This Austrian region is home to over 1,000 lakes
Home to bathing lakes, walking trails and restaurants that make the most of the local produce, the state of Carinthia in southern Austria embraces slow travel in all its forms.
In the southern Austrian state of Carinthia, hiking trails offer far-reaching views of the surrounding peaks and freshwater lakes.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch
Story and photographs by Karolina Wiercigroch
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
There are seven lakes with pristine, drinking-quality water in the region of Klopeiner See–Südkärnten–Lavanttal, the easternmost part of Carinthia. The bathing season starts in May, when the lakes become hubs for water activities: swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, canoeing, boating and fishing.
The holiday appeal of Klopeiner See (Lake Klopein) was first discovered by the Austrian upper classes in the late 1800s, and it’s flanked by neat rows of old-school hotels with private beaches and jetties.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch
Smaller Turnersee offers a more tranquil atmosphere, its wild shore dotted with a handful of family-run B&Bs and camping sites. Both lakes can be explored along the Carinthian Lake Loop, a 250-mile cycling route taking in sights like St Lawrence Church in the village of Stein im Jauntal.
Between the slopes of the Saualpe and Koralpe resorts, the Lavanttal is an official Slow Food Travel destination, prized for its freshwater fish, walnuts, buckwheat and apples. The latter are masterfully turned into ciders, wines, vinegars and schnapps. One Slow Food producer is Andreas Rittler, who smokes fish from his ponds over applewood from his 100-year-old orchard and serves it with oven-baked bread, horseradish cream and homemade cider. The hot-smoked trout and char are flavoured with fresh sage from his wife’s herb garden.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch (Bottom) (Right)
Astrid and Andreas offer rooms at their countryside estate, Gut Schloss Lichtengraben. The 16th-century castle was acquired by Andreas’s grandfather in the 19th century, and built using stones from an even older building, the 11th-century castle of Painburg.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch (Top) (Left)
There are a multitude of hiking trails in southern Carinthia, from the gentle walk up to the viewing platform over Klopeiner See on Kitzelberg mountain, to tougher hikes in the rocky peaks of the majestic Karavank range on the Slovenian border. The highest of its eastern peaks, Petzen, has a cable car that whisks visitors up 5,500ft above sea level, to Panoramarestaurant Oben.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch
From its terrace, there are far-reaching views of the surrounding peaks and the lakes stretching below, best enjoyed with a local beer. From here, hikers continue up to one of Petzen’s three summits, and mountain bikers go downhill, following one of the twisting trails of the MTB Zone Bikepark Petzen. The most famous one, the seven-mile-long Flow Country Trail, has countless turns and is prized by bikers around the world.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch
Carinthia has a number of ‘Slow Trails’ — relaxed paths with stirring lake views, always under 10km (six miles) long and never climbing more than 300m (985 ft). They are easy to follow independently but there are also guides such as Anja Wagner who can introduce visitors to the trails. When not hiking, Anja works as a yoga instructor, demonstrating downward dogs on the shores of the Klopeiner See and Turnersee.
Photograph by Karolina Wiercigroch
A few miles north of the lakes is Sicher, opened in 1972 by Alfons Sicher in an old sawmill. Now considered one of the top fish restaurants in Austria, it uses catch from its own ponds. The Sicher family produces world-renowned char caviar, ‘Sicher gold’, celebrated at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe. The roe is served in their own restaurant, too, in dishes such as tartlet with a liver parfait of trout and Arctic char, Sicher char caviar and wasabi.
Published in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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