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After couple of utterly enjoyable days in Solden, off we were for the last stop in our summer adventurous trip – Kaprun/Zell am See, again in Austria. Kaprun is a famous winter resort, with an awesome glacier at 3,000m+. It’s among our planned ski vacation spots, so we were eager to check it out in the summer too.

Being already aware that mountain resorts do offer some kind of activity cards, we did a small research and came across 2 sports activity cards available in the area: the Zell am See Kaprun card, and the Hohe Tauern card.

* Kaprun card is offered for free with some accommodations and includes 18 attractions, among them free lifts, swimming pools, lake boat, museums and more. The card is valid for the period of your stay.

* The Hohe Tauern card costs 46 EUR/6 days for adults and 23 EUR/6 days for kids (for 12 days it costs very slightly more), and includes 160 attractions and activities in the whole Salzburg area.

We stayed just 2 days, so picking the free card was an easy choice. However, if you go to Kaprun for 3-4 days or more, get the Hohe Tauern card. The activities included in it, besides being much more, are very diverse (from cultural to spa and sports ones), you’ll get to know the area and have an emotions-rich and active family vacation. This will definitely be our choice for next summer!

Within 2 days we didn’t have enough time to check even the activities included with the more basic Kaprun card. But, we did our best!

The most awesome of all activities was visiting the Kitzsteinhorn summit (3,029 m, the highest point in Salzbourg region, requires a few cable car connections to reach it). We were amazed by how much we can see and do there!

Toboggans at the summit

Besides enjoying the views, trekking and playing in the snow (yes, there was snow there, and kids riding toboggans) you could:

* watch a free movie on Hohe Tauern National Park (shot both in summer and winter). Kids were impressed.

* take snapshots of the summit from the awesome panorama platforms

This is the view from Kitzsteinhorn

* visit the National Park Gallery, located 360 m below Kitzsteinhorn peak, inside a mine shaft. In this glacier museum there were tons of pics and info on how the glacier was formed, and how it keeps changing. There’s exhibition of minerals, gold and silver discovered there, info on the flora and fauna in the glacier, etc. There are also sea shell proofs that the glacier had once been bottom of a sea, and had risen up after the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. Great info for the kids, just make sure to bring warm clothes as the gallery is a bit cold.

* eat delicious food at one of the middle lift stations, while enjoying the view and the crispy air. Pleasant surprise was the kids menu and a great kids playground.

Kids playground in the clouds, @Kitzsteinhorn

We also visited an indoor swimming pool in Zell am See where some of us tried beating the daily record for fastest descent down the waterslide!

We missed the ‘pleasure boat trip’ included with the card, but compensated with leisure walks and ice-cream around the lake.

Zell am See lake

We wrapped up our stay in Kaprun with yet another session of mini-golf, in magnificent settings – with small rivers, caves, waterfalls and amid tons of flowers. Beauty!

One final round of mini-golf

To summarize, Kaprun is a great place to relax, and hike. I was amazed at how much you could do within the free Kaprun card (imagine what you can do with the paid one!) and how rewarding and experience-rich is each single attraction we went to. The whole resort is very family-friendly – meaning you get discounts for kids, there are many kid playgrounds all around, most hotels and even guesthouses have some kid facilities in their yard. On top, accommodation and food in Kaprun are quite affordable, which makes the family stay even easier.

And, if you need a host recommendation – the guest house Schattbachgut is a great choice.

Consider this amazing place for your next summer vacation!

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