Autumn Road Trip, Austria

Back to Austria it is! This time on a road trip with just me and my car; a Maxda CX-3 in collaboration with Mazda Netherlands. They were super kind to let me drive this car all the way to Austria. The drive there took me 10,5 hours but doing that drive with this car was so easy and relaxed but most of all it made me feel super safe! The car reacts to its surroundings so for example if you want to change lanes it will tell you there’s another car at your side that you have not spotted, when on cruise control (which I used nonstop) it will slow down automatically when it spots a car in front of you with a slower speed. I was just so in awe of this car and it made the trip super enjoyable!

I got this idea of doing a road trip when I was in Austria back in August on a influencer trip. I just knew I had to come back here by myself during Autumn for an amazing road trip. And I did! I just got back home a couple of days ago with my heart full of the incredible adventure I had. Here goes:

Days one – three

I left home early in the morning and arrived just before dark at my first place where I would stay for the next couple of days: Hotel Salzburger Hof in Leogang. This was the hotel I stayed in during my trip in August and loved it! They kindly offered me to stay with them again and it starts to feel like home now, haha! Also I just wanted to say that the people working here are amazing! They really make sure you are having the best time. I noticed a couple of times that the cook sat down at some people’s table to discuss some options because they had allergies or something and he would make sure they would have something delicious to eat as well.

Hotel Salzburger Hof, Leogang

The hotel has a complete week program where you can choose an activity or you can just explore the area on your own. I decided to join for the hike to Lettlkaser that morning with hiking guide Stefan.
Afterwards I went straight to the wellness area to relax and the weather was so good that I was able to lay by the outdoor heated pool! How crazy is that in the middle of October!?

I spent a couple of days here hiking before it was time to move on to the next place…

The “Hütte” we walked to with our guide Stefan from Hotel Salzburger Hof.

On my way to the “Stoissengraben” waterfall with the Mazda CX-3.

This was such a nice place to visit. I left early in the morning and the whole hike there (about 2,5 hrs) I saw one other person. Being completely alone there made it extra special I think.

Days four – five

Still in the same area of Leogang I was super excited to try out Biohotel Rupertus! This hotel tries to be as “bio” as possible and I think they did a pretty amazing job: from rye straws in the drinks to a natural swimming pool outside cleaned by plants.
The room I stayed in was huge! And I had the nicest view of the mountains and the pool. They have an all vegan menu and a “normal” menu. This was the first time I’ve seen a complete vegan menu in a hotel and the food was sooo good! There is also a wellness area in this hotel and an outdoor sauna next to a natural pool to cool off in!

Biohotel Rupertus with the outdoor natural pool area

Drove to Gosausee, which is a 2 hour drive from where I was staying. I was taking way longer cause I had to stop every 5 minutes to enjoy this view!!

Days six – seven

Time to move on again. This time to Mama Thresl! This place is next level and it will be super hard to explain this place and try to get the vibe across if you haven’t experienced it for yourself, but I’ll try: when you step into this place you’re immediately in the bar/restaurant/hanging out area which is cozy and modern and there’s a huge wooden pillar with a via varreta in the middle, the bar has swings to sit on, there’s chill music playing. It is just such a cool place!
When I got to my room I just dropped my stuff at the door and walked through the room going “wow” for a couple of minutes. There are just so many details they thought about and the wood and stone mix looks so good! There’s even a hammock chair on the balcony!

Hotel Mama Thresl. This place was “photo heaven”as I like to call it.

Went for a hike to Riedlalm and had to hang out with the cows for a while that I saw along the way.
This place was special. Again no one around and when I arrived at the “alm” (which was closed but they had a mini refrigerator outside with drinks, YES!) I lay down in a field enjoying the view, hearing the cow bells in the distance. It was just so peaceful and quiet that eventually I fell asleep. This was probably one of the best days!

Days eight – ten

Now it was time to leave the area of Saalfelden, Leogang and visit a new place: Lech, Voralberg where my friend Vreni lives. Her family actually owns Hotel Lech which is the first hotel you see when driving to the village. Arriving at this place felt like arriving home. The hotel is really cozy and Vreni and her family really invite you into their lovely “home”. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to leave this place anymore. The room I stayed in was called Schneewitchen (snow white) and had a view over the mountains. One of those mountains we were about the climb that afternoon: Omeshorn.

Made it! The “Gipfel” of Omeshorn in the distance…

It was so pretty up here even Katze the dog (which means cat) was enjoying the view <3

The next day we climbed another peak called Mohnenfluh. We were there just before sunset and it was incredible! This was only my 3rd ever peak I climbed and this is by far my favorite! The view was insane from here! So many layers of mountains in the distance… I might have shed a tear or two after struggling up the mountain and then being greeted by such a beautiful view! Climbing mountains has to be one of my fav things now and I can’t wait to plan some more trips to the mountain soon 🙂 This was my last full day in Austria and the best one of the whole trip!