St Wolfgang and Scharfberg

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The day was looking good which we needed for St Wolfgang on Wolfgangsee. We had gone there 2 years ago on our bikes and got thoroughly soaked in the pouring rain, so we had unfinished business. We got ourselves parked for the day and headed off for the Schafberg Bahn after a walk through the historic part of town. St Wolfgang is a very beautiful town on the edge of the lake in an area lined with hiking trails around the lake and in the mountains. We had heard that the mountain train was a “must see” as you can see 7 of the lakes in the lake district from the top of the mountain.

The SchafbergBahn was established in 1893 and is the steepest steam cog wheel railway in Austria. It climbs 1190 metres on a steep and winding cog wheel track. Since the train is very popular you have to buy tickets then wait for a train that has seats available. Each train takes over 100 people and it runs every 20 minutes. There are several engines and carraiges with two running in either direction at the same time. Every now and then where there are short double tracks, they pass each other. They are essentially puff-puff trains running on steam and diesel. They have the sound of the old steam engines with a chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga sound and wonderful twirling flywheels and pistons pumping on the engines. We eventually arrived at the top at 1783m where, yes you guessed it, two restaurants!

We bought two frankfurters and bread and parked ourselves on the steep hillsides for a picnic with a view. You can see for "miles and miles and miles and miles and miles" (The Byrds Song). We had 360 degree views in every direction. There were lakes all around, we could see out to the flat plains and to the high mountains in every direction. A stunning view. On the downside, we couldn’t walk far. The mountain top sits right on the edge of a straight drop down to the valley below from glacial erosion and the other side was a steep mountain side back down to lakes. We admired the views from every direction, indulged on some tea and cake and headed back down on the little train, with a walk through St Wolfgang then back to Ebensee. I'm glad we returned to do what we missed on our last visit as this is a truly lovely lake to visit.

Dinner was at the Tiki Taki Bar and Restaurant close to the Traunsee waterfront which was another restaurant here we would recommend.

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Photos

A view from the Scharnberg
Just two of the seven lakes visible from this viewpoint