Austria

June 11 – 16

Shortly after crossing the border into Austria, we spent the night at Obsthof Leiblachtal, an apple orchard where we drank Moscht at their bar among the apple trees and shopped at their very well stocked farm shop in the morning.

Because we had such a great experience staying on the farm, we signed up for Schau aufs Land, an app that allows camper vans to stay for free at farms across Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy in exchange for purchasing food from their farm shops. We spent the remainder of our nights in Austria at farms and vineyards, which meant we ate and drank particularly well.

Although it was drizzly the following morning, we wanted to explore the Vorarlberg region of the Austrian Alps, so we chose a relatively easy yet beautiful hike through the Alpsee Gorge.

We then made our way to Innsbruck, spending the night at another farm just south of the city.

The following morning we did a hike in the nearby Stubai Valley. It was the hottest day so far, with highs in the mid-20s, which was a little too hot for Lola on the latter half of our walk. After taking plenty of water breaks for Lola, we finished the hike and travelled further east, spending the night just north of Zell am See.

We spent the next morning in the field working on a few small jobs around the campervan that needed to be done, including figuring out how to use our outdoor Joolca shower – we mounted this to the inside of our rear door panel and hung up a shower curtain across the doors for privacy.

After stopping for some sandwiches and apfelstrudel in Zell am See, we made it to our next farm stay.

Our last day in Austria was a busy one – but the most memorable. We both fancied a more difficult hike so found one along our drive, tackling the Gsengscharten Circular. We both neglected to spot in the Alltrails description that there was a steep section requiring use of ropes … which was a bit too much of a scramble for Lola, but she made it to the top uninjured! After reaching the summit, there was a great hut where we stopped for coffee and some delicious Austrian pastries. A bit nervous about getting Lola back down the mountain we asked the staff if it was easier on the way back … apparently we choose to do the section ‘not advertised to tourists’ and reassured the remainder of the trail was significantly easier underfoot.

We then drove a few hours east, stopping near the Hungarian border for our final night in Austria. And what a great night it was—we had an entire vineyard to ourselves, unaware that it was closed on Mondays. Best of all, they operated an honesty box that allowed us to sample some of their delicious wines.