Nightlife

Kaprun has its own relatively modest nightlife, but should you ever get bored, take the shuttle bus over to Zell am See for much more excitement. Nightlife reaches its modest peak in Kaprun on Friday and Saturday nights. On other nights you might like to turn in with a good book or sit and drink around an open fire. Nearly all hotels and pensions welcome outside guests.

One of the most popular spots in town is the coffee shop, Morokutti, Nikolaus-Gassner-Strasse 572 (tel. 06547/8424). It's open daily from 9:30am to 11pm but is closed Tuesday in April and June. A glass of wine costs 3€ ($4.80), and hot coffee starts at 2.80€ ($4.50).

Café Baum Bar (tel. 06547/8216) is less than 1.5km (1 mile) north of Kaprun's center, far enough from all the hotels that the noisy crowd won't disturb anyone's sleep. This is the largest, most crowded, and most sociable watering hole in town. Although a part of it is devoted to serving pizzas, Wiener schnitzels, pastas, salads, and sandwiches, it's best known as a dance club that thumps every night of the week, summer and winter, from 9pm to 3am. Kitchen hours vary according to demand but usually last to midnight. Management runs minivans between Kaprun's center and the Baum at frequent intervals, although some visitors opt for a midnight walk (or crawl) to and from the site. The place was built, incidentally, as an outbuilding for a local cattle farm in the 1930s. Pizzas cost 6€ to 10€ ($9.60-$16). The dance club's cover charge is 2€ to 7€ ($3.20-$11), depending on the live act; it's free when there's recorded music. Beer begins at 2€ ($3.20) in the early afternoon but increases in price to 3€ ($4.80) after 9pm.

There's also dancing at the Nindl Café, Nikolaus-Gassner-Strasse 380 (tel. 06547/8259). In winter, folk shows are presented along with live and recorded music. There's no cover. Call to find out what's happening at the time of your visit. It's open daily from 11am to 1am in winter (5pm-1am in summer), but is closed 2 weeks in June and September. Beer costs 3€ ($4.80). Snacks, such as salads, pizzas, and hamburgers, are served at Nindl's cafe daily from 4pm to 2am.