd briefly checked on Google Maps so do you give yourself plenty of time and make sure to hike when it's dry as there is a bit of rock scrambling involved! But WOW was the view so worth it.
And then, post-hike, we drove back down to the Attersee and jumped in the refreshing lake. So it's the perfect choice for a hike-lake combo!
SCHOBERSTEIN HIKE DETAILS
When: May to October
Where: hike begins from the parking lot at Wandergebiet Wiessenbach, just up from Weißenbach am Attersee on the banks of the Attersee
Difficulty: intermediate, some rock scrambling involved
Length: from Weißenbach am Attersee, we did a return hike of 7.5km which took us just under two and a half hours of moving time
Directions: starting from the parking lot in Weißenbach am Attersee, walk slightly back towards the town and find the yellow sign marking "Schoberstein" up into the hill on the right hand side of the road when facing the lake. The trail is a little confusing as there are many shortcuts, so it feels like there are multiple ways to go up. I followed the map using Strava which I find clear and straightforward. The hike comes first to Kleiner Schoberstein, which we could only see rock-climbing access to, but the Schoberstein, about fifteen minutes further along the trail is easily accessed and has seriously beautiful 360-degree views across Attersee and even Mondsee in the distance. Check out my exact route on Strava!
Bathrooms: yes, nearby at the beach in Weißenbach am Attersee
Public Transit: yes, bus 548 runs from nearby Bad Ischl, which you can reach by bus from Salzburg, although the journey is quite long. There are other routes via Vöcklabruck, too, but also time-consuming, and so Schoberstein is best reached by car.
