Austria · Styria & Carinthia · Travel guide
What a week of swimming at Austria's warmest Alpine lake really costs, why you should stay on the eastern shore instead of Velden in July and August, and which village has the best jetty.
Photo: Dominik Jbstl / Pexels
Adjust the values to your trip: the calculator updates live (EUR, converted from CHF estimates).
Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in euros (EUR). Cards work almost everywhere; mountain huts and sausage stands often want cash. Tipping is expected: 5 to 10 percent, by naming the rounded total when you pay. In ski resorts a visitor tax of EUR 2 to 4 per night is added to the hotel price. Getting there: By train (ÖBB Railjet), car or a flight to Vienna, 2 to 8 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Small house in a Renaissance building with an inner courtyard in the middle of the old town, simple, clean rooms, family-run. Three minutes to the Benediktinermarkt, ten to the suburban train. For anyone who wants to combine city and lake.
Simple, well-run city hotel with a beer garden and car park five minutes' walk east of the old town, on Völkermarkter Strasse. No lakeside location, but honest prices even in August and a solid breakfast. Practical for drivers.
Youth hostel with double and family rooms with private bathroom between the university and the Strandbad, Europapark and Minimundus within walking distance. The cheapest way to sleep near the lake in summer.
Mid-range
Traditional house since 1756 on the edge of the old town with classically furnished rooms, restaurant and inner courtyard. Emperors and composers stayed here; today it is the reliable city hotel for anyone who wants to be in the old town in the evening.
Art nouveau house from 1890 on the Domplatz, furnished in modern style by the Arcotel group, with a coffee house on the ground floor that is part of the old town. Central, reliable, also designed for business travellers and equipped accordingly.
Modern four-star house on the Lendkanal right next to the Strandbad Klagenfurt, with spa, pool and bikes. Two minutes on foot to the lake, ten by bus into the old town. The best compromise between a beach holiday and fair prices.
Luxury
The castle from the television series, built in 1603, with a large spa, its own lake lido, jetties and boat landing on the bay of Velden. The most expensive place on the lake and the one with the most history. Book months ahead in summer.
Five-star house in a villa from 1860 on the quiet western edge of Pörtschach, with lake lido, boathouse, tennis courts and a restaurant with a Gault Millau toque. Classic, quiet, for couples who want the lake without the bustle.
Resort on the northern shore with its own bathhouse from 1895, a large lake lido with jetties, spa and several restaurants. Less formal than the castles, with plenty of space for families and one of the loveliest wooden bathhouses on the lake.
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The 100-metre wooden observation tower above Keutschach with lift, stairs and all-round views of the Wörthersee, the Karawanks and Slovenia. Admission CHF 16 (about EUR 17), included with the Kärnten Card, CHF 5 extra for the slide down. One to two hours, best in the late afternoon.
The scheduled boats call at Klagenfurt, Krumpendorf, Pörtschach, Maria Wörth and Velden, round trip CHF 22 (about EUR 24), single sections from CHF 8. You only see the villas and boathouses from the water. 90 minutes each way.
The little world on the Wörthersee: 150 models of famous buildings at a scale of 1:25, railways and ships included. Admission CHF 19 (about EUR 20), included with the Kärnten Card, two hours, longer with children. Right on the bus line to the Strandbad.
Two hours through the Renaissance courtyards, to the Landhaus with its Wappensaal and to the Lindwurm on the Neuer Platz. Guided from CHF 12 (about EUR 13), the Wappensaal costs CHF 6. Combine it with the Benediktinermarkt on a Thursday or Saturday.
The largest inland lake lido in Europe with wooden cabins from 1928, jetties, lawns and a view of the Karawanks. Admission CHF 6 (about EUR 6), 20 minutes by bike along the Lendkanal from the old town. The cheapest and most beautiful day of swimming on the lake.
The castle on the rock cone near St. Veit, 14 gates on the way up, armoury and castle inn at the top. Admission CHF 17 (about EUR 18), lift CHF 5, included with the Kärnten Card. Half a day, 30 minutes' drive from Klagenfurt, in summer go in the morning before the heat.
SUP hire in Velden, Pörtschach and Klagenfurt for CHF 15 to 20 (about EUR 16 to 21) an hour, electric boat for four people CHF 25 to 35 an hour, no licence needed. Before 10 am the lake is as smooth as a mirror.
Through the Karawanks tunnel in an hour to Lake Bled with its island church and castle, on to Ljubljana in 90 minutes. Guided day tours from Klagenfurt or Velden from CHF 80 (about EUR 86), on your own with a hire car including vignettes around CHF 60.
The viewpoint mountain above the Ossiacher See, 40 minutes from Klagenfurt, Kanzelbahn and summit cable car up to 1,900 metres with a view of all the Carinthian lakes. Ascent CHF 30 (about EUR 32), included with the Kärnten Card. With a short summit loop, half a day.
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Carinthia cooks from what the farmers had in winter: dough, quark, potatoes, buckwheat and mint, plus fish from the lakes. The Kasnudel is the heart of it, and Carinthians argue about the right crimping the way Italians argue about pasta. On the lake everything costs double what it does in the hinterland, and the hinterland is better.
Palm-sized pasta parcels filled with quark, potatoes and mint ("Nudelminze"), boiled and drenched in brown butter. Two of them make a meal. CHF 12 to 15 (about EUR 13 to 16).
Tip:The crimped edge must be done by hand; if they are machine-folded, leave them. With chives, never with cheese.
The lake's whitefish, fried or smoked, with parsley potatoes and salad. CHF 24 to 32 (about EUR 26 to 34) at a lakeside restaurant, CHF 18 to 22 in an inn in the hinterland.
Tip:Ask for the catch of the day; Reinanke is not on the menu every day. As smoked Laxn at the market CHF 6 apiece.
Yeast bundt cake with cinnamon, sugar and raisins from the bundt tin ("Reindl"), traditionally eaten at Easter with ham and horseradish, today all year round with coffee. A slice CHF 3 to 4 (about EUR 3 to 4).
Tip:On Easter Sunday it is eaten with Easter ham and horseradish, sweet with salty; try it.
Stew of pearl barley, beans and smoked pork, simmered for hours, the home cooking of farmers and mountain farmers. CHF 10 to 13 (about EUR 11 to 14) as a main course.
Tip:A winter dish, rarely on the menu in summer. Have a Krügel of Villacher beer with it.
Bacon, onions and cheese roasted in the pan until a golden crust forms, served with polenta or bread. It comes from the Gailtal on the Italian border. CHF 12 to 16 (about EUR 13 to 17).
Tip:Order one portion for two; the dish is heavier than it sounds.
Lamb from the Hohe Tauern, braised in autumn, and the smoked Carinthian farmhouse sausages with horseradish and bread, at the market all year round. Würstel CHF 5 to 7 (about EUR 5 to 7), lamb dish CHF 22 to 28.
Tip:At the market you eat the Würstel standing up with a glass of wine; that is the second breakfast of Klagenfurt.
The sweet sister of the Kasnudel, filled with dried pears (Kletzen), quark and cinnamon, served with brown butter as a dessert or main course. CHF 9 to 12 (about EUR 10 to 13).
Tip:Often made only in winter and at Christmas, rarely in summer.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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The Wörthersee is a leftover from the Ice Age: the Drau glacier gouged out the basin, and when it retreated it left behind a lake 17 kilometres long and up to 85 metres deep with no major inflow. That is why it warms up to 27 degrees in summer and is one of the warmest Alpine lakes of all. Klagenfurt was first mentioned in 1192, burned down several times and in 1518 was given by Emperor Maximilian I to the Carinthian estates, a procedure unique in Europe. The estates had the city rebuilt by Italian master builders as an ideal Renaissance city on a chessboard plan, with the Landhaus, city walls and the Lendkanal, which has linked the city with the lake four kilometres away since 1527. The Lindwurm on the Neuer Platz, carved in 1593 from a single block of chlorite schist, recalls the founding legend: a dragon is said to have lived in the swamp before the city was built. Its head was modelled on a woolly rhinoceros skull found nearby in 1335. Tourism arrived in 1864 with the railway from Vienna to Klagenfurt and Villach, which runs along the northern shore. Viennese aristocrats and industrialists built villas and boathouses in Pörtschach and Velden in timber architecture, the "Wörthersee architecture" you still see on the shores today. Johannes Brahms composed his second symphony in Pörtschach, Gustav Mahler worked in his composing hut in Maiernigg on the southern shore, Alban Berg in Auen. In the 1980s came the image of the jet set and sports cars, shaped by the television series "Ein Schloss am Wörthersee". Today around 100,000 people live in Klagenfurt, and in summer the lake is the city's garden: by bike along the Lendkanal to the Strandbad, the largest inland lake lido in Europe.
From Zurich you take the Railjet to Salzburg (5 hours 20) and change there onto the Railjet towards Villach and Klagenfurt, which runs through the Gastein valley and the Tauern tunnel, scenically one of the most beautiful lines in Austria. 8 to 9 hours in total, with a Half Fare Card to Buchs and an ÖBB Sparschiene fare from CHF 110 to 150 (about EUR 118 to 161) return. Since December 2025 the Koralmbahn has been running, and Graz is only 45 minutes from Klagenfurt: if you want to combine both destinations, arrive or leave via Graz. By car it is 600 kilometres and around 6 hours: via the Arlberg, Innsbruck, Salzburg and the Tauern motorway with the Tauern and Katschberg tunnels (special toll CHF 14 each way), or from Innsbruck over the Felbertauern (CHF 12) and through the Mölltal, twistier and prettier. Do not forget the vignette. On the spot, a car at the Wörthersee cuts both ways: the lakeside road between Velden and Klagenfurt is one long traffic jam in July and August, and parking in Velden costs CHF 2 to 3 an hour. Better: the S1 suburban train stops in Velden, Pörtschach and Krumpendorf, the boat calls at every village, and a bike on the Wörthersee cycle path covers the southern shore in an hour and a half. With the Wörthersee Plus Card, which many hosts give you free, bus and suburban train around the lake cost nothing.
This is where your budget is decided. Velden is the famous name, with casino, castle hotel, promenade and the highest prices: a double room with lake view costs CHF 250 to 400 (about EUR 268 to 428) in July and August, in the Schlosshotel CHF 500 and more. Pörtschach on the northern shore is a little quieter, with the flower peninsula and the old villas, priced just below. Maria Wörth and Reifnitz on the southern shore are smaller, with guesthouses and family-run places from CHF 150. Our advice for the high season: stay in Klagenfurt or in Krumpendorf, the unassuming village on the eastern shore. Klagenfurt has city hotels for CHF 110 to 160, the Strandbad with suburban train and bus connections, and in the evening you have the old town and its restaurants. Krumpendorf has seven bathing spots, the suburban train and prices around CHF 130. Even more important than the place is lake access: many hotels in the second row have their own bathing spot on the shore, included in the price, and that saves the CHF 6 to 8 lido admission per person per day. When booking, ask for "hauseigener Seezugang" (the hotel's own lake access). If you want to come in July or August, book by February; after that the good places are gone. In June and September you get the same rooms for 30 to 40 per cent less.
To be honest: the Wörthersee is not cheap in July and August. Hotels are then as expensive as on Lake Thun, a sun lounger in the smart lidos costs CHF 10 to 15 (about EUR 11 to 16) a day, an hour in an electric boat CHF 25 to 35, lunch on the jetty in Velden CHF 25 to 30. The ways to save: first, the Kärnten Card, around CHF 50 for a week, which gives free entry to more than 100 attractions, including the Pyramidenkogel, Minimundus, Burg Hochosterwitz, most mountain railways and parts of the boat service. With one outing a day you have recouped it after three days. Second, the Wörthersee Plus Card, which many hotels and guesthouses give free with your stay: public transport around the lake, reduced lidos and boats. Third, the public bathing spots: besides the lidos with admission, every municipality has free access points, in Krumpendorf, Reifnitz, Dellach and Velden on the Seecorso; ask the tourist office for the list. The Strandbad Klagenfurt costs CHF 6 and, with its wooden cabins from 1928, is the most beautiful on the lake. Fourth, food: the inns in Klagenfurt and the Buschenschank taverns in the hinterland cost half what the lakeside restaurants do. And the local tax of CHF 3 per night is added everywhere.
The lake reaches 23 to 24 degrees by the end of June and stays above 22 degrees until mid-September. Everything follows from that: July and August are crowded, expensive and warm, with thunderstorms in the afternoon. The last two weeks of June and the whole of September offer swimming weather with half the crowds and hotel prices 30 to 40 per cent lower. September is our favourite: the water is warmer than the morning air, the mist over the lake lifts at around 9 am, and the restaurants are still open. From October many lakeside businesses close, then it becomes quiet and lovely for cycling. Winter at the Wörthersee is calm; only in severe winters does it freeze over, most recently in 2006, and then half of Carinthia comes to skate. In Klagenfurt there is the Christkindlmarkt on the Neuer Platz in Advent and carnival in February, but as a winter destination Klagenfurt is a stopover on the way to the ski areas of Gerlitzen (40 minutes) and Nassfeld (75 minutes). Two dates to avoid or to seek out: the GTI meeting in Reifnitz (Whitsun, officially discontinued since 2023, unofficially still going) and Ironman Austria in early July, which closes whole roads and fills the hotels.
Bathers often see Klagenfurt only as a railway station, yet the old town with its roughly 50 Renaissance courtyards between the Alter Platz and the Neuer Platz is worth half a day. The Lindwurm on the Neuer Platz is the landmark, the Landhaus courtyard with the Wappensaal (hall of coats of arms, CHF 6, about EUR 6) the finest courtyard, and the Benediktinermarkt on Thursday and Saturday the place where you eat Kärntner Kasnudeln, Reindling and Kärntner Laxn, the smoked lake trout, at the stall. From the market you cycle or walk along the Lendkanal, four kilometres under chestnut trees to the Strandbad, or take the excursion boat along the canal for CHF 8. On the lake itself three places are underrated. Maria Wörth on the peninsula on the southern shore, with two churches from the 12th century, is a photo stop by day and in the evening, once the coaches have gone, the most atmospheric spot on the whole lake. Dellach and Reifnitz behind it have the quiet bathing spots. And the Pyramidenkogel, the 100-metre wooden tower above Keutschach, is not cheap at CHF 16, but the view of the lake, the Karawanks and across to Slovenia is worth it; if you like, you can take Europe's highest building slide down in 20 seconds. From there the road leads to the Keutschacher See and the valley of the four lakes, where it gets quieter and cheaper still.
From Klagenfurt the best day trips are within half an hour. Burg Hochosterwitz, 20 kilometres north, is the fairytale castle on the rock with 14 gates on the way up, admission CHF 17 (about EUR 18), included with the Kärnten Card, two to three hours including the climb. Minimundus on the western edge of Klagenfurt shows 150 famous buildings at a scale of 1:25, from the Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal, a must for children and for adults two hours more interesting than expected, CHF 19 or free with the card. The boat trip on the lake costs CHF 22 for the round trip from Klagenfurt to Velden and back, 90 minutes each way, and is a good way to see the villas from the water. If you want mountains, go up the Gerlitzen via Villach by cable car, with a panoramic view of all the Carinthian lakes. And then there is Slovenia: the Loibl pass or the Karawanks tunnel takes you in an hour to Bled with its island in the lake, or to Ljubljana in 90 minutes, one of the most beautiful small cities in Europe with prices another 20 per cent below Carinthia. For the Karawanks tunnel you need the Austrian vignette plus a tunnel toll of CHF 8, and in Slovenia the e-vignette (7 days CHF 15). A day trip to Bled with a swim in the lake and a cream slice (CHF 5) is doable from Velden.
By train via Salzburg and Villach in 8 to 9 hours, CHF 110 to 150 (about EUR 118 to 161) return with a Half Fare Card and a Sparschiene fare; the route through the Tauern is an experience in itself. By car 600 kilometres and around 6 hours on the Tauern motorway. On the spot you do not need a car: suburban train, bus, boat and bike link all the villages, and with the Wörthersee Plus Card public transport is free. For trips to Hochosterwitz or Slovenia you hire a car for a day.
Honestly: a lot. A mid-range double room with lake view then costs CHF 250 to 400 (about EUR 268 to 428) a night, in Klagenfurt or Krumpendorf CHF 110 to 160. Add lido admission CHF 6 to 8 a day and food CHF 40 to 55 per person. Budget CHF 150 to 200 per person per day on the shore in the high season, CHF 90 to 120 in Klagenfurt. In June and September it is 30 to 40 per cent less with almost the same weather.
From mid-June to mid-September. The lake reaches 23 to 24 degrees by the end of June, up to 27 degrees in August, and stays above 22 degrees in September, often warmer than the morning air. The hardy swim from Whitsun at 18 to 20 degrees. The lake is of drinking water quality, you can see several metres down in the bays, and algae are not an issue.
Velden if you want the promenade, the casino and evening life and have the budget. Pörtschach is quieter, with the finest villas and the flower peninsula. Maria Wörth and Reifnitz on the southern shore are family-friendly and silent in the evening. Klagenfurt and Krumpendorf are the smart choice for the high season: considerably cheaper, suburban train and lido on the doorstep, old town in the evening. The decisive thing is a hotel with its own lake access.
From three outings onwards, yes. For around CHF 50 (about EUR 54) a week it includes the Pyramidenkogel (otherwise CHF 16), Minimundus (CHF 19), Burg Hochosterwitz (CHF 17), the Gerlitzen cable car and many boats and lidos. For a pure swimming week with one outing it is not worth it. Children pay half. Available in tourist offices and many hotels, from April to October.
Kärntner Kasnudeln: hand-crimped pasta parcels filled with quark, potatoes and mint, served with brown butter, CHF 12 to 15 (about EUR 13 to 16). Then whitefish or char from the lake, Reindling, the yeast cake with cinnamon and raisins, and Glockner lamb in autumn. The best overview is the Benediktinermarkt in Klagenfurt on Thursday and Saturday, where you taste everything at the stall.
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