Continuing on with our week long vacation in Austria during the summer of 2022 we now get to day five of the trip (or was it 6? I can't remember but it really doesn't matter). After spending two nights in the city of Innsbruck we headed out to our next destination, the resort mountain town of Badgastein. The two cities were a long ways apart, a three hour drive, so this day would be another long travel day in the car.
On days like this I always look for stops along route and this time I found Krimml Falls, located in High Tauern National Park.
We had to pay a toll to enter the park and then another fee for parking. I don't recall the exact prices but I think it was around €50 all in between the two.
The first part of the falls was located about a 15 minute walk from the parking lot and was an easy walk along a paved pathway.
The first thing that we came to was a big open space where a lot of people gathered to see the final stage and most impressive part of the waterfall.
From there the falls turns into a large stream or creek and continues on down the mountain toward the town of Krimml.
Krimml Falls is 380 meters tall and broken into multiple tiers of various sizes.
Supposedly it is one of the largest waterfalls in Europe. To be honest, I'm always skeptical about such claims because often times when you fact check them you come up with many different answers.
With waterfalls especially there always seems to be a major discrepancy between the meaning of words tallest, highest and largest. On top of that there also seems to be a special exceptional category relating specifically to "freestanding" waterfalls. With that in mind let's just say that Krimml is "one" of the largest in Europe, as that seems like a fairly safe bet.
My wife and I climbed up the steep grass and rocky hill to take some photos a little closer.
The falls continuously sprayed a hefty amount of mist into the air making the ground slick with moisture.
We had to tread carefully not to slip on the jagged rocks and grass. It was practically raining because of how much moisture was in the air so I got soaked pretty quickly just being in the area for a few minutes.
There were so many people around that part that it took some time to get a shot of my wife on her own without any other people in it.
Taking photos was somewhat of a challenge because of the conditions as well. The falls were in front of the sun, which washed out the pictures, and there was so much moisture in the air and on the camera lens that nothing came out clear.
Nonetheless I managed to get a few decent photos of my wife in front of the tumbling water.
After viewing the base of the the Krimml we decided to hike up the mountain to the restaurant way up near the top.
You can see the restaurant at the top of the hill in the photo above.
The trail was paved and well maintained and winded its way through the mountain forest.
Several look out spots jutted off from the main path along the trail.
They made for a good place to view the water from various vantage points and allowed us to see the other tiers of the falls along the way.
We tried to stop at all of the lookouts.
They gave us a place to rest for a moment from the tedious uphill climb.
I don't know exactly how long we hiked up the mountain but I'd guess it was around 45 minutes or so.
It was quite hot out that day and it was a mistake not bringing any water when we left the car.
Eventually we made it to the restaurant, which happened to be absolutely packed inside and on the patio. That wasn't surprising given it was the only place to buy food and drinks in the area. I remember the service being very slow and hearing grumblings at a few tables that were waiting for their food, bills or order to be taken. It was absolutely packed though so not surprising at all that the wait was so long. This was one instance where we didn't really care. We were tired enough to just be happy to sit down.
I ordered this traditional dessert called Germknödel (I think). It's a yeast dough served with crushed poppy seeds on top and a butter or vanilla sauce (in my case vanilla). I recall it being a very different sort of dessert than what I generally expect in a pastry. It was good though.
Outside the patio was a large creek feeding the falls that were below the restaurant. If you continued hiking up you would come to another tier of the water fall, which you can make out in the photo Below.
We didn't go see it up close. We were done our meal and done hiking (upward) for the day so we headed back down the mountain and to our car. The way down went so much quicker than the way up, so before we knew it we were back on the road and heading to our next destination.
One last look at the falls