Things To Do in Kaprun

The area takes in the Valley of Kaprun and its powerful dams, as well as the surrounding heights. An ascent to the Kitzsteinhorn (2,931m/9,616 ft.) can be quite complicated, involving postal buses, funiculars, and cableways, but it's equally rewarding. Always have your routes outlined at the tourist office with a detailed area map before you set forth. An English-speaking staff member will supply the best possible routes and provide you with the most up-to-date information on hours, costs, types of services likely to be available at the time of your visit, and weather conditions. For example, after mid-October, tours to the valley of the dams might not be possible. However, a visit to the Kitzsteinhorn is an attraction in both summer and winter.

To reach the Kitzsteinhorn, you can take either a cable car, transferring to the langweidbahn (a chairlift), or the glacier railway, an underground funicular, to the Restaurant Alpincenter (2,446m/8,025 ft.), where you can enjoy lunch with a view halfway up Kitzsteinhorn. At Alpincenter, change to a cable car, which swings west, coming to a stop near the summit of the Kitzsteinhorn.

A little below the summit, you'll find the 305m (1,001-ft.) Panoramatunnel (tel. 06547/86210) cut through the mountain and opening onto an incredible view of Nationalpark Hohe Tauern. On clear days, you'll be able to see Grossglockner, the highest peak in Austria, at 3,764m (12,349 ft.). You can also eat at the Aussichtsrestaurant (talk about dining with a view!), or if you want to feel snow in summer, you can take a short cable car down to the glacier.

It's best to purchase a day ticket -- round-trip, naturally -- for both the cable railway and the glacier lift; it costs 35€ ($56) for adults and 17€ ($27) for children under 15. It's open daily from 8am to 4pm.

The Dams

The Kapruner Tal, or the Valley of Kaprun, is visited in summer for its dams, one of the more dramatic alpine sights. Constructed in tiers, the dams were originally built as part of the U.S.-financed Marshall Plan. Experts from all over the world come here to study these hydroelectric constructions, which are brilliant feats of engineering.

Visit the hydroelectric plant, Turbinenhaus, inside the Tauernkraftwerke (tel. 06547/7151527). Its shafts, tunnels, turbines, and bulwarks are an interesting change of pace for most visitors. A small museum, filled with technical drawings and photographs, conveys the magnitude of the project.

If you want to explore the region and see how the dams manage to hold back up to 19 billion gallons of alpine water, the staff at Kaprun's tourist information office offers a self-guided full-day tour for 18€ ($23) that encompasses overviews of the three lakes formed by the dams and transportation. The ascent up to the dams, including the Limsbergsperre, the Moosersperre, and the Drossensperre, is via yellow post buses and a funicular. You can visit daily from 8am to 4pm from mid-May to mid-October, depending on weather conditions.

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.