Posted on 24 Mar 2013
We have friends in Klagenfurt and have been to visit often by car, and when we bought our motorhome. It's a lovely place and I can thoroughly recommend it as a destination. The journey is easy as you can travel the entire distance by free motorways, through Belgium and Germany. You do have to buy a vignette to travel on Austrian motorways, which is not terribly expensive (about 10 euros for ten days I think). You can get them at garages near the border.
We camped in Belgium, then near Frankfurt, and near Traunstein in Munich on the way. Around Traunstein is a very good walking area too. It’s best to go by motorway from Salzburg to Klagenfurt and to avoid peak times (end of July and early August) as all of Germany seems to head for Italy by the same route!
Klagenfurt is a very nice town, close to the Worthersee and many other smaller lakes. The Karawanken mountains are close, on the border with Croatia. It's also brilliant for cycling, as there are cycle routes around the lakes, the town and into the country. Most of the cycling is easy as the Drau valley is broad and flat. There's a network of walking trails on the Kreuzberg near the town. You can get maps from the tourist information.
We stayed at a cute little campsite just outside Klagenfurt which was simple and charming. It is called Camping Michelin. Our pitch was right by a little river which was lovely to swim in. If you prefer a grander but much busier campsite, there's Camping Strandbad which is great for children as there's a safe beach on the lake and lots to do. Not our cup of tea though.
In the town, you should try the Gasthaus Grossglockner zum Pumpe on the corner of Lidmanskygasse and Kaufmangasse for good food and beer and brilliant local atmosphere. It's our friends' favourite pub.
People are friendly,and always want to speak English to you, though a German phrasebook is handy, and they love us to at least try! The best thing about the area is that hardly any English people go there, so they're not fed up with us!
I can also recommend going on to Vienna where there's a fine campsite just outside the city called Camping Wien West.
I can thoroughly recommend a visit with your caravan. It's easy and relatively uncrowded in summer.
