Destination guide
Bad Gastein
Austria
Bad Gastein is a small city in the eastern part of the Alps, in the Salzburg region in Austria. It is located in the middle of the Hohe Tauern National Park in the Salzburg region, and gets visitors all year around.
AI insights
Local-ledAI-written from the Wikivoyage listings, transport section and mostly LOCAL creators' videos on this page
Prioritize Sportgastein for your ski days; its remote position at the end of the valley consistently keeps crowds thinner than the central Stubnerkogel or Angertal access points, and you can reach it via the free ski bus or the toll road.
Utilize the extensive free ski bus network to travel between districts, which provides a convenient alternative to navigating mountain roads yourself.
Visit the Stubnerkogel summit early in the morning to experience the suspension bridge and Glocknerblick platform before the midday influx of skiers and sightseers arrives from the valley cable cars.
View the Gastein waterfall from multiple vantage points along the town's vertical layout; the cascade drops through the center of the architecture, making it the unavoidable heart of the town's layout.
Balance your outdoor mountain activities with a visit to the Felsentherme; it is the most established facility for recovery and is best utilized after a full day of navigating the valley's slopes or hiking trails.
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Ranked by views and how well each landed with the people who watched it, judged against the other coverage of this place — plus a local creator where we found one.
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Best time to go
Best window: June–July and September–October
January and December are the months to avoid — cold. The window below is when it is genuinely pleasant.
Rated from ten years of daily temperature and rainfall recorded at this destination, via Open-Meteo's ERA5 reanalysis. Hover a month for its real numbers.
Getting around
Getting around
Within the Gastein Valley there are several bus lines that connect the towns. In winter there is an extensive network of ski buses that connects all districts to the ski slopes.
Transport notes from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What to see
Places are listed from Wikivoyage and our own sourced research. Worth it means a second, independent source names the place too; “3 sources agree” means three or more do — and each card names them, so you can check.
Gastein waterfall
3 sources agreeAlso recommended by Gasteinertal and 2 others
The main thing to see within Bad Gastein. The waterfall is 341 m in height and cascades down in three steps through to the valley floor.
Vetted sources
Bad Gastein waterfall
3 sources agreeAlso recommended by Lonely Planet and 2 others
A 341m waterfall plunges directly through the middle of town, having drawn Romantic-era painters to capture it on canvas.
Vetted sources
Gasteiner Museum
Worth itAlso recommended by Lonely Planet and 1 other
The town's history of thermal-water tourism, from bathing Romans to the Romantic painters drawn by the waterfall.
Vetted sources
Stubnerkogel cable car and Glocknerblick platform
Worth itAlso recommended by Lonely Planet
A cable car to 2,200m ends at a viewing platform with a 360-degree panorama including the Grossglockner, Austria's highest peak.
Vetted sources
Glocknerblick viewing platform
At the summit of the Stubnerkogel mountain, there is a 140-m suspension bridge which provides scenic views. Right next to it is the Glocknerblick viewing platform which offers a scenic viewing area for the surrounding mountains - including…
Vetted sources
What to do
Felsentherme
Worth itAlso recommended by Lonely Planet
Austria's first public thermal spa, its grotto-like pools fed by 18 natural hot springs cut into the mountainside.
Vetted sources
Gasteiner Heilstollen
Worth itAlso recommended by Lonely Planet
A former medieval gold mine turned health centre, where you sit inside the tunnel to absorb naturally occurring radon believed to ease arthritis.
Vetted sources
Sportgastein
Sportgastein is a ski resort at the very end of the valley. It can be accessed via a toll road or the free skibus from Bad Gastein. It has only one gondola and a parallel ski lift but offers a variety of slopes and due to its height and…
Vetted sources
Skizentrum Angertal
Angertal is a valley south of Stubnerkogel and links the Stubnerkogel and Schlossalm areas of the ski resort. In Angertal you can access lifts to both mountains.
Vetted sources
Stubnerkogelbahn
Stubnerkogelbahn is a cable car starting behind the train station running up to Stubnerkogel mountain. It is the Bad Gastein entrance to the Gastein Ski resort.
Vetted sources
Travel essentials
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Travel content from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Encyclopedic context from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Videos via the YouTube Data API.