The owners of the Katrin cable car describe it themselves as “The most beautiful cable car in the Salzkammergut”. The charming 4-seater cable car has been taking residents and guests of the spa and imperial town of Bad Ischl up to the Katrin Alm since 1959. In a leisurely 15 minutes, it is a relaxed ride to the nature reserve at 1,400 meters above sea level. We tested whether Katrin really does justice to this perfect image.

tour facts:

Start: Katrin cable car parking lot (Kaltenbachstraße 62, 4820 Bad Ischl)
Cost of the cable car: The parking ticket costs € 5, but is refunded if you buy a ride up and down the mountain. If you buy a single trip, 50% will be returned. The ascent and descent costs 23 €, with the Salzkammergut Card it is reduced to 21 €. Summer and winter seasons have different prices, here you can find the current tariffs.

Opening times: DAILY from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. First ascent: 9.00 a.m. I Last ascent: 4.30 p.m. I Last descent: 5.00 p.m.
Refreshments: Katrin mountain inns directly at the mountain station or in the Katrin alpine hut 5 minutes away!
Walking time: 1:30 hrs – 2-30 hrs (depending on which variant you go). We go the blue route, see photo below
Difficulty: easy to medium
Season: May to mid-October

Wir parken an der Talstation der Katrin Seilbahn. Hinauf geht es mit der Gondel.

Even from the gondola, we had a wonderful view of Bad Ischl, the valley and the surrounding mountains. You drive up for about 12 minutes.

The hike (blue route)

We start our hike at 10:25 am at the gondola station on the mountain. The first goal is the summit cross of the Kathrin. It goes up over stone and wooden steps. Again and again you have a wonderful view of Bad Ischl and the Hallstätter See, on the other side of the Traunsee. After about 40 minutes (approx. 11 a.m.) you have reached the summit cross. From up here you have a wonderful panorama. We can see at least 4 different lakes from here, but maybe there are more. In any case, the view is terrific.

We now walk back 5 minutes and turn right towards the 7-lakes hike. Around 11:20 am we reach the Elferkogel and thus the next summit cross on this hike

From now on we hike downhill on stony paths through the forest. After a few minutes you will pass a junction where you turn right to the summit of Hainzen (the complete route), on the left you shorten the 7-lake hike and head towards the cable car. So we’re doing the smaller round. The complete 7 lakes hike would take about 2.5 hours.

After a short time we come out again on the mountain slope. We go back to the left towards the mountain station. The time now is 11:40 AM. During the descent, you can see Bad Goisern and Lake Hallstatt the whole time, a really beautiful backdrop.

At 12:05 p.m. we reach the viewing platform, from which the view is actually no better than during the entire hike. In our opinion, the platform is a bit pointless because you can see just as well without it.

At 12:10 p.m., i.e. after 1 hour 45 minutes, we return to the starting point.

Time for lunch. The “Katrin Almhütte”, the mountain hut below the mountain station, was recommended to us (not to be confused with the one right by the cable car). To do this, you go down the serpentine for 1 minute.

We’re really hungry and both of us order the Gosauer oven roast, made from wild boar with dumplings and cabbage. It just tastes wonderful. The meat falls apart when touched with a fork, the gravy is first class, the dumplings are juicy and the cabbage is simply exceptionally good. The whole thing is available for 12.50. A good price, especially considering it’s the most expensive on the menue. At the next table we can also see the Kaiserschmarrn, which makes our mouth water, but unfortunately there is no more room in our stomach.