Lower Austria Plans To Lure You Into The Mountains With Year-Round Offers

In recent years, hiking and cycling in the local mountains has not only experienced an upswing due to the pandemic, but above all the often heat-related demand has met a variety of providers in Lower Austria, such as the adventure arena St. Corona am Wechsel, the Hochkar or Annaberg . “So far we have had around 70,000 visits to the ecoplus Alpin companies. There were also many guests who were looking for and found coolness in the mountains in the city when the temperatures were high," says Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor responsible for tourism.

This summer, too, shows that guests like to use the leisure facilities in the mountains. "It was absolutely right to further develop the ski areas, today our mountain railways offer a great offer all year round. The Annaberger lifts started summer operations in 2019, this year the zipline and the family offer at Hennesteck have already attracted around 10,000 guests,” added Mikl-Leitner.

The cool and rainy weather of the last few weeks has made itself felt at the Lower Austrian mountain railways with frequent rainy and closed days, but the previous summer season, which has been quite changeable, is still within the long-term average. However, the high season starts towards the end of the summer holidays and there are often fantastic hiking conditions well into October. “Now we are looking forward to a golden hiking autumn. The offers are open until the end of October and even longer if the weather is nice,” concluded the governor.

Ecoplus Alpin Managing Director Markus Redl explains: “Of course, we study the weather very closely in our mountain adventure centers. In the event of a thunderstorm, we will stop operating for safety reasons. Sometimes just for a while, sometimes for the whole day. A bit of drizzle is usually not a problem, even if experience has shown that the rush at the lift is limited. Thank God we have been spared the heavy rain and hail of the south of Austria in recent weeks, but we have already had thirteen so-called standing days on the Hochkar this year."