We left Innsbruck early and headed toward Zell Am See which was in the Austrian province of Salzburger Land. Along the way Aaron had a few places planned that he wanted to stop. Before we could get there, however, we had to stop for some petrol and it was painful! You really notice how highly subsidized American gas is, especially in Texas. Plus, the rest of the world charges by the liter so it was quite the expense this time! We knew petrol would be an expense when we decided to rent a car, so we prepared for this (mostly) but yowza!

After fueling up, we embarked on a beautiful drive through Tirol and Sulzberger Land. We were getting right into the area where the Sound of Music was filmed as well. We stopped for a bit to hike to a lake and conveniently there was a little cafe at the top (they are everywhere!) so I had a cappuccino and Aaron had an espresso. Europe still has the best damn coffee anywhere.

Krimml Waterfall

The Krimml waterfall is gorgeous, but be warned of the actual cost to see this thing. We finally got to the Krimml waterfall after driving over the Panoramic Highway, which also happens to be a €9 toll road. There’s virtually no way to get to the waterfall without paying this toll, so just throw that €9 to the scenery! You do get to see beautiful views of the alps and a few lakes. When you get to the Krimml Waterfall parking area, you have to pay €4.50 to park for 2 hours and it’s €.50 for every additional half hour. Then when you hike down to actually get to the trail to see the waterfall, it’s €4 per person to gain access to the trail. Before you plan you trip to see this thing, I just hope you’re more aware than we were! This info was not really on their website. We’ve found the websites here are not very English friendly and don’t give a lot of details (like parking surcharges, for instance).

When we finally did see it, it really was gorgeous. It’s the tallest waterfall in Europe and has a hiking trail that traverses the mountain next to it all the way up to the top of the falls! There are 3 waterfalls in total and about 15 viewing spots along the trail. The first waterfall you can get to very easily, even by wheelchair. If you want to get up above it, you have to take a switchback trail that is pretty steep. Of course, we really only had 2 hours so we hiked to the top of the second waterfall and called it good. It would probably take about 3 hours total to get to the top and back down. Below are some gorgeous shots of the falls!

Zell Am See

The Krimml Waterfall was only about 15 minutes from Zell Am See, however we did hit a bit of a hang up getting to our actual AirBnB. We purchased a portable WiFi for this trip and it has been fantastic the entire time, except for when we headed to Zell Am See. It totally had no signal and the listing had no map directions included. More about the listing later…

After much struggle and frustration, we finally made it into our tiny space that happened to be a 5 minute walk to the lift up the mountain. Super convenient! Since we had been going pretty hard everyday since we got here, we took our first day in Zell Am See to relax. We rented bikes and rode them all the way around the lake. We stopped at multiple areas to swim and had an awesome lunch on one of the lake’s beaches. Of course to stick to our budget, we ate one meal out and bought items at the grocery store for dinner. It was such a fun introduction to Salzburger Land!

My first BAD AirBnB Experience

Here’s where I want to rant a little about our listing. We booked this apartment back in March (2018) for a stay in June. I knew it would be small, but at $64 per night is was super affordable. The other listings in the area were far above our price point, so I settled for this one. At the time, “basic amenities” such as sheets, towels, and toilet paper were provided in the listing. Apparently the owner changed the policy in April and it was now a €9 fee (on top of the AirBnB cleaning fee!) for each person for towels and sheets. Also, I discovered in the heat of the moment that there was no toilet paper to be found in the whole apartment! The listing also said there was WiFi provided, but there were no instructions left for us to get access to it. I was clearly beginning to hulk out a bit…

I messaged the owner with a request for the WiFi info and for toilet paper but got no response. We even went down to the fancy AF hotel across the street to ask if we could use their phone to call the owner, but they said no there was a pay phone in town. “Town” was a 10 minute drive down the mountain. Aaron finally just called the house a manger using Skype and the free WiFi at the Ski Lift. Anna was the house manager and was loads more help than the owner. She came to collect our renting taxes (€1.20 per person per day) and brought us toilet paper. She also tried to collect that €9 towel/sheet fee, but I informed her that the cost was not something in my original contract. That’s when she informed me the policy had changed after we had booked it, so she didn’t push the issue. She also called the owner personally to get the WiFi info and then sent me the information later via email. Thank you, ANNA!

All in all, the apartment was very small but it had everything we needed. It also had GORGEOUS view of the mountain, so we woke up to that every morning! It was located right next to the ski lift and a really fancy hotel, but don’t go there because they are jerks. And speaking of jerks, the owner finally messaged me back two days after I sent the original message saying “I’m sorry, toilet papers are not included. You have to make your own arrangements”. WARNING: HULK ELIZABETH! Of course I suppose he forgot that it was in the contract in March when we booked this place, but still. I think toilet paper is a basic aspect of an AirBnB, right??? Thank goodness for Anna, she was our saving grace.

Until tomorrow, Ciao!