Waterfalls in Croatia & Austria
July 2015, by Olaf Helwig
The summer of 2015 is an extremely hot summer in Europe. We (my wife and daughter) planned a tour along several capitols in Eastern Europe, Croatia and Austria. The first stop is Prague, a beautiful city with a lot of culture. After that Vienna, Budapest (my favourite city) and then the coast of Croatia. It is a summer with a long period with temperatures between 32-37C. The coolness of sea is a relief and we enjoyed the cheap food and being lazy.
From Sibenek (close to our stay) it is a short drive to the national park Krka with its numerous waterfalls. On Wednesday the first stop was the most beautiful waterfall in Croatia called Skradinski Buk. With a bus you have to drive from the parking to the entry of the park. After that a short (but very warm) walk will take you to the first viewpoint of the upper part of Skradinski Buk. After a short descent you will arrive at a bridge in front of the waterfall. The view is magnificent and it is possible to swim in front of Skradinski Buk. The waterfall is 12 meters high and 40 meters wide.
After enjoying the view and cooling down in the water we decided to drive further following the river Krka to the source: Krčić Slap (near Knin). Unfortunately Krčić Slap is only flowing after a long wet period. Nevertheless a perfect site to visit and again a nice place to swim.
We drove back to Sibenik visiting several waterfalls along the route (but not all): Brljana Slap and Manojlovac Slap. Again beautiful waterfalls, a visit worthwhile. We missed some waterfalls because of a lack of preparation.
The following week we proceded our long journey to north to Austria, but the temperature didn’t lowered. I stayed in Austria for 6 days especially for searching waterfalls in western Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Without a doubt my visit to the Krimmler Wasserfälle was the highlight of my stay in Austria. A beautiful walk leads along several drops, together called the Krimmler Wasserfälle. The Krimmler Wasserfälle is the most beautiful and most powerful waterfall in Austria with a big change of seeing rainbows in the enormous powerful waterfalls.
After this I pulled westward to the Stubai Valley where I first came along the beautiful Mischbachfall, visible from the roadside. A short walk takes you to a good viewpoint, perfect for taking pictures. I was too impatient to climb up to another viewpoint so I drove on to the gigantic Grawafall, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Austria. The force of the water was visible from a distance. A short walk takes you to a platform where you enjoy the view in a wooden sun chair!
My next stop brings me to the Otztal with a lot of huge and beautiful waterfalls, highly recommended again. And with with (again) one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Austria: the Stuibenfall. Other big waterfalls were waiting for me down the valley: Lehnerfall, Tumpener wasserfall and Rotmoos wasserfall. There are too many waterfalls to mention them all, but the Otztal is one of the best valleys in Austria when you like waterfalls.
In addition to the Otztal, the Pitztal (with five waterfalls) is also worthwhile mentioning. The best waterfall I guess is the Pfitschebach wasserfall or maybe the Bichler wasserfall. Both are gorgeous waterfalls worthwhile visiting.
The next two days I headed to the region around Lech (Vorarlberg) with many, less powerful, waterfalls. But this will not mean those waterfalls were not gorgeous. Later on I will add an article specially about waterfall around Lech.