Paddle Boarding in Salzkammergut, Austria

The Salzkammergut region of Austria, with its 76 crystal-clear lakes, offers a picturesque landscape, lush greenery, and majestic mountains. Among its many water and land attractions, stand up paddling has emerged as a popular way to explore the waters of this breathtaking region. Combining adventure with tranquility, paddling in the Salzkammergut Area offers enthusiasts an unforgettable experience.

Amongst lakes, mountains & nature, the city Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut Area is European Capital of Culture in 2024. It brings the diversity of historical and contemporary art and culture on center stage and raises the profile of this beautiful city to an international level. The well known movie "Sound of Music" was filmed on different locations in the picturesque World Heritage City of Salzburg and surrounding places in the Salzkammergut Area, first and foremost the landmark mountain “Schafberg” with its breathtaking 360° panoramic view, looking over some of the biggest and most popular lakes in the region.

Paddling Attersee. | Photo: TVB Attersee-Attergau

Seasons

As winter-sup gains popularity, the Salzkammergut Area is more and more becoming a year-round destination for paddlers around the world. It ́s possible to do skiing and snowboarding in the morning and paddle in the afternoon – but notice: wearing proper equipment is essential as the water temperatures often go down to freezing temperatures in winter. Sometimes, and this is definitely one of the highlights at Lake Fuschl (“Fuschlsee” in local language) during this season, parts of the lake actually freeze and SUPing along the edges of the ice patches while floating on crystal clear water is a fantastic experience, even for those paddlers calling the Fuschlsee their SUP home turf and being used to paddle in a breathtaking environment.

With spring arriving, nature awakes, changing from snow white to its green and colorful tones. Also, temperatures are rising and thus from May – September you’ll find nice conditions for all kinds of SUP activities, with slightly cooler air temperatures during early morning and late evening for some sportier paddling and mild to warm air temperatures during the day for an easy SUP tour amongst friends with lots of chats and laughter. Water temperatures in summer are perfect for a refreshing swim between SUP sessions or if you’re also into other sports like Wingfoiling or triathlon.

Autumn is the golden time in the Salzkammergut Area – mostly the temperatures for air and water are still warm, classic summer tourism is winding down, so there are less people on the lakes and nature changes its color again in the most beautiful shades of gold and brown.

Paddle boarding Wolfgangsee. | Photo: SUP Box

Safety and Protection

While stand up paddling in Salzkammergut promises adventure and relaxation, it's important to prioritize safety and environmental protection. Due to the surrounding mountains, the weather can change pretty fast, so staying safe by checking the forecast is absolutely necessary. As well as familiarizing with the local nature regulations and nature reserves.

Hot Spots

• Fuschlsee
• Wolfgangsee
• Mondsee
• Attersee

Paddling Fuschlsee. | Photo: SUP Box

Fuschlsee (20km from the city of Salzburg)

As already indicated above, the Fuschlsee is an absolute insider tip amongst the SUP paddlers in the Salzkammergut region. The crystal-clear water has drinking-water quality and shimmers in a turquoise color. If one glimpses from the SUP to the bottom of the lake it feels like one is hovering across Caribbean waters. The Fuschlsee has a total length of about 4 kilometers one way – easy to do a round trip and paddle past the famous Hotel “Schloss Fuschl”, where presidents, kings and stars spend their holidays. With its surface area of 2.7 square kilometers, it’s a cozy and truly unique lake! And what most people don’t know, just across the street from Fuschlsee are the international Headquarters of Red Bull, featuring a unique and amazing architecture that is worth a picture.

Standup paddle boarding Wolfgangsee, Austria. | Photos: SUP Box

Wolfgangsee

Stand-up paddling on the Wolfgangsee offers the opportunity to paddle on purest water along an idyllic landscape. While paddling the North-South turn passing by the “Ochsenkreuz”, which is a wayside shrine erected on a little island – it is popular photo stop during SUP adventures at Wolfgangsee. The monumental Falkensteinwand is a cliff that rises up vertically almost 200 meters almost vertically from the water surface of the lake, being another impressive stop while paddling to the direction on St. Wolfgang. The Falkensteinwand hosted Red Bull’s first Cliff Diving event in 2005 and is also a frequently visited place for climbers, who start their tours out of a boat (or SUP board), as this is the only way to approach the mountain from bottom. The Wolfgangsee has a length of about 10 kilometers and has a surface area of 13 square kilometers to explore.

Views of paddling in Mondsee, Austria. | Photos: SUP Box

Mondsee

The striking Drachenwand (nearly 1,200 meters high cliff) and the aforementioned majestic Schafberg provide for an impressive panorama view and the untouched nature around the picturesque Mondsee will enable a real SUP adventure. The name Mondsee today is thought to refer to its curved form resembling a halfmoon crescent. However, others believe that ancient settlers were worshiping the moon god, lending the lake that name. One thing is for sure – a clear moon night at the Mondsee is an unforgettable experience. Due to its shape and geographical location, there are times with solid winds that allow for fun up and downwind SUP sessions, especially for slightly more experienced riders. The Mondsee has a length of 11 kilometers and a surface area of about 16.6 square kilometers. It is one of the warmer lakes in the Salzkammergut Area and provides various SUP Tours to explore the waters.

Stunning views of Attersee. | Photo: TVB Attersee-Attergau

Attersee

With 46 square kilometers of water surface the Attersee is the biggest lake in Austria – an “Eldorado” for sailors, water sport lovers and leisure seekers alike! Hidden bays, turquoise water and a wide range of activities are tempting people from far and near to visit the Attersee. Even internationally renowned artists like Gustav Klimt and Gustav Mahler chose the Attersee for inspiration during their summer holidays. The Attersee is also called “the sea” of the Salzkammergut – with a length of 19 kilometers, the lake suggests an almost infinite extension. Because of the light turquoise color of the water, paddling on the Attersee resembles a paddling tour in the Caribbean – only better - it is paddling on drinking-water. The turquoise water of the Attersee is mainly due to calcite sediments (lime scale), covering most of the bottom of the lake. One of the Attersee highlights not related to SUPing are the underwater stilt houses in the lake. Those houses were built over 5,000 years ago and were discovered in the late 19th century during a period of low water levels of the lake.

Attersee paddle boarding. | Photo: TVB Attersee-Attergau

Other Paddlers

The local SUP School, Rental & Shop SUP BOX offers every Summer a guided trip through the Salzkammergut Area – the SUP SAFARI SALZKAMMERGUT: top hotels, culinary highlights and the most magnificent places of the Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee, Attersee & Mondsee. The SUP Box also runs a small but highly ambitious SUP racing team, participating in international and professional races taking place in the Alpine region. With a selection of the latest top notch SUP race boards and gear by Starboard, the SUP BOX is also a “go to" when seeking corresponding material, advice, testing and training camps.

To explore more SUP destinations, click HERE.