Gosau Kammbahn

This big cable car (operates every day) in summer. There are sturdy three wheel pushchairs available free of charge at the top, which make the two mountain huts at the top easily accessible for all ages. if you don't need to use the buggies you can also take the relatively easy walk back down through the woods to Gosausee (lake)

Gosau lake (Gosausee)

Gosausee is a beautiful day out, offering a restaurant with large sun terrace, walks round the lake or a trip up the Kammbahn (cable car). It takes about an hour to walk round the lake and is just about manageable with a pushchair or small children. There are quite a few distractions and activities to keep kids occupied on the way, including water wheels, pumps and water games. Don't be mistaken by the smaller lake just after Gosau town, but make sure you carry on going to the end of the valley. The views are worth it.

Abtenau Karkogel (summer tobogganing)

The Abtenau cable car offers a 2km toboggan run in the summer. It's quite expensive (approx 10 euros for one adult ride), but definitely worth it - you might want to consider one of the discounted multi-trip tickets as we were all desperate for another go. It's quite a nice feeling tobogganing through flowers and close to the alpine cows. I think the kids were more interested in jamming on the accelerator and hurtling round the bends. There is an adventure playground at the bottom and Gasthaus Traunstein has a sun terrace and mini golf.

Russbach waterpark

Russbach has an outdoor swimming lake, which is advertised as a "fully biological natural pool" (cleaned by plants), with a slide, diving and sunbathing areas and pretty good restaurant. There is also a water park next to the lake that has a free of charge canoe course for children, a play river with dams and water wheels and Kneipp cure facilities.

Kneipps

Kneipp water treatments are popular in Austria in parks and spas and you may see groups of people with their trousers rolled up paddling round in stone ditches. They are based on concepts developed by a German priest, Sebastian Kneipp, who believed that cold water can stimulate circulation. The idea is that you walk around in freezing cold mountain streams, causing the blood vessels in your feet to contract and the body is forced to respond by pumping warm blood to the frozen areas. If nothing else, you tend to experience mild pain followed by a pleasant tingling. There are Kneipps in the Russbach water park and on the lakeside at Wolfgangsee.

Muhlenrundweg walk

This is a circular family walk to an old water wheel house and water fall that takes about an hour and a half. The path goes through the woods along the Schwarzenbach river and the scenery is pretty amazing. There are a lot of distractions for kids along the way as part of the "sources of energy" trail including a wooden xylophone attached between 2 trees and a massive ear trumpet. We also saw quite a large snake in the grass by the river. Someone has also created a "love and peace" trail of hearts painted on stones to mark the way, with various related quotes including as John Lennon.

Lammerklamm

This is a large gorge near Golling with a series of paths, steps and bridges which allow you to walk down the valley. It takes about 30 minutes to walk from top to bottom and the views are well worth the 3 euro entry fee we paid. There is good guest house (Landgasthof Lammerklause) at the bottom with sun terrace and children's playground. I enjoyed my fresh mint juice and soda that they had on special offer. If you have time you could also combine this with the Muhlenrundweg walk, just over the road from the guest house.

Abtenau outdoor swimming pool

Abtenau has a large outdoor pool (Erlebnisbad), where you can easily spend most of the day when the weather is warm. It has a lovely kids play area with two small slides, a dam system, a sand pit and shade. The large pool has lane swimming, rapids, 2 large slides, whirlpools and a strange net. There is also a cafe and ice cream area linked to the local hotel.

Asparagus season

"Spargel" is a big thing in Austria . It's very common for restaurants to have a separate asparagus menu during the season. Most of the asparagus is white and thick, rather than the green we are used to. My favourite is on pizza and I had some at the weekend with coconut sauce .

Turned out nice again

Rain all day but clearing now.

Hellbrun Zoo

Bear posing for photos at Hellbrun Zoo today.

This zoo is next to Hellbrunn castle and was originally created by the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg 300 years ago who was following the Baroque fashion of keeping exotic animals. It has since been extended and modernised to become Salzburg Zoo with around 800 animals of 140 different types. It feels a relaxed zoo experience in quite an unusual setting that uses the rocks of the Hellbrunn mountain as part of the enclosures and also incorporates woods and rivers. There are quite a lot of alpine and mountain animals, which I hadn't really seen before, as well as big ones such as lions, tigers, cheetahs, bears and wolves. I also had some good spinach and gorgonzola dumplings in the restaurant.

22 degrees

Beautiful today.

Tauern Spa at Kaprun

This spa is a long way but it's definitely my favourite so far. It's the second biggest spa in Austria and there are loads of different areas and nearly all the pools are really warm. There is a separate Kid Spa with three slides, a hot outdoor salt pool, whirlpools, a strange steamy multi colour cave, rapids and relaxation areas over 3 floors. There is also a volley ball court and good kids play area with a climbing wall. We didn't go in the Sauna World, but it looked big and even had a clothed sauna - good for us English! Flip flops or crocs are good, as you can't get in the restaurant without them.

Thermal spas and pools

There are dozens of excellent spa resorts around Dachstein West; perfect for a break from skiing or making the most of a summer holiday. Here are some of our favourites:

Bad Ischl Eurothermen resort - approx 50 minutes away from Annaberg. Excellent outdoor adventure pools for all ages.

Ski Lessons from Freeride-Alpin (Annaberg)

Our 4-year-old loved her lessons with the Freeride-Alpin instructor last week. We're having trouble keeping up with her now!

New Chairlift at Edtalm

Those of you familiar with the slopes around Edtalm in Dachstein West will know that they can be difficult to traverse in a rush. There are just too many T-bars to navigate. To resolve this the management have installed a new 6-seater chairlift for the 2011 season.
This photo shows the installation taking place over the summer.

Festivals in Dachstein West 2010

Hay Art Festival (HeuArtFest) 2010. This is on the weekend of 29 August in St Martin