Hi everybody and welcome to Kaprun in the beautiful Austrian Alps.
Today I’m taking you on a travel walking tour through the Sigmund Thun Klamm,
a fascinating alpine mountain gorge and a hugely popular tourist destination in Austria.
Kaprun is a small town located between Salzburg and Innsbruck in the Pinzgau region in Upper Austria.
It’s about an hour and a half drive from Salzburg but you can also come here by train.
More on transport and how to get here in my video on Zell am See which is only a short drive away later.
Kaprun is a year-round sports center at the foot of the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier
and the mountain gorge is located just a 5-minute drive outside of town.
Sigmund Thun Klamm is quite a natural spectacle which you should definitely check out when you are traveling in Austria.
The powerful tide of the river Kapruner Ache cut its way through sturdy rock and stones
creating a 320-m-long path lined with impressive amounts of water crushing and tumbling down the narrow gap between two high cliffs.
A footpath with sturdy wooden footbridges and stairs allows you to safely walk above the water masses
and you can feel the force of the water at every step through this magical gorge in Kaprun.
The walk starts at the Kaprun power plant and you will see some turbines on display.
It takes about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to go through the gorge,
and another 15-20 minutes to walk back down on a separate hiking path.
The water is deafening. It shoots wildly between the impressive rock walls.
Sometimes whirlpools are formed that would sweep away everything that stands in their way.
You get great views of the torrent below from the wooden bridges.
The steps and planks are secured with railings but you still want to watch out to not slip
as the wooden planks can be a bit slippery from the mist that seems to come from all sides.
I recommend you bring good shoes, a rain jacket or poncho and a hat.
You might also want to bring some layered clothing as the sun doesn’t reach well into the gorge
and the glacier water seems to cool off the air further, even in summer.
The walk ends at a massive man-made waterfall which looks a bit like an overflowing dam.
From there, you get a great view of the gorge lake which you can also further explore on a hiking path.
So, if you don't want to walk back immediately afterwards, the circular hiking trail around the subsequent Klammsee should be a great thing to do.
At the end of the lake there is also a restaurant where you can take a pit stop.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t very lucky with the weather the day I was there and a heavy rain shower prompted me to return back to the car.
How do you get here? The easiest way is to come by car.
It’s a short 15-minute drive from Zell am See. There are several parking lots available and parking is for free.
From the parking lots, you take a 5-10 minute walk down to the entrance of the gorge.
You can also take public transportation from Zell am See.
Bus line 660 takes you directly to the Sigmund Thun Klamm via Kaprun.
I saw some pictures of the gorge taken at night and it looks really beautiful when it’s lit up in the evening too.
Opening hours are from 8:30am to 5pm daily.
Adults pay EUR 6 entrance but there’s a discount for families too.
Entrance is free with the Zell Am See Kaprun summer card.
Would I recommend you come here?
If you have never done a similar mountain gorge walk you should definitely give it a go.
It’s quite a unique spectacle and doesn’t take a huge amount of time.
And Kaprun also offers a number of other things to do.
A cable car takes you up the surrounding mountains where you can do more hikes.
The Tauern Spa World, the second largest spa complex in Austria, is located in Kaprun
and the Kaprun Museum in a 400-year-old farmhouse provides some more information on the history of the village.
Definitely also check out Zell am See when you come to Kaprun and watch my video on this beautiful town at Lake Zell if you have not done so yet.
Also check out my videos on Salzburg and the many other breathtakingly beautiful villages, mountains and lakes in this part of Austria.
I hope you enjoyed this Austria travel video on the Sigmund Thun Klamm mountain gorge
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Have a great rest of the day! Bye bye.