Camping in the Salzburger Saalachtal: mountains, caves and alpine pastures

Plenty of campers drive straight past on their way to South Tyrol or Italy. The Saalach murmurs alongside the road, limestone walls of over two thousand metres rise left and right, and then the valley is behind you. Take the exit instead and you land in one of the finest camping areas in Salzburgerland: the Salzburger Saalachtal.

The valley runs from Unken via Weissbach and Lofer to Sankt Martin, wedged between the Loferer Steinberge and the Leoganger Steinberge. Everything is close together, so you rarely need more than twenty minutes to reach the next outing.

Sights in the valley

This area is all about water and stone. A few highlights you should not skip:

• Lamprechtshöhle near Sankt Martin. One of the longest water carved cave systems in Europe, right off the main road. The accessible part is lit and easy to walk with stairs. Inside it stays around eight degrees, perfect on a hot day.
• Seisenbergklamm in Weissbach. A striking gorge with wooden walkways above churning water. You can do it in about an hour and children love it.
• Vorderkaserklamm in Sankt Martin. Quieter than the Seisenbergklamm and, many hikers say, even more photogenic.
• Naturpark Weissbach. A nature park with alpine huts, plateaus and mountain lakes so still that the clouds reflect in them.
• Hirschbichl and the Kallbrunnalm. A classic alpine pasture walk with cows, wooden huts and cheese bought straight from the farmer.

Days out and attractions nearby

There is enough around the valley for a week or more:

• The Steinplatte cable car in Waidring with Triassic Park, a dinosaur theme park at over eighteen hundred metres.
• Zell am See and the Zeller See for swimming, boating or cycling around the lake.
• The Grossglockner High Alpine Road and the Krimml Waterfalls for a bigger day trip.
• Berchtesgaden and the Königssee just across the German border, including the salt mine and the Rossfeld panoramic road.
• The city of Salzburg about an hour away, ideal for a rainy day with Mozart, the Getreidegasse and the Hohensalzburg fortress.
• Summer toboggan runs, climbing parks and the Saalach itself for guided rafting and canyoning.

Campsites in the Salzburger Saalachtal and nearby

The best known site in the valley is Camping Grubhof in Sankt Martin bei Lofer. A large nature campsite along the Saalach, split into separate fields with big differences between pitches: some sit by the water, some under tall trees, others out in the open sun.

In the same region, all within roughly half an hour to forty five minutes, these campsites are already on PitchViewer:

• Camping Steinplatte in Waidring, at the foot of the Steinplatte with the cable car around the corner.
• Tirol Camp in Fieberbrunn, a spacious terraced site with plenty of facilities.
• Camping Bad Neunbrunnen am Waldsee near Maishofen, quiet by a forest lake and close to Zell am See.

Why you want to see the pitch in advance

In a mountain valley your pitch makes your holiday. The sun drops behind the rock face early, so a spot that is gloriously sunny at ten in the morning can be in shade by four. Surfaces differ too: grass fields by the river, gravel near the through road and sloping terraces where a big caravan takes real levelling.

On PitchViewer you see per pitch:

• Ground level photos taken by campers who actually stayed there.
• Sun and shade through the day, crucial in a deep valley.
• The surface and how level the spot really is.
• Sanitary blocks and facilities and how far you have to walk.
• The access route, including tight bends and steep sections.

Help other campers

Staying in the Saalachtal, or been there before? Take a few photos of your spot and add your pitch. Note the pitch number, how the shade falls and what the surface is like. Campsite not listed yet? Add it via add a campsite, where name, address and details come straight from Google Maps.

Not sure how that works? How to add a campsite or pitch walks you through it. And why a satellite image alone is not enough is covered in Google Earth and Google Maps: useful, but not enough.

In closing

The Salzburger Saalachtal is far more than a valley to drive through. Caves, gorges, alpine pastures and mountain lakes sit minutes from your pitch, and the valley stays pleasant even in August. Browse the campsites in the region via Search campsites and pick your spot knowing what you get.